Uso de análises físico-químicas de composteiras orgânicas como ferramenta de contextualização para o esnino de química

Abstract

The accumulation of solid organic residues in Brazil is one of the main catalysts of environmental issues. And the lack of investment in actions that can tackle these problems have been in called into question by environmental movements that point out to Environmental Education (EE) as one of the ways of diminishing this social and environmental impact. To highlight this, one of the environmental practices that can offer a proper destination for organic garbage is composting. Composting consists in the process of decomposition of organic residues and depends on ideal conditions of humidity, temperature, pH, oxygenation and availability of microorganisms for its proper functioning. Thus we aimed at carrying out physical-chemical analyses of three organic composters built with materials from IFPI – Cocal Campus. This activity was carried out with a strategy of reuse of these residues and also of contextualization of the teaching of organic chemistry in a 3rd year High School classroom of the technical course of Management. The analyses of the composters were carried out every fortnight with the collaboration of the students and we got results equivalent to those found in the literature, such as: temperature (we achieved success in the mesophilic stage), humidity (with an average of 57,16%, 56,88% and 57,68%) and pH (final pH of 8,33; 8,54 and 8,21). Regarding the aeration process, we observed that its absence resulted in the release of foul smells and slow decomposition on the control composter (without aeration). Thus we conclude that composting can be a strategy for reusing the residues, besides being a good tool for contextualizing chemistry contents, bringing them closer to the daily life of the students