Como o negacionismo científico afeta a perspectiva de vacinação na escola?

Abstract

The recent pandemic caused by the coronavirus has raised an alert for the growing number of denialist discourses, ideologies, and behaviors. From influential public figures to entire groups that value ignorance as opposed to scientific thinking. Vaccines are a major target of denialism and social networks are the main means of spreading fake news, which is worrying due to the global number of accesses. The present study aimed to evaluate indicators of scientific denialism related to vaccination by high school students integrated with technical high school at the Federal Institute of Piauí, Teresina Central Campus. Methodologically, a qualitative-quantitative research was carried out, using questionnaires using the Likert scale as an evaluation criterion. The data obtained were transformed into graphs through the "Google Sheets" platform, enabling the analysis of indicators of scientific denialism throughout the three grades of high school. The results obtained show that students' conceptions about vaccines seem mostly positive from the 1st to the 3rd year, despite the presence of denialism in a small portion of students, influenced by social networks, ideologies and social circles. In addition, it is evident that schools face a great challenge ahead in the function of combating the flow of false information, inside and outside schools, but it is not an impossible task. In a hyperconnected society, the school must adapt to encompass all spaces, closing gaps that separate people from access to scientific information, promoting education and critical thinking training for all.