Educação em saúde na educação física escolar: análise de um processo didático-pedagógico desenvolvido nos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental

Abstract

School Physical Education (SPE), historically marked by approaches centered on physical fitness and sport, can address health beyond a predominantly biological and individual perspective. This study aimed to analyze the limits, weaknesses, and potentialities of a didactic sequence on health from a multifactorial perspective, developed with 5th-grade elementary school students and grounded in the teacher’s experience. The study adopted an applied, qualitative, and intervention-based approach. A didactic sequence comprising eight 90-minute classes was implemented with two 5th-grade groups, totaling 25 students. Data were produced through field diary records and analyzed using Content Analysis. The results showed that the planning process required successive revisions so that health could become the central axis of the proposal, while bodily practices remained as possibilities for pedagogical mediation. During implementation, challenges emerged regarding instructional time, conceptual complexity, language adaptation, differences between the groups, and the need to revisit and reorganize didactic strategies. The records also indicated signs of broadening students’ understandings of health, with greater presence of emotional, social, and environmental dimensions, although this process was not homogeneous. It is concluded that addressing health from a multifactorial perspective in 5th-grade School Physical Education is feasible, but requires intentional planning, teacher mediation, pedagogical flexibility, and adaptation to the students’ stage of schooling. The educational product consisted of a reformulated version of the didactic sequence based on evidence produced throughout the investigation.