Participatory design in the project of virtual learning environment of histology

This present article describes a research on the development, under the approach of participatory design, a virtual teaching-learning of Histology in which students and teachers participated actively in all stages of development of the educational environment. We postulates that the development of virtual learning environment of Histology, through the Participatory Design approach, contributes to greater acceptance and use by students and that the adoption of virtual environment for teaching and learning by teachers is a determining factor of use by students

Os discursos sobre a educomunicação na rádio escolar: um estudo etnográfico e m uma escola pública

This research analyzes the discursive construction of Educommunication, from a training course of educommunicators, with teachers and students of school Profº Francisco Ivo Cavalcanti, state public school, geographically located in the city of Natal / RN, studying the constitution of the meanings that educommunication practice in School Radio acquires for trainers and course participants (teachers and students). The socio-historical context in which this research is based corresponds to the new social reality, mediated by information and communication Technologies. These technologies drive the educational institution to train students in the use of different languages that permeate society. But to do so, you must have also enabled teachers to work Communication technology to meet the aspirations of young people and adults who are part of the educational community. The objectives are to identify the conditions of discursive production around the educommunication practice in Radio School, examine the discursive construction of instructors and course participants in Educommunication and its dialogical brands, and see how the course participants relate to their educommunicative practice in the educational contexts, attributing meaning to the place of teachers and students. Therefore, this research uses ethnography applied to the school context as a methodological option, Pecheuxtian Discourse Analysis, the principles of Educommunication, the reflections of Paulo Freire and the concepts of Dialogism in Bakhtin as theoretical contributions. We adopted three areas of knowledge: Language, Communication and Education, in order to produce an analysis committed to the aspects that involve the use of radio in the school environment to promote an educommunicative practice. With this research we have built a web of meanings about the school that we are forming or we want to form in the XXI century, because we used the discourses of teachers and students immersed in new knowledge and practices in order to propel them to be subjects of communication in educational environment for a qualitative transformation of being and doing in school.

Automedicação e guarda de medicamentos por universitários das áreas de saúde e tecnologia

This study aimed to compare self-medication and domestic drug storage among undergraduate students in the areas of health and technology. This is a descriptive study of cross-sectional type and quantitative approach, conducted in a Public University of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The sample consisted of 300 students of the third year of undergraduate courses at the Center for Health Sciences and Technology Center, selected through a simple random sample. The project was authorized by the Ethics Committee of Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (CAAE 0137.0.051.000-10). Data collection lasted twelve months and was conducted during the period of study participants, in the university environment. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire consisting of open and closed questions. For data analysis, we used descriptive statistics and applied Fisher s exact test and Chi-square test with adopted level of significance α=5% and 10%. For the variables that correlated with self-medication (p<0.05), we subsequently calculated the odds ratios and confidence intervals. The prevalence of undergraduate students who performed self-medication in the 15 days prior to the collection accounted for 33.7% and, by analyzing each knowledge area, we verified was a higher prevalence of self-medication among students in the technological area (37.3%). The analysis of the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants in this practice revealed a significant difference between the knowledge areas in the income and self-medication variables (p=0.005). General analgesics and antipyretics (N02) represent the therapy group most used in self-medication (57.4%), especially acetaminophen (28.7%), and the main health situations that motivated this practice related to pain, especially headaches (48.5%). Regarding the indication of the drugs used, the majority of students self-medicated themselves on their own (71.3%). As regards to the in-home drug storage, most of the participants had a home pharmacy (88%). By analyzing the socioeconomic characteristics, the variables medical service and home medicine presented a significant difference (p=0.002). General 10 analgesics and antipyretics constituted the medicinal products most found in the home pharmacies, especially acetaminophen. The main room used for the drug storage was the kitchen (36.4%), most students kept these products in boxes of different materials (38.6%) and the medicines stored at home of most of the participants were not easily accessible to children (75%). The results reinforce the need to develop strategies, from the reality found, aiming to encourage and implement educational and preventive activities with undergraduate students on the importance of proper self-medication and in-home drug storage. Despite the sample in our study is relatively small, not representative for the whole country, we believe that, at national level, the panorama of the subject does not present major differences

Novel Virtual Environment for Alternative Treatment of Children with Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is a severe condition usually caused by decreased brain oxygenation during pregnancy, at birth or soon after birth. Conventional treatments for cerebral palsy are often tiresome and expensive, leading patients to quit treatment. In this paper, we describe a virtual environment for patients to engage in a playful therapeutic game for neuropsychomotor rehabilitation, based on the experience of the occupational therapy program of the Nucleus for Integrated Medical Assistance (NAMI) at the University of Fortaleza, Brazil. Integration between patient and virtual environment occurs through the hand motion sensor “Leap Motion,” plus the electroencephalographic sensor “MindWave,” responsible for measuring attention levels during task execution. To evaluate the virtual environment, eight clinical experts on cerebral palsy were subjected to a questionnaire regarding the potential of the experimental virtual environment to promote cognitive and motor rehabilitation, as well as the potential of the treatment to enhance risks and/or negatively influence the patient’s development. Based on the very positive appraisal of the experts, we propose that the experimental virtual environment is a promising alternative tool for the rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy.