Environmental education in distance learning in Environmental Engineering at Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil: potentialities and limitations towards a critical techno-scientific education

Abstract

Incorporating Environmental Education (EE) in Higher Education Institutions syllabi has been a great challenge for educators. Despite of its importance and the diversity of didactic approaches to build sustainability knowledge and skills in Higher Education, there is a lack in the literature related to the role of Distance Learning (DL) in this process, especially in engineering programs. In this context, the article presents a case study aiming at analising the potential of an EE module to promote critical educational processes in environmental engineering undergraduate course via DL at Federal University of Sao Carlos (UFSCar), Sao Paulo state, Brazil. More specifically, the potentialities and limitations of a module in the formative processes of environmental engineers have been analysed, taking into account their views about sustainability and EE concepts based on the Critical Theory. The methodology of this case study research consisted of the analysis content, employing the assessment activities of the students along and at the end of the module, as well as the application of their concepts in a social-educational intervention project. The results pointed out that even though a single module may not be considered responsible for a complete critical EE, there are significant contributions of such DL approach for the understanding of environmental engineering as an ample, critical and participative process by the students of the undergraduate course, specially to enable insights on the deepest causes of the socio-environmental crisis and on the complexity which involves the proposals to change such reality.