Reinventing Environmental Education

Reinventing Environmental Education

On this National Day of Environmental Education, we are going to tell the story of a very cool project that took place at the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI) and one of its offshoots.

In 2017 was created at UFPI, Picos campus, O "Space for Coexistence with the Semiarid Environment (HOME)" which constantly received visits from children from various local schools. There were executed several amazing projects, including the meliponário, where visiting children had the chance to learn a little more about native bees and get to know them up close.

Since last year, with the worsening of the pandemic and social restrictions, access to the public unfortunately had to be provisionally canceled. Faced with the challenge of reinventing environmental education, the coordinators of E-CASA had the brilliant idea of ​​preparing a new project that would somehow take the experiences, so far interrupted, close to the rural children. From that, the Project “Agroecology in the network: agroecological stories", where the coordinators Juliana Bendini and Michelli Ferreira together with the members of the Study Group on Bees in the Semi-Arid of Piauí (GEASPI) found a way to maintain a connection between these children and the environment even in the context of social isolation.

During project execution, GEASPI students recorded audios and videos telling stories with environmental themes in rural areas, focusing on the Caatinga. These stories were sent to rural school teachers via Whatsapp, that forwarded to the students.

The project reached more than 100 children, and one of them was Maria Cecília, who is enchanted by the world of bees. It was the teacher. Pull. Juliana Bendini, The coordinator of the “Agroecological Stories” project was the one who told us a little about Maria Cecília's story to us at Bee or not to be: “Maria Cecília started talking to me through audios, always very curious about bees. I bought Bee's activity notebook and sent it to her,  now she says in all corners of her village that she will be famous and a student of bees”.

The teacher bought an Environmental Education Activity Booklet for the campaign “without bee without food” and presented the young Maria Cecília, resident of the village of Vaquejador, who sent us photos and videos telling us what they learned! Check out the video below.

See also the report made by the Globo TV affiliate about the project by clicking on here.

To learn a little more about the Environmental Education Activities Book, go to: https://www.semabelhasemalimento.com.br/educacao-ambiental/.