Toward an Environmental Education of Students at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, the University of Namibe

Abstract

Context: Today, quite a few environmental problems require swift responses toward adjustment, mitigation, and sustainability. Accordingly, how could university students acquire effective environmental education so they can play their social roles in balance with environmental protection? Aim: To recommend methodological actions to contribute to student education at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, the University of Namibe, Angola. Methods: Consequently, this study took from qualitative methods of social research. Methods and techniques, such as analysis-synthesis, inductive-deductive, and documentary review for processing information about environmental education and climate change in university education. Results: Five methodological guidelines for environmental education were established. They were inserted in subject Physics II, in the first year of the Marine Biology Bachelor Degree, with six general actions that link theory and practice, through the teaching process in the degrees of Oceanography, Marine Biology, and Marine Resources. The study demonstrated the fulfillment of learning objectives related to Sustainable Development Goals No. 13 and 14, based on UNESCO (2017) guidelines. Conclusions: There is a potential for students to acquire environmental information through methodological actions by the staff, in terms of subject preparation at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, the University of Namibe.

Keywords

• climate change
• sustainable development
• higher education
• environment