Sustainability in Practice: Using Residual Biomass As a Theoretical-Practical Strategy to Bring Students Closer to Valuating the Activity: Perceptions of Students and the Concepts of Chemistry and Environmental Issues

Abstract

With the goal of bringing scientific research closer to students and stimulating their professional skills and competencies, this work is aimed at analyzing the benefits that High School students can obtain from performing scientific theoretical–practical activities, using residual biomass, that are generally conducted at the Higher Education level. The theoretical-practical activities performed were focused on the following themes: sustainability, organic solid waste, adsorbents, pollution, and water treatment. The practical activities were carried out using inexpensive household materials/resources; that is, without the need for expensive materials or laboratory equipment. To aid them in the conduct of the theoretical activities, the students were provided professional guidance and orientation on how to prepare scientific reports, perform searches on Google Scholar, and access search systems to obtain scientific materials and publications through databases, repositories, portals and specialized Web sites. The conduct of the proposed scientific theoretical-practical activities helped stimulate the High School students’ autonomy to perform experiments, understand the importance of scientific writing and how to write a scientific essay. Students who participated in the meetings said that the activities played an important role in helping them understand and associate chemistry concepts with issues related to the environment and sustainability.