Assentment of Interest of Students and Teachers in Coastal Aspects: The Star of a Coastal Management Change

Based on questionnaires, a research was applied to students and teachers of elementary school in the municipality of Vila Velha (Espírito Santo, Brazil) aiming to verify the interest and knowledge about the “coastal zone”. The beach was one of the topics addressed in the investigation due to its importance and relevance to the city. From this initial verification, it was possible to infer about the need/possibility of incorporating themes inherent to the coast in educational and environmental education programs. The results indicated that there is a great interest in the processes involved in the beach environment, which would already allow the community to begin to raise awareness, from a young age, about the importance of their participation in coastal management programs. However, some gaps have been identified; students are still unaware of some relatively simple concepts on the subject, didactic material on the subject is scarce in schools, and field and laboratory practices involving the coastal environment are little used resources. The dialogue between basic education and coastal management can be a didactically viable path and contribute both to the acquisition of content and to the training of student-citizens more aware of their responsibilities as transforming, dependent and responsible agents for the environment. Keywords: Beach, citizen participation; environmental education, Vila Velha, Brazil.