Winter course in physiology: a successful example of continuing education for secondary school teachers in Brazil

In international surveys, Brazilian students have been consistently ranking low in science. Continuing education for secondary school teachers is certainly a way to change this situation. To update teachers and provide teaching and learning experiences for graduate students, our department organized a "Winter Course in Physiology" where schoolteachers had the opportunity to attend lectures that were offered by graduate students and participate in discussions on teaching and learning strategies and their applicability, considering different schools and student age groups. This work evaluated the ways in which the Winter Course in Physiology improves continuing education for secondary school teachers. Graduate students prepared, presented, and discussed with the audience the concepts, content, and topics of the program, which were previously presented to the organizing committee and a supervising professor. Potential participants were recruited based on their curriculum vitae and a letter of intent. During the course, they completed a questionnaire that graded different aspects of course organization and lectures. The results indicated that the Winter Course was positively evaluated. Most topics received a grade of ≥4.0, considering a range of 1.0 (low) to 5.0 (high). In a followup, both the participants and instructors reported positive impacts on their overall knowledge in physiology. Schoolteachers reported improvements in the performance and participation of their students. In conclusion, the results suggested that the Winter Course is a good way to promote continuing education for schoolteachers and promote university outreach. It also provided an important experience for graduate students to develop teaching skills.