A educação ambiental como ferramenta para a discussão da temática de embalagens plásticas na educação básica e seus efeitos ao meio ambiente e saúde humana

Abstract

The consumption of plastic, since its dissemination in the 20th century, has been increasing annually. A large part of the products generated from this polymer is immediately discarded, little recycled and slowly decomposed, which generates its accumulation and causes damage to the environment and human well-being. In this context, Environmental Education (EE) stands out as a tool to raise awareness of environmental problems and the conscientious consumption of plastic. Therefore, this work aims to encourage the knowledge of first-year high school students at a school located in the city of Uruçuí-PI regarding the safe and conscious use of plastic packaging and its risks associated with the environment and human health. All research participants were minors, and therefore participation required a Term of Responsibility signed by the students' legal guardians. In the first part of the research, students answered a questionnaire that sought to assess how EE is occurring in Basic Education in Uruçuí-PI, as well as the perspectives and knowledge of students related to this theme, with an emphasis on the study of plastic packaging. From the responses, two meetings were held using the Google Meet tool, where debates relevant to the topic occurred. After each of these meetings, a new questionnaire was administered to estimate the influence of the meetings on the students' learning. To prepare the questionnaires, the Google Forms tool was used and they were sent through the WhatsApp application. From the answers, we observed that EE was worked in an unsatisfactory and fragmented way in the school context of the participants, in disagreement with what is recommended by the current legislation. We also emphasize that students are aware of some problems associated with the use of plastic packaging, although they demonstrate ignorance of its risks to human health and the increase in its consumption during the new Coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, we emphasize that the discussions that took place remotely proved to be useful and appropriate for the period experienced, as well as pointing out the need to deal with topics relevant to EE in a contextualized way to the student's daily life and integrated with school contents