Production of Iron Salts and Adsorbents from Mining Waste in an Education Approach

Abstract

This article aims to use problem-based learning (PBL) as an active teaching methodology in an approach of media and information literacy (MIL) and production of audio-visual content in the context of higher education in chemistry at the Federal University of Espirito Santo (UFES, Brazil), in the discipline of research and pedagogical practice in teaching laboratory (RPPTL) using as a scenario a group of undergraduate students in chemistry. The pedagogical intervention aimed to organize theoretical and practical knowledge regarding the reuse of iron mining waste through five initial teacher training meetings. It's inferred that educational intervention implemented favored improvement of students' skills and competences and the learning process such as: solving the problem situation; communication and teamwork; audiovisual production, socio-scientific and environmental themes. The products obtained at end of this investigative process were iron-based reagents to be used in experimental chemistry classes; a research that demonstrates the efficiency of the residue as an adsorbent under different conditions of pH and mass of adsorbent, whose adsorption occurs in a very promising. A documentary video was also produced by the students who argues in favor of reusing the iron mining waste.