Aprendizagem em Serviço para a Sustentabilidade: Competências e aprendizagens transformadoras através do projeto Healthy Waters

Abstract

One of the most important topics today is the preservation of life on the Planet as we know it. The need to ensure the Sustainability of Human Beings is an increasingly pressing concern for the scientific community. One of the possible solutions lies in Education and its ability to reshape the relationship between Humans and Nature. Service Learning emerges as an innovative practical methodology capable of offering relevant contributions in this domain. The study presented here aims to analyze the perceptions of higher education students (mentors) regarding the educational experience of Service Learning in the implementation of the Healthy Waters project in five schools in the Metropolitan Region of Porto. Adopting a qualitative research method, reflections and testimonies from six mentors who participated in the Healthy Waters project were collected. Specifically, logbook entries and the content of a focus group conducted with the mentors were analyzed. According to the mentors' views, the main results of this study show that: i) raising awareness and alerting about the need to protect the environment, ii) using new awareness-raising tools/new technologies, iii) and the relationship with the community and the perception of being an active part in its transformation, were the aspects with the most potential of the Healthy Waters project for the school students. Regarding the contributions that participation in the Healthy Waters project made to the mentors themselves, the results reveal that the pedagogical approach adopted by Service Learning was considered the aspect with the most educational potential of the experience, promoting effective Transformative Learning. This study concludes that the use of the Service Learning pedagogical method, which promotes the acquisition of knowledge and skills through practical experience, provides participants with moments of reflection, overcoming challenges, and effective transformation, both for the students who implement it and for the communities where they intervene.