LEARNING, SKILLS AND VALUES IN EDUCATIONAL PROJECT FOR PHARMACY STUDENTS: UNIVERSITY OF COSTA RICA 2016

The objective of this paper is to share the experiences of an educational project under the collaborative learning approach to project the role of pharmacy students as health educators, while learning about public health issues and practicing skills and values with the development of community activities. An educational project was developed in 2016, during two cycles of the university period; from March to June and from August to November, at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Costa Rica. The project consisted of three main phases: preparation, implementation and evaluation. Under the tutelage of a teacher, students used collaborative learning to find out about various Public Health issues. Students worked in teams to plan, implement and evaluate educational activities in the community setting. Students submitted written reports and oral presentations to evidence the knowledge, skills and values learned. A session was held to share experiences and evaluate the project in general. A total of 133 students, 91 women and 42 men participated in the project, especially third and fourth year students. The students learned about the various topics in health promotion and disease prevention that they selected through bibliographic research, as well as developed skills in teamwork, use of technologies, creative thinking, decision making and problem solving. Within the values of responsibility, commitment, trust and respect. According to the opinion of students, the project allowed them to raise awareness about their role as health educators through collaborative learning, working as a team and with the help of technology and teacher guidance.