| Abstract |
The Green Deal is a European Commission initiative to promote zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 in the European Union. Its multiple strategies, including circular economy and agriculture, should impact on all citizens. Environmental Education programs are powerful tools to improve literacy in sustainability concepts, namely those included in the Green Deal strategies, and to foster environmental attitudes. A hands-on pilot project "Nutrients Boomerang" was developed and implemented as part of the Environmental Education strategy of a Portuguese science centre, F & aacute;brica Ci & ecirc;ncia Viva, to assess its applicability in a primary school environment. The project included the implementation of an outdoor model area, focusing on urban vegetable gardening and composting, complemented with workshops on biodiversity, circular economy, and organic farming, targeting primary school students and teachers. This pilot project was implemented from January to September 2021 and, in its final months, was also organized in a way to include the students' families, given their willingness to introduce parents and grandparents to the activities they had been doing. This pilot project showed its suitability to be replicated in primary school outdoor green areas and to promote hands-on activities aiming to inform people about the European Union Green Deal policy and foster a more conscientious behaviour in young students towards a more sustainable world. |
