RECYCLING FOR A BETTER FUTURE

Teacher: Paula Adriana da Silva Sabadim
School: E. M. Professora Edilene Marli Borghese
City: Piracicaba-SP
Country: Brasil
Project: "Learning to preserve Biodiversity: Recycling today for the future."

Our planet sends out distress signals every day. That is why it is important to recycle materials that can be reused.

To warn the younger generation about the importance of recycling, Paula Sabadim, a teacher from Piracicaba, the interior of São Paulo, decided to radically change the routine of her 2nd grade students from the Professora Edilene Marli Borghese Municipal School.

The first step was to promote a discussion with students and take them to the computer room. There, with the help of the Koogan Houaiss Encyclopedia, they did in-depth research about recycling.

Returning to their classroom, and all fired up about the subject, the students created a project using the Kid Pix software about the urgent need for everyone to separate their garbage. At home, each student had to remove recyclable materials from the garbage and take them to school.

With the whole issue of recycling at the tips of their tongues, Paula assigned a second research project, this time about biodiversity in the region where they live. With Multimundos (a multi-disciplinary learning panel) they learned about serious environmental problems like water, soil and atmospheric pollution.

The students brought in materials and put them on display in the classroom and the information was recorded using the Multimedia organizing software Sem Segredos and all of the stages of their work were published on the Timeline software. At the same time, they made posters to raise awareness about the importance of recycling and presented them to other classes at the school.

The involvement of the kids and the whole school was impressive, that is why Ms. Sabadim decided to create debates about different themes related to the environment. They also went on field trips around the city to learn more about the subjects.

As a lesson, the community learned how useful technology can be, especially when it comes to the preservation of our planet. Recycling our concepts and attitudes is also fundamental.