Environmental education in an interdisciplinary approach from the reuse of long life cardboard packaging.

Abstract

Este trabalho deflagrou com alunos de uma escola p??blica do munic??pio de Duque de Caxias, RJ, um processo de ensino-aprendizagem abordando temas de Educa????o Ambiental a partir de atividade pr??tica de reutiliza????o de embalagens cartonadas Longa Vida p??s-uso. Estas embalagens consistem em multicamadas de papel??o, polietileno e alum??nio, este ??ltimo com propriedade de refletir calor. A proposta consistiu em construir, junto com os alunos, mantas isolantes t??rmicas utilizando essas embalagens e instal??-las como subcobertura do telhado de salas de aulas da referida escola, a qual alcan??ava 47 0C no ver??o por n??o contar com infraestrutura para condicionamento t??rmico. Com isso, buscava-se diminuir a temperatura interna da sala de aula e contribuir para tornar o ambiente mais adequado para a conviv??ncia social e para o aprendizado. Do ponto de vista do ensino formal, a confec????o das mantas constituiu-se em atividade de integra????o de v??rias disciplinas ao envolver conte??dos de Ci??ncias, Matem??tica, Artes, Geografia e Portugu??s. Foram realizados debates e oficinas para abordar temas geradores relevantes na ??rea de Educa????o Ambiental, particularmente aqueles relacionados ?? reciclagem e reutiliza????o de materiais destinados ao lixo. Avaliamos poss??veis mudan??as de concep????es e percep????es dos alunos sobre ambiente, comparando suas respostas abertas em question??rios aplicados antes e ap??s participa????es nas atividades educativas propostas em nosso trabalho. Dentre outros resultados obtidos dessa avalia????o, ressalta-se aumento percentual significativo na associa????o de ambiente ?? melhoria de qualidade de vida, sendo que os pr??prios alunos passam a se reconhecer como co-respons??veis nas a????es de preserva????o do ambiente,atitude fundamental no exerc??cio da cidadania. Nossa proposta, portanto, consistiu em trabalhar com alunos do ensino fundamental conte??dos, procedimentos e valores necess??rios para difundir conceitos de Educa????o Ambiental e de cidadania a partir de uma estrat??gia objetiva de gera????o de um produto constru??do com material descart??vel na busca pela melhoria da qualidade de vida e pela valoriza????o de a????es de preserva????o do ambiente.This work was conducted with students from a public school in the municipality of Duque de Caxias, RJ, as part of a teaching-learning process to approach Environmental Education subjects, initiated by practical activities reusing Long Life cardboard packages. These packages consist of cardboard, polyethylene and aluminum multilayers, the latter presenting property to reflect heat. The proposal was to reuse these packages in order to built, along with pupils, thermal insulation blankets, and install them as roof under-coverage in the school classrooms, which lack infrastructure for thermal conditioning and reach 47 oC in the summer. Thus, we aimed to decrease the temperature inside the classroom and to make it more suitable for social living and learning. From the standpoint of formal education, the blankets construction actively integrated various disciplines to engage contents of Sciences, Mathematics, Arts, Geography and Portuguese. Discussions and workshops took place to deal with relevant topics for Environmental Education, especially those related to recycling and reuse of materials destined to the trash. We evaluated possible students??? conceptions and perceptions changes about the environment, comparing their open responses to questionnaires submitted before and after all the educational activities proposed in our work. Among other results of such evaluation, the study highlights that a higher number of students associated environment to improvement of quality of life, and these students were able to recognize themselves as co-responsible citizenships to preserve the environment. Our proposal, therefore, was to work with elementary school students to approach content, procedures and values needed to spread concepts of Environmental Education and of citizenship. Our strategy was based on practical activities to built products with discarded materials, focusing on actions to preserve the environment and to improve quality of life