The Parque Estadual das Fontes do Ipiranga (PEFI), which is a park located in the city of São Paulo, has suffered countless environmental impacts that have compromised the conservation of this important remaining Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Rain Forest). This paper is about the creation of an environmental education project that uses action-research methodology, which focuses on raising public awareness of the surroundings and the importance of protecting such an area. Developed in a public school, 29 teachers and 900 students participated in the project. The results show that through the socialization of scientific knowledge and discussions about the importance of PEFI maintenance/ protection, which were introduced into day-to-day school life, the program has contributed not only to the community's social-environmental development, but also to the improvement in teaching quality.
Environmental education; Action-research; Protected areas; Teachers' training