Demystifying ophidism: bridging school and society to develop educational resources

Abstract Schools are inseparable from communities, and learning should empower students and the community to think and act on issues that affect them. In the semiarid Brazilian Caatinga, snake bites are a health issue. Negative beliefs and poor knowledge about snakes seed harmful attitudes, leading to high frequencies of snake bites and problems to conservation of these animals. Thus, we question whether the development of scientific and environmental education content using teaching strategies that valued the prior knowledge of local communities and context-related information could help to overcome beliefs and reduce accidents. The evaluation of this content showed positive changes in the perception of snakes and in the acquisition of new knowledge about these animals, and of prevention and post-bite actions, indicating that the adopted strategy supports science learning, contributing to both public health and conservation of snakes.