Drawings explain what coronavirus is for children

Drawings explain what coronavirus is for children

Videos use playful language to explain the pandemic to children and teach them how to protect themselves

If understanding everything we are experiencing is already complicated for those who are adults, imagine how the heads of children. To facilitate this communication with children, the Open Interactivity Laboratory for the Dissemination of Scientific and Technological Knowledge (LAbI), from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), in São Paulo, developed the “Coronaoquê? ”.

A series of videos that uses the language of drawings to explain themes highlighted in the public debate on pandemic. The first episode tells what the new coronavirus is, protection recommendations, how to hand hygiene, the use of masks and physical distance. “She has already come from school with a lot of information about what the corona is, who cannot hug her colleague, these more basic things. For us it was more difficult to explain the reason for the mask, the fear of leaving home ”, he says Gisele Antoniolli, mother of Giovana, who is 4 years old.

She explains that the daughter’s reaction, when trying to understand this context of the pandemic, was one of fear. “For her, the corona is a big monster that will come and attack. So we need to work with her imagination, ”he said.

According to the LAbI content coordinator and creator of the production, Tárcio Minto Fabrício, the content is designed to bring the children’s audience closer to the news. “Children have undoubtedly heard these recommendations as instructions, but they don’t necessarily have the answer as to why they are necessary and important. In addition to looking for a language that can dialogue with doubts and also with the feelings caused by the pandemic, our objective is to present the scientific knowledge that supports these instructions, for example “, he points out. The “Coronaoquê?” Series is part of other LAbI content to disseminate reliable information about the COVID-19, supported by the Center for Innovation in New Energies (Cine) and the Center for the Development of Functional Materials (CDMF).

The production of the videos is available in the playlist “COVID-19” on the LAbI channel, on YouTube, ClickCiência and on the website www.labi.ufscar.br.

CDMF

O CDMF é um dos Centros de Pesquisa, Inovação e Difusão (Cepids) apoiados pela Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Fapesp), e recebe também investimento do Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), a partir do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia dos Materiais em Nanotecnologia (INCTMN).