Raw data "Farm-school" project

Abstract

Raw data from "Farm-school" project developed in 2017

Abstract of the article to be submitted:

In recent years, the pace of population growth has put pressure on natural resources and agricultural production. In order to meet the population's demand for food in the coming decades, research has been carried out with the effort to find ways to sustainably increase production efficiency. On the other hand, some researchers suggest that there should be a change in the population's diet and there are still those who advocate that avoiding food waste would be enough to guarantee food security. Regardless of the path to be adopted, the fact is that society, especially in large cities, has not learned to relate their individual or collective consumption attitudes to agricultural production and environmental quality. This imposes an educational task on governments - a priority and urgent one – to bring information about agricultural production closer to elementary school students, generating knowledge and stimulating the formation of a society that is aware of the role of people in agricultural production and in environmental quality, that is capable of leading changes, increasingly urgent and necessary. In this context, this work aimed to evaluate, through concept maps and drawings, the “Farm-school” project of the Federal University of Paraná - Brazil, the development of awareness about agricultural production and environmental quality in elementary school students from 4 schools in the city of Curitiba (Brazilian metropolis with more than 1.9 million inhabitants). The materialization of the “Farm-school” project was performed by a theoretical-practical 4-hour visit of elementary school students at the experimental farm of the Federal University of Paraná located in an Environmentally Protected Area. Students were assessed before and after the visit. There was an evolution in the concepts presented by the students in their conceptual maps in order of 41.7 and 82.1%, as well as an increased number of categories per drawing evaluated of 37.2% and 23.5% (5th and 4th grade students, respectively). The results of the concept maps revealed that before the farm visit, the students, as expected, did not correlate people with the different spheres of agricultural production. The farm appeared as the main element in the initial concept maps of agricultural production. After the visit, people took place as the main element in the students' conceptual maps. The drawings made by the students before the farm visit contrasting a farm that cares for and does not care for the environment were portrayed as productive farms (fruit and vegetable production) or non-productive farms (rotten fruit and vegetables), respectively. After visiting the farm, the students began to portray not only productive aspects, but processes involving production, for example, soil conservation practices, such as the maintenance of mulch for soil cover. Finally, this study proves the effectiveness of the “Farm-school” project, as a low-cost public educational policy alternative and a tool to increase awareness of elementary school students about the role of people in agricultural production and environmental quality, since students come to a better understanding of where food comes from and how it is produced.