O que os livros didáticos de ciências ensinam sobre HIV/AIDS?: uma análise documental de livros do 8° ano (PNLD 2024)

Abstract

The present study aims to analyze how Elementary Education: Final Years (8th grade) Science textbooks, distributed by the 2024 National Textbook Program (PNLD), approach the theme of HIV/AIDS. The research is justified by the significant increase in new cases of HIV infection among young people in Brazil and by the historical persistence of social stigma surrounding the disease. This is a qualitative and documentary research study. The corpus consisted of five science textbooks intended for the 8th grade. Data were analyzed in light of Bardin's Content Analysis, organized into three pre-defined categories: biological approach, socio-educational and political approach, and diverse didactic strategies. The results evidenced that the predominant approach in the analyzed books is strongly anchored in a biomedical and biologicist model. A severe gap was found in the socio-educational and political approach, as the analyzed collections fail to incorporate recent advances, such as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), and Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), as well as the concept of "Undetectable = Untransmittable" (U=U). An insufficiency was also observed in the historical retrieval of the epidemic and in the dialogue with national campaigns, such as Red December (Dezembro Vermelho). Regarding didactic strategies, although there is an effort to diversify visual resources, the proposed exercises are mostly restricted to the memorization of biological concepts, lacking dynamic activities and presenting a lag in the use of virtual resources. It is concluded that the analyzed works present difficulties in equipping young people beyond biological mechanics, neglecting an emancipatory health education and a robust debate on combating discrimination. Thus, the indispensable role of the teacher as a critical mediator and the urgency of structural and human revision in future editions of the PNLD are highlighted.