{"id":3785,"date":"2022-08-13T12:42:02","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T15:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solvefortomorrowlatam.com\/pratica\/educacao-stem-biofiltro-limpeza-rios\/"},"modified":"2023-02-02T14:03:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T17:03:35","slug":"education-stem-biofilter-cleanup-rivers","status":"publish","type":"pratica","link":"https:\/\/solvefortomorrowlatam.com\/en\/case\/education-stem-biofilter-cleanup-rivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Students use orange and banana peels to decontaminate rivers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Clean up the contaminated waters of the Milotingo River, preserving agriculture and people\u2019s health. That was the mission of the group of four students from the Joel Isidro Arce Science Club, from Colegio San Mateo de Huanchor<\/a>, in the province of Huarochir\u00ed, in the department of Lima, Peru. Contaminated by heavy metals from mining operations in the region, the tributary of the San Mateo River supplies not only the local community, but the capital and other cities in the department, and its importance is fundamental for agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n Science clubs: spaces for student innovation <\/h5>\n

Developed from an initiative by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in several Latin American countries, Science and Technology Clubs<\/a> are a public policy institutionalized by the National Council for Science, Technology and Technological Innovation of Peru (CONCYTEC<\/a>, in Spanish). Starting as a pilot proposal in 2017, the clubs have spread across the country.<\/p>\n

The clubs are spaces for non-formal education, located in schools in the Peruvian public and private networks, and are organized as student associations assisted by the teachers of the schools in which they are located. The proposal is that through scientific and technological investigations and a STEM approach<\/a>, students can reflect on issues that affect their communities, seeking development and quality of local and community life. With the technical support and monitoring of CONCYTEC, the clubs have been achieving not only the popularization and appreciation of scientific culture in basic education but territorialized spaces for research and innovation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Mobilized by the question \u201cwhat we can and what we want to transform in our community?\u201d, the group of students went out into the field in the company of Teacher Miguel Angel Sandoval de la Cruz, to identify social issues that could be solved or mitigated through science. On these routes, the quality of water resources stood out as a point of great interest to students, who initially sought to assess the impact of mining activities on the region\u2019s waters. \u201cWe started from hypothesis and observation, central strategies of the scientific method\u201d, explains the teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Students in field activity, observing the local reality<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a starting point, the students and the teacher sought the support of the Universidad Nacional Agr\u00e1ria La Molina<\/a> to conduct a series of tests capable of measuring the presence of metals in the waters and found very concerning results. The water was indeed polluted by heavy metals. The presence of lead, for example, exceeded six times the limit allowed by Peruvian and World Health Organization<\/a> parameters, and that of cadmium was up to five times more, contaminating the entire food production chain, through agriculture, pastures, and animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motivated by the results, the students began to look for low-cost solutions that could be used to \u201ccure the waters\u201d of the river, identifying strategies that could be implemented in the community. Through reading and researching articles in scientific journals, students found the property of certain solid wastes; such as banana and orange peels, in cleaning and extracting metals from water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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