Practices Developed by A Student Scientific Society of a School of Dentistry in Peru

Introduction: A Student Scientific Society is a strategy that strengthens formative research through the development of projects, discussions and activities that allow learning to research. Objective: To describe the practices developed by a Student Scientific Society in the Peruvian dental context. Methods: A case study that described the practices developed by the Scientific Society of Dentistry Students of the National University San Luis Gonzaga (Ica, Peru) during 11 sessions, through participant observation. The categories analyzed were basic organizational dynamics, participatory dynamics and content of the sessions. The analysis was based on triangulation and identification of connections between the categories. Results: The Student Scientific Society is a seedbed led by undergraduate students, which had 15 to 20 members. The activities were cyclical and included seminars, workshops, exhibitions, magazine club, recreational activities, scientific production and dissemination through the social networks. Its main activities involve training, dissemination, social projection and production. Conclusions: The observed practices of a hotbed allow conceiving a Student Scientific Society as a learning community that recognizes its role in a disciplinary context where the nature of the research and the investigative act within that community is designed. Students, within that community, begin to realize that research is a way of understanding life and solving problems.