Application of the questioning methodology in extension projects

an experience report in a gypsy community

Abstract

Within health sciences education, it has been questioned the usefulness of knowledge and its social applicability. New teaching and learning concepts have been incorporated into the school context and into educational practices. The valuing of students, as active subjects for the transformation of health practices through social commitment and as (re) constructor agents of their knowledge, is essential to the development of a fair society. This article is an experience report of an extension project entitled “Environment: Health Area and Citizenship”, performed by students and teachers from a private institution in Belo Horizonte / MG. The questioning methodology was used as a teaching strategy because it allows developing themes from the observation of social reality. The work was carried out in steps: 1) Choosing a community with social or environmental impacts; 2) Identifying the problems, and discussion between students and teachers; 3) Elec! on of a problem to be investigated by the students; 4) Identifying the key issues, and literature searching for information; 5) Development of possible interventions in the visited community, from the environmental assessment; 6) Discussing the proposed interventions and choosing the most appropriate intervention to the problem; 7) Return to the community and implementation of intervention with photographic records; 8) Presentation of the accomplished work to the academic community through oral exposure. The project development was a tool that provided a detailed reading of the community, constructing some understanding of the relationship between its inhabitants and the consequences of their actions to the environment they occupy. Interventions aimed at minimizing the effects of human activities in communities with a possible improvement to the collective and environmental health.