Socio-environmental theme of water quality: an environmental reflection aligned with Chemistry Teaching

Abstract

The pursuit of interdisciplinarity and contextualization in education has gained prominence in recent years, contributing to the integration of school subjects, scientific content, and environmental issues. This trend stems from the need to foster critical and reflective thinking in students throughout their learning process. In this context, the present article aims to present an investigation into students’ alternative conceptions regarding the socio-environmental issue of water quality for human consumption. It also explores the connections students make between this topic and the scientific concepts of “solution” and “concentration,” through the implementation of a didactic sequence titled “Is the water I’m drinking safe?”. This qualitative study used students’ conceptual associations, open-ended questionnaires, and poster production as tools for data collection. The findings revealed that, initially, students held alternative conceptions about the topic and related scientific content that diverged from scientifically accepted explanations. However, by the end of the didactic sequence, significant progress was observed: 42% of the students showed conceptual development regarding the theme, and 33% demonstrated a better understanding of the scientific concepts, successfully linking them to the environmental issue. Thus, the study contributed to students' critical development by providing them with new knowledge and opportunities for reflection on both the environmental problem and the scientific content addressed.