Dialogues on sexuality in primary education: building concepts and answering questions of 8th graders of a public school in Santarém, Pará, Brazil

Abstract

Sexuality is inherent to every human, although it is still seen as a polemic topic to be approached with teenagers. However, curiosity about the subject is natural in this period of life, and it is worrying pregnancy rates and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) in adolescence. In this sense, this study aimed to investigate the main issues regarding to the sexuality theme mentioned by 8th graders a municipal elementary school in Santarém, Pará, Brazil. To this end, it was performed at a field research, which was applied a questionnaire to 21 students in order to identify concepts and questions on the subject. Based on the data obtained from the questionnaires were two educational workshops, which are: 1) Sexuality, health and quality of life; 2) Dialoguing health. Beyond to discussions about sexuality, they were also part of the workshops, video sessions, scrapbooks and collages. The data from the questionnaires showed that most had a restricted view of sexuality, that is, more from the biological field (for example, sex and puberty). Therefore, in the educational workshops we discuss sexuality from a holistic view, working biological aspects such as STD, but also social, economic, cultural, political, revolving around the theme. The speech of participants and materials produced in the workshops revealed the expansion of previous concepts on the subject.