Education for Water: Stimulating the environmental understanding of students of initial years of elementary school about the importance of water

Abstract

The specialized literature indicates the need for an educational approach focused on Education for Water, which should include both spatial and temporal dimensions. Within this context, we set out our research problem: How can we develop environmental understanding, in specific contexts, in students in the early years of elementary school about the importance of water? To answer this question, the research aimed to design, develop, and evaluate the implementation of educational actions focused on Education for Water at the Bento Mossurunga Municipal School, located in the municipality of Campo Mourão, Paraná, Brazil, targeting students in the early years of elementary school. These actions included interdisciplinary lectures given to 110 students from 1st to 5th grade, based on the guidelines of the National Common Core Curriculum, the Campo Mourão Pedagogical Curriculum Project, and interactions between Science, Technology, and Society (STS). The students speeches, teachers verbal reports, and parents responses to a printed questionnaire were used as data to find evidence of the development of students environmental understanding of the importance of water. The students understanding of the origin of the water used in their homes, the treatment process that water goes through before consumption, and the destination of sewage was broadened. The conclusion is that contextualized educational interventions, aligned with the objectives established by the guiding curriculum documents and based on the principles of STS relations, can significantly contribute to promoting Education for Water.