HOW TO STRUCTURE AN INTEGRATED CURRICULUM IN A DENTISTRY COURSE?

Abstract

Introduction: Despite  the  advent  of  the National  Curricular  Guidelines  (DCN)  of Dentistry courses since 2002, the curriculum design of most courses still maintains isolated   disciplines, without   articulation   with   the   essential   elements   for   the formation of generalists, with a distance between the cycle basic and professional one. Objective: To develop a proposal for an integrated curriculum, mediated by active  learning  methodologies  and  process  evaluation  of  learning. Methods: To construct the proposal, axes were identified to compose an integrated curriculum, coherent  with  the  DCN. Results: The  curriculum  consists  of  five  axes:  Integrated Modules, Supervised Internship, Extension, Flexibilization and Course Completion Work.  The  Integrated  modules  articulate  skills  and  competences  that  involve knowledge  of  the  basic,  clinical  and  collective  health  areas.  The  Supervised internship  takes  place  during  the  last  two  periods  of  the  course,  in  the Unified Health  System.  The  Extension is  configured by  the  development  of  activities  that articulate  the  insertion  of  the  community  with  the  students'  learning,  seeking benefits   for   the   course   environment.   For   Flexibilization   were   defined:   (1) Complementary activities  and  (2)  Optional  curricular  components,  allowing  the student  to  define  the  singular  formative  course.  The  Course  Conclusion  Work should be developed transversally from the first semester of the course, by specific curricular components related to the learning of scientific research methodologies or in the integrated modules themselves. Conclusions: In order to make curriculum development,  it  is  fundamental  to  adopt  active  learning  methodologies  in  all  the planned axes, allowing the student to build his learning. Likewise, it is fundamental to evaluate the evaluation process that effectively contributes to a teacher-student relationship mediated by the search for knowledge, allowing both to be subjects in the  process.  The  main  challenge  to  reachthe  proposal  refers  to  the  permanent process of teacher development in the construction of a "new" classroom