A collaborative work process for the development of coastal environmental education activities in a public school in São Sebastião (São Paulo State, Brazil)

Abstract

Environmental education (EE) is a way to promote coastal literacy among elementary school students, using an integrated and interdisciplinary point of view. This study describes and analyzes the collaborative process of creation of interdisciplinary and participatory EE activities in an elementary public school in the São Sebastião municipality (Brazil), a place with rich and diverse ecosystems but subjected to great anthropogenic stressors. Activities were evaluated based on mobilization (of teachers), planning, implementation, and feedback. The main results were: (I) 13 teachers initially joined the EE project, but only 7 actually developed activities; (II) 16 activities were planned and 13 of those were implemented; and (III) feedback was essentially positive from the teachers that engaged in the project. The materials produced were displayed afterwards at a municipal educational fair. The existence of a school's environmental agenda, support from the school principal and university researchers, time availability for the teachers planning the activities, financial support, and the participation of local people were factors that fostered the EE initiative. Lack of time, low interest and engagement from school teachers, lack of discipline among school students, too many students per class, and discontinuation of the EE activities in following years were identified as difficulties to overcome. This collaborative process of approaching socio-environmental problems aimed to give students an integrated and interdisciplinary view, potentially contributing to future coastal management decision processes through public participation, to empower local social actors.