Introduction

Vaccination is one of the most important topics to be addressed when we talk about public health and health sciences. Vaccines act in our bodies by stimulating our immune system so that it is able to fight infectious diseases and, thus, provide protection. They are made of small amounts of weakened or dead bacteria or viruses, or fragments of these, which are introduced into our bodies, causing the immune system to generate a response.

The development of vaccines has been crucial for the decline in the incidence of numerous diseases worldwide. Some diseases, in fact, have been completely eradicated thanks to mass vaccination. Therefore, vaccination not only protects the individual who is vaccinated, but the entire society, through the so-called 'herd immunity'. This is a phenomenon that occurs when a large portion of the population in an area or a specific group is immune to a disease, thus protecting those who cannot be vaccinated for some specific reason.

Contextualization

In the current scenario, vaccination has never been so widely discussed. With the Covid-19 pandemic, the whole world saw the need for vaccines very clearly and urgently. Thanks to scientific and technological development, it was possible to create, test, and distribute vaccines against Covid-19 in record time, saving millions of lives.

However, despite all this importance and evidence, there is still much debate and misinformation surrounding the subject. Therefore, it is essential that you, as science students, deeply understand what vaccination is, how it works, and why it is so important for our individual and collective health.

Practical Activity

Activity Title: 'Vaccination: The Guardian of Our Body'

Project Objective

The objective of this project is for students to understand the importance and functioning of vaccination, and also to develop collaboration, research, critical reading, and writing skills.

Detailed Project Description

The groups will create a multimedia presentation on the topic 'Vaccination'. This presentation will need to address the following topics:

• Definition of what vaccines are
• How vaccines work
• The history of vaccination
• Examples of diseases eradicated or controlled through vaccination
• The role of vaccination in combating Covid-19
• The importance of vaccination for collective and individual health

Students should use their research skills to gather consistent and reliable information. It is essential that they cite their sources, giving credit to the collected information.

The groups will present their project to the class, adequately explaining each topic. In this presentation, they should also provide a space for interaction, where classmates can ask questions.

Required Materials

• Internet access for research
• Computer or laptop for the development of the multimedia presentation

Detailed Step-by-Step for Activity Completion

1. Group Division: Form groups of 3 to 5 students. When forming the group, discuss the topics to be researched and divide them among the members.

2. Research: Each group should start researching the determined topics, using the sources suggested in the introduction and other reliable sources.

3. Presentation Development: Combine the material collected by all members and start the process of creating the presentation. Make sure each topic is clear and understandable.

4. Review: Check if all necessary information is present and if the source citation is correct. Reread the presentation to correct any typos, grammar, and agreement errors.

5. Presentation: Prepare to present your research to the rest of the class. Each group member should actively participate in the presentation, demonstrating mastery of the content they researched and developed.

6. Written Document: Next, the group should write a document containing Introduction, Development, Conclusions, and Bibliography. The introduction should contextualize the theme and the project's objective. The development should explain the activity in detail, indicate the methodology used, and finally present and discuss the results obtained. The conclusion should summarize the main points, explaining the learnings obtained and the conclusions drawn from the project. The bibliography should indicate the sources that the students used to prepare the presentation.

The deadline for completing this project is one week.