Práticas investigativas sobre os impactos antrópicos no Córrego dos Pereiras, Ribeirão das Neves, MG

Abstract

The water uses by Governments and population must be done with cautions to avoid a shortage of this natural resource. As a paradox, high demand in urban areas is generally accompanied by water degradation. The riverside populations often have little knowledge about preservation and generally

prefer the stream channelization instead restoration. The school, as a source of information and opinion- makers, must be able to join science and everyday life to promote improvements for the school

community and its surroundings. Teaching by scientific investigation methods will contribute to develop autonomy and intellectual construction through investigative and/or manipulative activities, providing the students the ability to propose solutions for problems. Here, we present strategies built by teacher and students to evaluate the degradation of an urban stream (Córrego dos Pereiras), located next to a school in the municipality of Ribeirão das Neves – Minas Gerais State. Despite this stream have relevant dimensions, being observed in satellite images, it is neglected in some databases and is excluded from maps in internet sites. This study was focused in the development of a Didactic Sequence based in different activities, such as a Rapid Assessment Protocol (PAR), applying questionnaires related to the community perception about the waterbody, development of a didactic game, data collection for statistical analyses, and building of a panel with the steps of the adopted Scientific Method. As a product, this Didactic Sequence may help educators to teach topics such as river ecology, social demands for water and conservation, among others. We achieved some goals, such as the qualitative assessment activities as a tool to teach the steps of the Scientific Method. The students were able to create questions and relevant hypotheses, to prepare texts, to analyze dataset and to generate conclusions. The project was finalized by the built of a poster that summarized the entire process. The students learned key concepts and understood what are the major parameters considered in the protocol. They also understood the processes that can lead to waterbodies degradation. Based on positive results, we suggest teaching by investigation as good tool to be increasingly adopted in the High School. This is especially important for public schools in Brazil, where there is low availability of resources and equipments. Thus, learning the Scientific Method could help students to become more autonomous to build their knowledge and favor the development of critical thinking. In this sense, the results obtained in this study were very satisfactory, with a noticeable increase in the critical capacity of students after the application of the Didactic Sequence.