Environmental interpretation has, over the past few years, become established as an educational tool used in numerous activities, providing knowledge generation in an accessible language. From this perspective, the objective of this text is to analyze the effectiveness of the interpretive brochure, developed and made available to participants of the Nature Walk held in December 2024 in Silveira Martins, as a way to aid in understanding the historical, cultural, and landscape elements of the route. The methodology adopted is based on the hypothetical-deductive method, assuming that the brochure will contribute to the walkers' experience. The research involved a theoretical review, the creation and layout of the brochure, and the application of a questionnaire with 12 objective questions to 100 participants, of whom only 35 responded. The results indicate that the use of the brochure is an effective tool for the dynamics of the walks and that it can be replicated for future editions. The brochure is considered effective in promoting environmental interpretation because it sparks curiosity and facilitates understanding of the route as a place of historical, cultural, and scenic importance in the municipality of Silveira Martins.
We tested the hypothesis that participation in the “Face to Face with Scientists” initiative enhances students’ environmental perception, leading to an increase in the occurrence of signs related to mangroves and estuaries in their mental maps. To test this, each student created an initial mental map based on their prior knowledge of mangroves and estuaries, a second map after the first activity with scientists from the PELD CSB project, and a final one after the field class along the Ecological Trail of the Pacoti River Estuary. The mental maps were analyzed through classification and quantification of signs and underwent interpretive analysis. Our hypothesis was confirmed; however, perceptions of the relationship between humans and the environment remained scarce even after the activities, indicating a strong resistance to transforming the dualistic view of humans and nature.
Plastic waste pollution in coastal environments represents one of the main threats to marine biodiversity and ecosystem health. In this context, citizen science emerges as a powerful tool for participatory environmental diagnostics and the strengthening of ecological awareness. This study aimed to characterize the solid waste collected in the community of Mochima, located within the Mochima National Park, Sucre state, Venezuela, through a collaborative monitoring event involving students, teachers, and volunteers. Through activities of collection, classification, and environmental awareness, a total of 673 items were recovered, 74% of which were plastics, with a predominance of single-use bags, bottles, and wrappers. In addition to identifying the composition and predominant colors of the waste, the experience helped strengthen local capacities in environmental analysis, promote non-formal education, and consolidate community co-responsibility values. The results highlight the potential of participatory methodologies to generate useful data, encourage behavioral changes in consumption habits, and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4, SDG 12, and SDG 14.
The groups of black communities in Colombia have established through their journey through the territory we now call Colombia, a particular way of relating to the environment, which, for the particular case of the Pacific, we propose to understand through the lens of the Aquatic Cultural Landscape. These adaptive forms to the environment were in turn responsible for the construction of forms of local knowledge, which before trying to dominate nature, have deciphered, through it, symbiotic ways of weaving life in the framework of an aquatic space. These particular forms of appropriation would be the fundamental support for an organizational process that later, in the last part of the 20th century, would have its turning point with the enactment of Law 70 of 1993, which would make viable the possibility of awarding collective territories to black communities that demonstrated their historical survival in the Pacific basin based on their traditional production practices. Although the scenario of materialization fixed its interest in the Colombian Pacific, -establishing it in passing as the referent of blackness in Colombia-, later experiences will show us how this imaginary has been gradually and necessarily overcome.
This work presents an integrative pedagogical practice using technological tools with the objective of initiating an environmental education process with elementary school students in the municipality of Areado, in the State of Minas Gerais, through the geographical conception of natural resources, using theoretical research, fieldwork, and technology based on the students' reality, in the year 2016. The methodology used initially focused on a case study, valuing the students' prior knowledge, and subsequently proposed fieldwork, where they emphasized the search for environmental problems and the creation of audiovisual material discussing the problems found and proposing solutions to these issues. As a result, there was great involvement on the part of the students, in addition to critical and very enriching debates about the experience lived. The use of technological tools for conducting research proved effective, as it accentuated the students' creativity.
