Ciência cidadã em área endêmica de leishmanioses: uma experiência com estudantes da educação básica

Abstract

Brazil is among the six countries in the world with the highest number of cases of leishmaniosis, which is associated with the advance of deforestation and environmental changes and can be aggravated by malnutrition and difficulties in accessing health services. This research aimed to study an investigative experience carried out with high school students about leishmaniosis through Citizen Science, which, in turn, aimed to make possible the learning of the subject and the process of construction of scientific knowledge simultaneously. Forty-eight students from the 1st year of full-time high school participated in a public school in Governador Valadares, specifically in a neighborhood where the disease is endemic. Through protagonism, investigative teaching and Citizen Science, this work allowed the search and reflection on which places favor the presence and proliferation of vectors of leishmaniasis. The students built the knowledge and one environmental analysis of the risky areas of the disease in the neighborhood, in addition, the study potentiated the formation of citizens agents of change in the places where they live.