Experience with Practical Environmental Education in Primary Schools

Manfred Fehr

doi:10.11648/j.ijepp.20160401.11

Abstract

This paper relates ongoing research on environmental quality in the Brazilian school universe, with analyses and results from six schools. The objective is to achieve environmental education of students through exposure to the impacts of their school on city infrastructure. In the first two schools, the work plan addressed composting of food residues from the canteen. The work in the third school included measurements of raw waste composition and destinations for sorted waste. In the fourth school, students composted biodegradable residues, sorted inert waste and delivered it to reverse logistics. In the fifth school, the scope included water and energy management. The work with this community resulted in the proposal of an environmental management system. In the sixth school, the students developed score sheets for sustainable behavior, which referred to water and energy consumption, waste production and degree of sorting and noise levels. In conclusion, this research established quantifiers to show the contribution of a school to a sustainable city.

Highlights

Enterprises of the production and service sectors routinely use environmental performance analyses, but its application in primary schools is uncommon.Since 2004, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) operates the Kid’s ISO 14000 Program with the declared objectives “to develop environmental awareness among children, to teach them to implement environmental management in homes and communities and to open them to the value of networking with young people in other schools” [18]
The query is “Does the school community know its impact on city infrastructure and what does it do to minimize it?”
Measurements taken by students included the following items: Rate of solid waste production, degree of sorting at the source and delivery to pertinent destinations, by manual weighing of all waste items produced per day

Summary

Introduction

Enterprises of the production and service sectors routinely use environmental performance analyses, but its application in primary schools is uncommon.Since 2004, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) operates the Kid’s ISO 14000 Program with the declared objectives “to develop environmental awareness among children, to teach them to implement environmental management in homes and communities and to open them to the value of networking with young people in other schools” [18]. The authors of [22], [21] and [6] describe the importance of environmental education in the school context, but the treatments remain general. Author [25] defends the idea that a school is not an isolated entity. It is part of the social context of the city and as such, cannot remain inert with respect to its interaction with the municipal environment. This idea forms the basis of the present study. The query is “Does the school community know its impact on city infrastructure and what does it do to minimize it?”

Methods

Results

Conclusion