Conservation Medicine: a STS approach to environmental, food and health education

Abstract

Currently, numerous fields of knowledge have emerged related to environmental, food and health problems, as a result of human interaction with the environment. Through knowledge of these areas, topics that allow an understanding of aspects of Science, Technology and Society can be addressed. In this work, an educational application called “Conservation Medicine” (CM) is presented, a discipline that encompasses, under a single health, animal, human and environmental health. In this article, the CM is used as an educational tool to incorporate CTS content within the natural sciences area and, in addition, to promote Critical Thinking. A Didactic Unit is developed, DU applied to three groups: one of medium level of an agricultural school, another of teacher training and finally, a group of students of food engineering. The DU included the approach of Foodborne Diseases (FD) and zoonoses in different spaces such as the school farm, zoos, bioparks and national parks. For the evaluation of the DU, a questionnaire and the interview format of the project were used: Education of scientific, technological and critical thinking skills through the teaching of subjects of a science and technology nature (CYTPENCRI). The results highlight the interest, motivation and the development of decision-making by the students against zoonoses and FD from the approach from the CM.