Rapid assessment protocols of rivers as instruments of environmental education in elementary schools

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to assess the use of rapid assessment protocols (RAPs) of rivers as environmental education (EE) instruments in elementary schools. Therefore, EE activities were proposed to students from a Brazilian public elementary school. The activities included ranged from environmental-monitoring workshops to RAPs adapted to the level of schooling of the students. The students completed questionnaires before and after the activities in order to check their degree of knowledge prior to the activities and to assess the information acquired after participation in the activities. The results established that the RAP provided and/or helped to instill social values, knowledge, skills, actions, and competences linked to the environmental conservation of local rivers. The study therefore proves that the use of the RAP would be a valuable addition to EE projects and programs in elementary schools.

Promoting Environmental Education for Primary School-aged Students Using Digital Technologies

“…Digital platforms also provide a context for motivational student-driven problem-or project-based learning approaches. In particular, such technologies undergird and facilitate citizen science projects (Krazny & Tidball, 2009;Propen, 2015) with their propensity for learner participation and agency (Bandura, 1989), and real-world benefits (Cooper, 2016). Indeed, agency may well be a crucial factor in addressing the complex, large-scale problems of environmental degradation.…”

“…Vignette 3 is more difficult to neatly classify, being an education program featuring different aspects of contributory, collaborative and co-created projects. Cooper (2016Cooper ( , 2018 emphasises that there are different design features of associated typologies, in relation to the language used, and types of activities supported. Contributory projects, for example, tend to focus on creating a 'community of interest', while co-created projects build a 'community of place' (Cooper, 2016(Cooper, , 2018.…”

“…Cooper (2016Cooper ( , 2018 emphasises that there are different design features of associated typologies, in relation to the language used, and types of activities supported. Contributory projects, for example, tend to focus on creating a 'community of interest', while co-created projects build a 'community of place' (Cooper, 2016(Cooper, , 2018. Regardless of where a project or initiative sits on the continuum, Cooper (2016Cooper ( , 2018 emphasises the potential of citizen science participation in opening people to other ways of knowing.…”

“…Contributory projects, for example, tend to focus on creating a 'community of interest', while co-created projects build a 'community of place' (Cooper, 2016(Cooper, , 2018. Regardless of where a project or initiative sits on the continuum, Cooper (2016Cooper ( , 2018 emphasises the potential of citizen science participation in opening people to other ways of knowing. She makes a particular call to teachers: "When teachers can offer authentic, hands-on science experiences, students can gain a love for discovery and a lifelong curiosity to understand not only what is already known but also what is not yet known" (Cooper, 2016, p. 278).…”

Rapid Environmental Planning Methodology: Developing Strategies for the Planners’ Education

“…They are also useful for standardizing field visit procedures for environmental surveillance professionals, which ensures efficiency and equity in impact assessment (Vasconcelos, 2014). Rapid diagnostics have also been used as teaching resources in environmental education, from primary education (Guimarães et al, 2017) to higher education (Callisto et al, 2002). In these cases, the methodology allows the students’ attention to be guided to relevant aspects during the fieldwork, in addition to providing a database for analysis, which contains systematic data from the information collected by the different groups.…”