Compost formation as the theme of a pedagogical project in environmental education: vision of the school community as evaluated by content analysis

Abstract

One of the major environmental problems today is the large quantity of residues produced daily. In the elementary and secondary schools, Tenente Rêgo Barros (ETRB), in the city of Belém (PA), about 3 tons of dry material are produced each semester in the schools’ green spaces. To dispose of this material in an environmentally friendly manner and to educate the pupils about environmental responsibility, an interdisciplinary and transversal project has been developed. The project uses composting as a method of environmental education and meaningful learning. This work aims to analyse the interests of pedagogical advisors, teachers, school employees and the parents of ETRB students, to examine the degree to which academic staff are involved. The study used two instruments to collect the data, a questionnaire and a freehand drawing subjected to content analysis. The results indicate that the community is in favor of the project but only 20% of the teachers could see the educative utility of the compost formation. About 70% of the school community saw the production of organic fertilizer as an end in itself and as a solution for the disposal of organic residue.  Most of the faculty and employees saw the formation of compost as being restricted to a scientific subject.  Hence, what is needed is a discussion by the teachers on the interdisciplinary and transversal nature of the compost formation to attain the objective of environmental education.