Teaching of corrosion based on critical evaluation of urban furniture of a public square

Abstract

This work is part of an educational project intended to foster the teaching of chemistry and corrosion in engineering courses, based on the following points: to facilitate and broaden the understanding of corrosion processes and corrosion protection techniques; awaken critical consciousness in the student, based on the necessity of developing and clarifying mechanisms involved in each corrosive process. Corrosion education at the University Federal Fluminense (Brazil) is becoming increasingly important because corrosion problems affect virtually all segments of human activity and the vast majority of these problems could be avoided if anticorrosive techniques and the expertise already established were applied. This study took public squares as the research lab because public urban furnishings (benches, rubbish bins, playgrounds, etc.) and historical monuments are subject to atmospheric corrosion and pollution. The objective is to enable students to develop their skills in the development of the theme “atmospheric corrosion” based on the following points: teamwork; analysis and evaluation of information from observations; decision making from a restricted amount of information; querying technical bibliographies; making technical reports and oral presentations. Keywords: