Producing food by decomposition: microorganisms and their role in the sustainable environment

Abstract

This work address's themes focused on science teaching and cross-cutting themes of health and the environment, developing practices and activities capable of relating mandatory content to students' prior knowledge. To this end, the project, implemented with students in the 6th year of elementary school II at the state school Professora Yolanda Martins, has as its focus the development of a compost bin to produce compost for fertilizing the school garden, using low-cost materials and easy access that consisted of three buckets with lids, a plastic tap, soil, sawdust, and worms. This work was divided into 5 stages, with the application of a semi-structured questionnaire at the beginning and end of the project; construction of the compost bin; application of the product generated in the gardens; conversation circles and application of practices on compost and microorganisms. The objective of these activities was to improve the teaching-learning process about microorganisms and environmental and health care. The results obtained allow us to state that although at the beginning of the project most of the students demonstrated that they did not know what composting is, the project provided an effective and interesting method of learning, allowing students to understand composting and correlate the microorganisms with the foods present on the day.