Two decades of learning with the Geo-School Project: a journey to introduce Geoscience into schools

Abstract

Since 2000, the Geo-School project has implemented successive modules, which have produced, applied and evaluated experimental teaching material, after careful selection of geological topics about some regions of the state of São Paulo (SP) in Brazil. For more than 20 years, technology has changed, and so has our access to it. In this sense, school-university cooperation allows school teachers to explore the cognitive benefits of the Earth Sciences, either by exercising geological reasoning and conceptualization, or to contextualize and improve learning. Looking to promote insights on multidisciplinary activities, the project identified significant methodological issues and the fact that the state government did not achieve gains in terms of innovation, despite heavy investments in equipment and software. This paper analyses successes and failures, errors and benefits of the project. The ongoing modules yield new approaches, thus enhancing the main contribution from the initiative: to explore Geosciences based on local reality to spark students’ and their community’s interest in it.