Caring for the Common House: Classroom Experiences with Engineering Students in their First Semester

Authors

  • Raquel Villafrades Torres Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana

Keywords:

educating for sustainability, classroom experiences, ecological footprint

Abstract

The Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana is a teaching university that focuses on research and innovation for sustainability. It promotes the creation of strategies that allow transforming and projecting our community interests towards the wellbeing of our planet, causing positive impacts on the social, economic and environmental spheres. Since 2013, during their first semester and within the general chemistry course, engineering students undergo classroom experiences aimed at analyzing the consumer habits and measuring their personal ecological footprint, a tool –according to Wackernagel and Rees– that helps to plan for sustainability. Efforts towards the awareness on the use of electrical and electronic devices and waste management are also carried out. Students have proposed measures primarily focused on rationing resources and changing dietary habits and modes of transport. During the first academic term of 2017, they carried out social actions, such as the collection of solid waste and educational campaigns with children at the primary school level. All this work has fostered in them the creation of a conscience committed to the care of our only house: the Earth.

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Author Biography

Raquel Villafrades Torres, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana

Profesora interna asociada de la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, seccional Bucaramanga, Colombia, y miembro de la Comunidad de Educadores para la Cultura Científica (CECC) de la OEI. 

References

BERMÚDEZ, O. (2003): Cultura y Ambiente. La educación ambiental, contexto y perspectivas, Bogotá, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Instituto de Estudios Ambientales.

GARCÍA, R. y VEGA, P. (2009): Sostenibilidad, valores y cultura ambiental, Madrid, Ediciones Pirámide.

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MINISTERIO DEL MEDIO AMBIENTE Y MINISTERIO DE EDUCACIÓN NACIONAL (2002): Política Nacional de Educación Ambiental SINA. Disponible en: http://cmap.upb.edu.co/rid=1195259861703_152904399_919/politica_educacion_amb.pdf. Consultado el 14 de febrero de 2018.

OTERO, A. y BRUNO, C. (2010): Taller de educación ambiental: Actividades y juegos didácticos para docentes de todos los niveles, Buenos Aires, Ediciones Novedades Educativas.

VÁSQUEZ, C. (2004): “Reflexiones y ejemplos de situaciones didácticas para una adecuada contextualización de los contenidos científicos en el proceso de enseñanza”, Revista Eureka sobre Enseñanza y Divulgación de las Ciencias, vol. 1, no 3, pp. 214- 223. Disponible en: https://revistas.uca.es/index.php/eureka/article/view/3949/3518. Consultado el 12 de febrero de 2018.

WACKERNAGEL, M. y REES, W. (2001): Nuestra Huella Ecológica: Reduciendo el impacto humano sobre la tierra, Santiago de Chile, Editorial LOM.

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Published

2019-06-28

How to Cite

Villafrades Torres, R. (2019). Caring for the Common House: Classroom Experiences with Engineering Students in their First Semester. Revista Iberoamericana De Ciencia, Tecnología Y Sociedad - CTS (Ibero-American Science, Technology and Society Journal), 14(41). Retrieved from https://ojs.revistacts.net/index.php/CTS/article/view/120

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 41 (2019)

Section

Dossier

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