Practical way to apply fourth-generation assessment tools integrated into creating meaningful learning experiences in biology at high school.

The learning process for a Biology topic regarding organisms and animal kingdom diversity was investigated through an innovative Interactive Didactic Sequence (IDS) which integrated the idea of "concept maps" with the Hermeneutic-Dialectic Circle (HDC). HDC is a tool for data collection and a reference for pluralist-constructivist thinking, considered a form of fourth-generation evaluation. Hofstede's cultural dimensions were also integrated into the investigation in order to facilitate mediation in an evaluative context. Students' performances (N = 25) from a São Paulo-Brazil public school were statistically evaluated. Their cultural profile was determined via the Hofstede Value Survey Model 1994 questionnaire. The elaborative process of arranging concept maps was individual (CM-individual) and integrated with HDC in groups (CM-HDC). Concept map assessment methods were based off existing literature. An improvement in students' performances (p < 0.05) that presented concept maps integrated to HDC in a more complex structure when compared to individually-built maps was observed. Employment of HDC helped form motivational/interactive dialogues between students and teachers, which, in turn, assisted in achieving greater learning through the use of concept maps. The application of the fourth-generation evaluation was improved via knowledge regarding students' cultural profiles.

Ações de educação em saúde para prevenção e controle da dengue: um estudo em Icaraí, Caucaia, Ceará / Health education actions for the prevention and control of dengue fever: a study at Icaraí, Caucaia, Ceará State, Brazil

O estudo analisa as ações educativas para prevenção e controle da dengue, as estratégias utilizadas nas ações educativas e aponta os limites/dificuldades. Abordagem qualitativa, desenvolvida na Unidade Básica de Saúde e oito imóveis em Icaraí-CE. Os sujeitos foram dezessete pessoas, distribuídas entre três grupos: I (oito usuários da UBS); II (quatro Agentes de Controle de Endemias); III (cinco profissionais de Saúde). As técnicas de coleta de dados: a entrevista semi-estruturada; a observação participante, a análise de documental. O método de análise foi hermenêutica dialética. Pode-se afirmar que as práticas educativas em saúde são divergentes, a ação transformadora é ineficaz para impactar a doença. Apontaram-se como dificuldades as fragilidade e ações pontuais; conteúdo das mensagens educativas descontextualizadas; estratégias autoritárias e coercitivas, ausência de políticas públicas, limites entre a UBS e a população; ênfase às campanhas sanitárias; os profissionais não ouvem a população e vice-versa; ainda predomina o saber técnico sobre o usuário. Evidencia a necessidade de ações que fortaleçam a possibilidade dos sujeitos terem o poder e a responsabilidade pela própria história e pelo processo de construção de sua cidadania.

This study analyses education actions and their strategies for preventing and controlling dengue fever, highlighting constraints and difficulties. Conducted through a qualitative approach at the Primary Care Unit and 8 properties in Icaraí, Ceará State, Brazil, its 17 subjects are divided into groups: I (8 PCU users); II (4 Endemic Disease Control Agents); and III (5 healthcare practitioners). The data was collected through semi-structured interviews; participative observation and documentary analyses, using a hermeneutic dialectic analysis method. The findings indicate that health education actions are divergent, while transforming actions are ineffective in terms of impacts on the disease. Difficulties include: weak location-specific actions; educational messages whose contents are not tailored to their contexts; authoritarian and coercive strategies; absence of public policies; gaps between PCU and local population; stress on public health campaigns; practitioners who do not listen to the population and vice-versa; with technical expertise still prevailing over users. The evidence underscores the need for actions strengthening the possibilities of empowering the subjects, helping them become responsible for their own lives and citizenship construction processes.