The Use of An Educational Game for Teaching Sexually Transmitted Diseases in High School

Prevention of sexually transmitted diseases is an act that promotes the health of the population, because they cause considerable mortality and morbidity in adults, adolescents and newborns and amplify the risk of HIV transmission. STIs are caused by viruses, bacteria, protozoa and fungi. The act of playing is essential for the proper development of human beings, being present in different stages of life, especially in childhood. The play is considered playing in a context of rules and a default order. As Morin (2003), not only children but also adults like to play. The use of educational games tends to improve the teaching-learning process and give the student a fun way to learn (Andrade et al., 2008; Volpato, 2002). The aim of this paper is to review on educational games and their role in education, using it as a pedagogical tool for teaching STDs when building an educational game aimed at promoting health. It is a theoretical study, based on the literature review, as well as textbooks and official documents. There was the construction of an educational game about STD/AIDS using a free software called Inkscape. The game consists of 1 die, 1 board, 4 pawns which represent images of children, adolescents, young adults and elderly of both sexes, and letters, 24 letters of warning signs which give us data on the situation of AIDS and STDs in Brazil and the world and in different population groups and 16 letters about STDs and their etiological agents, their modes of transmission and prevention. This paper presented a theoretical reflection on the use of games in education, its potential as teaching strategies, and be seen as an initiative of youth sex education, focusing on actions aimed at prevention of STDs such as HIV infection, especially for the age group 15 to 19 years.