SUSTAINABLE EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICE: THE MUCILAGE OF THE XIQUE-XIQUE CACTUS AS A COAGULANT FOR THE TREATMENT OF TURBED WATER

Abstract

Chemistry is generally viewed negatively
by elementary school students. This
problem in many cases is the result of the
lack of applicability of methodologies that
instigate the interest of students and
guarantee the inclusion of all of them.
Therefore, the work on screen aimed to
report the development of an accessible and
contextualized experimental class, in one of
the 4th year of the Technical Course
Integrated to the High School of
Environmental Control of the Federal
Institute of Education, Science and
Technology of Paraíba - IFPB, João
Campus Person. This action was intended to
encourage the active participation of
students through the didactic approaches
addressed. Thus, through a qualitative and
participatory research, the scholarship
holders of the Tutorial Education Program
of the Degree in Chemistry - PET
Chemistry, from the aforementioned
institution, developed an activity entitled

"Experimental Chemistry Course for High
School - CQEEM". This teaching
intervention exposed a low-cost process to
improve water quality, through the
mucilage of the Xique-Xique cactus
(Pilosocereus gounellei), a natural
coagulant, for the treatment of cloudy
water. This theme was chosen because it is
a current and relevant subject to the
experience of students of environmental
control courses. The activity was divided
into two parts: carrying out tests to confirm
the real coagulant potential of the plant, and
the development of the experimental
procedure, by the group, from the
separation of the samples of turbid water,
the treatment of the water with the cactus
mucilage, until the analysis of the turbidity
decrease of the samples. In this process, the
students presented satisfactory
considerations regarding the activity,
showing that this practice was
fundamentally important for their technical
training.