Abstract
The sudden event of the spread of dengue fever (or break-bone fever) that appeared for the first time in Cape Verde in 2009 revealed that inappropriate management of waste can be considered a major cause of the spread of this disease. Dengue fever is a tropical infectious disease that is caused by the dengue virus. Its vector, the mosquito Aedes aegypti, found an optimal environment for its life cycle in the context of Cape Verde, with the persistence of water in abandoned waste objects. The connection between the topics of Earth sciences and the spread of this disease is not obvious, but it was explored and illustrated in a school partnership. Activities with pupils and students provided an opportunity to investigate how some global phenomena, like climate change (with an increase in local rainfall and higher temperatures), are related to local events, such as the spread of dengue fever. Preventive strategies are conditioned by the geomorphology of the territory and by the complex relationships that connect the geosphere and the biosphere. For this reason, it is important to be aware of the risk of breaking these delicate balances, and hence activating unexpected consequences. The roles played by both partners linked knowledge about the natural dynamics of our planet with the development of appropriate behavior, thus contributing to the formation of responsible citizenship, to preserve and protect the environment. The partnership encouraged students to develop sustainable management strategies against dengue fever, and consequently against waste, actively involving them at school, at home, and in their community. In this study, we present a case study of the role of a school partnership in a complex problem, such as the spread of dengue fever and environmental pollution.
Highlights
Several years of international cooperation between Italy and Cape Verde Republic in the field of environmental education have led to an enriching interchange among the teachers and students, and to interesting results about primitive conceptions and misconceptions of the topics explored [Ferrero et al 2006, 2007]
Materials and methods In the case study described in this report, both the Italian students and the Cape Verde students were asked to work on two worksheets that were structured in the same way, to highlight their preconceptions about the complex and varied topic of waste
The case study described here was connected with recent episodes of epidemic dengue fever that had not been previously present in the Cape Verde islands, and which generated many victims and great concern
Summary
The research included a curriculum for environmental education in a process of education for sustainability and for the training of tomorrow’s citizens, according to the following aims:– to actively participate in the education and training of responsible citizens;– to highlight the importance of Earth Sciences for the management and protection of the environment;– to propose a didactic trail, for both the young and adults.The objectives were aimed at achieving disciplinary knowledge (related to the curriculum or not), skills, and abilities (linguistic, analytical, and logical thinking):– to detect and exploit the correlation between the emotional and cognitive study of twinning in various disciplines (history, geography, art, science and computer science);– to propose a course of education for sustainability at different levels: cognitive, emotional, between teachers, VIALE AND FERRERO between students, and between teachers and students, of the twin countries;– to investigate how the students of the two partner countries perceive waste, and to compare the results in their socio-economic context;– to produce a didactic tool to highlight the correlation between local and global aspects (‘bad’ waste management, climate change, and the spread of dengue fever);– to produce didactic tools to be presented to the student and teacher partners to maintain the path of twinning and to directly involve the participants in the exchange of reports and discussions.Several years of international cooperation between Italy and Cape Verde Republic in the field of environmental education have led to an enriching interchange among the teachers and students, and to interesting results about primitive conceptions and misconceptions of the topics explored [Ferrero et al 2006, 2007]. – to produce didactic tools to be presented to the student and teacher partners to maintain the path of twinning and to directly involve the participants in the exchange of reports and discussions. The main results relating to some of the students’ skills were: a) to improve the individual awareness of local risks, connected to the geological and topographic nature of the territory; b) to allow the students to discover and experience the information and processes directly in the field; c) to stimulate interest in the connection between human actions and natural processes; d) to facilitate the understanding of complex concepts that require a high level of abstract thought; e) to discuss the results inside the classroom, and to exchange and compare the didactic products with the partners of the other country
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