Abstract
The aim of the present study is to assess the use of rapid assessment protocols (RAPs) of rivers as environmental education (EE) instruments in elementary schools. Therefore, EE activities were proposed to students from a Brazilian public elementary school. The activities included ranged from environmental-monitoring workshops to RAPs adapted to the level of schooling of the students. The students completed questionnaires before and after the activities in order to check their degree of knowledge prior to the activities and to assess the information acquired after participation in the activities. The results established that the RAP provided and/or helped to instill social values, knowledge, skills, actions, and competences linked to the environmental conservation of local rivers. The study therefore proves that the use of the RAP would be a valuable addition to EE projects and programs in elementary schools.
Highlights
There is consensus that Environmental Education (EE) has enhanced awareness of environmental issues and has promoted conservationist practices (Fujitani et al, 2016; Marks et al, 2016)
The present results may be explained by the fact that students were in constant contact with daily issues related to watercourses, such as garbage on the river banks, deforestation, discomfort due to bad odor, among others
According to Sulaiman (2011), even before the internet and globalization, the amount of information spread by the written press, radio and television had already exceeded the amount of information found in text books, so students already had knowledge related to watercourses
Summary
There is consensus that Environmental Education (EE) has enhanced awareness of environmental issues and has promoted conservationist practices (Fujitani et al, 2016; Marks et al, 2016). Careful evaluation of the impact of human activities on the functioning of aquatic ecosystems is essential; this task is difficult or even impossible when financial resources are scarce, when it must be performed in remote areas, and when it must be accomplished in a very short time span (Polonschii and Gheorghiu, 2017). This does not mean that the task should not be performed. The rapid assessment protocol (RAP) of rivers can be a complementary instrument to monitor water resources, because it assesses the parameters that determine the quality of rivers’ physical conditions in an integrated way
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