During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pursuit of a cure for the disease resulted in an excessive consumption of various pharmaceuticals, even after their inefficacy had been scientifically demonstrated. This scenario highlights the urgency of educational initiatives that improve students’ critical thinking and promote awareness of indiscriminate use of pharmaceuticals and its environmental and social implications. This research described the educational initiative “Pharmaceuticals in the COVID-19 pandemic” based on the study case method, implemented at an analytical chemistry class, and analyzed its potential on promoting Critical Environmental Education through a content analysis guided by the indicators proposed by Luz and Tonso. Students were divided into groups and studied different cases about pharmaceuticals featured in the media during the pandemic. They were expected to gather relevant data regarding the case scenario; to take a position on a socio-environmental dilemma; propose an analytical chromatographic methodology for the pharmaceutical in the case and present their results in a final report. The educational initiative was considered aligned with Critical Environmental Education principals due to the presence of six out of the seven indicators. As a future perspective, we aim to optimize the educational initiative in order to include all the indicators and students’ suggestions.
Thumbnail
