Adolescents on stage: an educational proposal in the field of sexual and reproductive health

Abstract

The objective of this study was to describe the experience of developing educational material in the form of a play, created and performed by adolescents as a strategy to obtain a reflexive and autonomous attitude of these subjects, in the affective-sexual and reproductive field. This intervention and investigation process was developed at a public school located in Belo Horizonte - Minas Gerais, Brazil - with 12 students aged between 14 and 18 years. The analysis was founded on the method of experience-based learning, by John Dewey. Twenty-three workshops were performed until the production of the show and video Sex yes, Disease No, exhibited to high-school students. The production of educational technologies, created by students themselves, permitted to broaden their experiences and assign new meaning to their knowledge. It also helped to understand the everyday reality of these subjects, permitting them to establish a connection between inner aspects (the adolescent's thoughts) and outer aspects (that materialize the social phenomenon) in the affective-sexual and reproductive field.