How to decipher a microbial puzzle on microbial control: hands on

Abstract

Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed drugs, but they are often misused, contributing to bacterial resistance, being an important public health problem, with clinical/economic impacts. Aiming to contribute to convey information to students on Microbiology/antibiotic use, we developed different teaching activities, with 6th and 9th grade students. To assess the impact of these activities and student learning, we applied a pre-validated questionnaire before and after completion of the activities (pre- and post-test). We observed that most students had preconceived ideas that antibiotics were effective against viruses, however, after the implemented activities, the performance of students in the post-test improved significantly for both student grades. Regarding the use of antibiotics in specific diseases, students showed lack of knowledge concerning the treatment of cold, flu and tuberculosis, with some improvement in the post-test. Concerning antibiotic use, the initial knowledge of the 9th grade students was better than the 6th grade, nevertheless the highest improvement in knowledge was observed for the 6th grade students. Our results support the use of teaching activities on Microbiology/antibiotic use that promote the development of critical thinking, analyze and solve problems. Our results support the need to educate students/communities on the proper use of antibiotics.