School garden and Environmental Education: giving new meaning to organic waste at the Leonardo Negrão de Sousa State School, Abaetetuba (PA, Brazil)

Abstract

This article presents the experience of implementing a school garden as an instrument of Environmental Education at the Prof. Leonardo Negrão de Sousa State Elementary and High School in the municipality of Abaetetuba, Pará. The project was based on the re-signification of organic waste through composting, promoting the use of school lunch waste for the production of fertilizer and the cultivation of vegetables. With a qualitative, applied, and participatory approach, formative workshops, interdisciplinary pedagogical practices, and socialization actions with the community were carried out. The results indicated that the school garden favors meaningful learning, student protagonism, healthy eating habits, and socio-environmental awareness. The garden space strengthened bonds between students, teachers, and families, proving to be an effective strategy for curricular integration and social transformation. Furthermore, the school space became a living laboratory of interdisciplinarity, integrating Science, Mathematics, Portuguese Language, History, and Geography, strengthening the link between theory and practice. Furthermore, there was increased community involvement and strengthened institutional partnerships, demonstrating the potential of the school garden as a strategy for social and environmental transformation.