Biodigestor rural como ferramenta para a aprendizagem de conceitos ecológicos e saberes ambientais

Abstract

Connecting the real world of students with scientific and academic knowledge addressed in classrooms is a desire of most teachers. Considering this reality, especially from a state school in the northwest of Minas Gerais, the proposal for this work emerged. Locally, rural activity provides the main source of income for the families of many high school students who attendthat school. In this sense, this work aimed to: (1) develop a teaching method on the use of organic waste through experiments and construction of a biodigester and (2) Promote a critical reflection of the teaching method, through articles and in the reproduction of biodigesters, identifying the limitations/potentials that can influence students' understanding of the process of building scientific knowledge and the consequences for the generation of economic and environmental benefits. In order to achieve the first objective, activities were developed based on the principles of Science Teaching by Investigation integrated to the Science, Technology and Society perspective. To achieve the second objective, a bibliographic research was carried out supported by data collected from materials built for experimentation and photographs. The work was originally conceived to be applied in person. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a reorientation was necessary to adapt to the PROFBIO deadlines and the method was not applied. It was therefore decided to produce the teaching sequence and build two types of biodigesters to test the feasibility of the proposal. With the future application of this work, I hope to contribute to offering opportunities for students to reflect on environmental impacts and alternatives for generating energy and income from organic waste discarded in the properties where they live. Additionally, I intend to promote the social role of science teaching, from the perspective of citizenship formation, so that students give new meaning to the knowledge about the use of organic waste and share this knowledge to other audiences in the region.