ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF GARBAGE: A PROJECT OF SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ABOUT URBAN SOLID WASTE IN A SCHOOL COMMUNITY

Abstract

This paper sought to analyze a didactic sequence "Ecological Footprint of Garbage" that discusses one of the biggest urban environmental problems - the Urban Solid Waste and was developed with students from a public-school promoting action that would reach the school community in order to sensitize, raise awareness and guide to the correct final destination. It was built by articulating the epistemic and pedagogical dimensions. In the epistemic dimension, we sought to bring scientific knowledge closer to the real world based on a problem situation, and in the pedagogical dimension, the activities emphasized social interactions using a cooperative method within the framework of Participatory Research. The analysis of the didactic sequence presented as positive aspects the motivation and interest of the students; a more significant debate in the classes based on contextualized problem situations from the experience and reality that they already know favored a learning dynamic that transcends the limits of the content studied. As negative aspects, the main difficulty refers to the interdisciplinary work, as a consequence of a fragmented view throughout the teacher's training, interfering in the practice by objecting to the rescission of conservative practices that make teaching extremely content-based. However, it could be concluded with the unfolding of the Environmental Education Project on the disposal of solid waste via reverse logistics in the school context that it stimulates socio-environmental responsibility with the change of attitudes and behaviors, seeking the full exercise of citizenship and forming more active, critical and active students about environmental problems.