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Environmental education is an important tool for the conservation of species, since it enables the expansion of knowledge about animal ecology and also promotes favorable attitudes that protect the environment and the conservation of natural resources (Reigada & Tozoni-Reis 2004). These actions seek to promote behavior change, which is of great importance for the success in long-term conservation programs (Jacobson 1987). The application of environmental education for children has proven to be effective in the process of awareness about environmental issues, since this is the key period for learning about the environment and for educating the next generation of decision makers (Basile 2000). Studies have shown the ability of children to influence their parents’ behavior around environmental issues (Damerell et al. 2013; Evans & Gill 1996; Vaughan et al. 2003).

The impacts of environmental education programs related to behavioral changes as regards to the global environment, however, is not immediate, since there is a time interval between the period when children and students learn and the time that they may be in the roles of planners and decision makers (Evans & Gill 1996). Previous contact with environmental education will provide these children and young people with values, attitudes and skills to convert knowledge into action once they become adults (Goldman et al. 2006). Educators have an important role in the transmission of knowledge, including environmental education, and may influence the way students think, seek solutions and take actions. Researchers still debate the importance that should be given to how this knowledge is transmitted to children and for a more effective delivery, there should be a stronger focus on teacher training (Basile 2000).

In the United States and Israel, studies conducted on the content of environmental education lessons being applied to teachers have made it clear that there is a big gap in the training of these professionals in relation to knowledge about the subject (Goldman et al. 2006; Mckeown-Ice 2000) and also in how it is transmitted (Mckeown-Ice 2000). One of the proposals from researchers to fill this gap in the preparation of educators was the development of environmental education guidelines (Mckeown-Ice 2000).

A survey of the literature conducted by the authors has shown the rarity of Portuguese reference materials about the various aspects of sea turtles. Thus, both educators and the general public, who are not involved with the study of sea turtles, have little access to information about these animals and their conservation in a practical way. This may be improved with the addition of a specific guide or booklet. The development of tools and the training of educators are important because they allow the dissemination of information about sea turtles in Brazilian territory, the importance of these animals in their environment, the impact that humans can have on their survival, a presentation of conservation strategies and the development of environmental education activities that reach different age groups. In addition, sea turtles are considered flagship species, i.e., charismatic species that captivate audiences and have the ability to attract attention to other environmental concerns (Campbell & Smith 2006).

The aim of this study was to develop a guide for educators containing information on the biology and conservation and of sea turtles, and to contribute ideas about how to present this material. As well, we assessed the acceptance and effectiveness of the guide with teachers at a public school in São Paulo.

In Brazil, public schools suffer from a lack of extracurricular activities, and therefore have little or no contact with the conservation theme; a fact that highlights the relevance of this work specifically for this audience. Furthermore, the nearest beach to the city of São Paulo is 70 km away, making it difficult to access information on marine animals or the conservation of this ecosystem. Most children from the city go to the beach only during vacation or holidays as tourists and therefore contact with environmental information about the ocean is quite limited.

Apart from information about sea turtles, the guide contains interdisciplinary activities on environmental education that is applicable for children from 7 to 14 years old. These activities are meant to ensure that teachers are transmitting to the students the information they learned from the guide. The steps involved in making the guide included a literature survey on information for the guide, the creation of images by an artist, layout and printing of the materials. This was followed by the presentation to 25 teachers in São Paulo.

During the literature survey we found that specific activities like word searches and tangram were frequently found, which indicated their widespread use and acceptance. Other activities were developed by a team of monitors of the OSCIP Passatempo Educativo, which has experience in the development and application of educational content for children of different age groups. For four days in October 2011, twenty-five teachers of the EMEF Roge Ferreira School, located in Jaragua, a district of São Paulo, Brazil, received a copy of the guide, the evaluation questionnaire that contained 11 multiple choice questions and a space for suggestions. Furthermore, they were given some photographs of species of turtles found in Brazil and the main threats they face. They were instructed how to use the guide and how to apply the activities from the guide for their students. Finally, after collecting the questionnaires, the answers provided by the teachers were analyzed to verify the effectiveness of the guide.

Of the twenty-five teachers who received the guide and orientation, 48% (12) returned the questionnaire evaluating the material and activities. This percentage was probably due to the short time that the teachers had to evaluate the material (approximately 15 days), apply the activities and return the completed questionnaire. The time for returning the questionnaires was related to the short academic deadline for the submission of the data gathered in the project. In addition, factors such as extensive loads of content to be taught, unpreparedness to deal with the issue of environmental education and the lack of materials that address the theme are also possible reasons for the low percentage of participation. Studies indicate these reasons, among others, as limiting for the inclusion and success of environmental education projects in schools (Bizerril & Faria 2001; Disinger 2001; Heimlich et al. 2004; Parlo & Butler 2007).

All teachers rated the guide as a simple and good understanding tool; however 33.3% of teachers reported students' difficulty in performing a specific type of puzzle, denominated ‘Tangram,’ because the one made for the guide had a higher number of pieces than those they were used to. As to the interest of the students, 91.7% of respondents indicated that students were very interested in performing the activities. A study by Lindemann-Matthies (2002) indicated that students aged between 8-16 years have a similar interest in topics related to biology. We also found this to be true for this work, since the activities were carried out with students close to this age group.
The same percentage (91.7%) thought that the students had assimilated the content addressed during the activities. This is a matter of extreme importance, since the assimilation of content is a key stage in the formation of knowledge (Freire & Tavares 2003), which, in turn, is related to understanding, concern (Dimopoulos & Pantis 2003) and perception of the ability to change the surrounding environment through behavior (Pe'er et al. 2007). Studies like the one conducted by Reis (2001), showed the improvement in knowledge about sea turtles with the use of computer games on the topic.

Teachers were also asked about their level of satisfaction and of the students’ satisfaction regarding the suggested activities. For both questions, 83.3% reported a 'high' level of satisfaction and 16.7% reported a ‘medium’ level of satisfaction. The satisfaction of the teachers seemed to be closely related to the students' satisfaction with the activity. The Lindemann-Matthies (2002) study showed that teachers felt rewarded when they increased the time invested in the project, and this also increased the students' knowledge on the theme.

About 83% of teachers reported that the information contained in the guide helped ‘a lot’ in executing the activities, while the remaining respondents reported that the content assisted ‘reasonably,’ in other words, they didn’t use the full form guide as a source of information for the activity. There was also a high percentage of teachers (66.7 %) who used external materials such as films, textbooks, the internet and music to introduce the topic before carrying out the activities.
The results presented in this study contradict those presented in other studies in which teachers reported having difficulties in class to address issues that were not part of the school curriculum, such as those related to environmental education (Bizerril & Faria 2001; Disinger 2001; Parlo & Butler 2007).

The contextualization of the subject by teachers using other tools, such as those presented above is important for making adjustments in both content and approach of the guide. The use of other materials, among other factors, contributed to 100% of the teachers believing that they had reached the goals proposed by the activities. Likewise, all teachers expressed that they consider the guide and its activities an appropriate tool for environmental education for children, indicating that the content of the guide met the expectations of the teachers. Only one teacher suggested making games with recyclable materials. The absence of more suggestions, however, may be related to the short time limits that teachers had to perform a careful and detailed analysis of the guide.
Based on the results obtained in this study, the necessary reformulations will be performed and the guide will be published and distributed among researchers and in schools where training will be conducted; it will also be available for free access on the internet. The answers provided through the questionnaires allowed for a clear assessment of the acceptance of this type of tool. In addition, it led to a reflection on the relevance of the development of materials that introduce important concepts about environmental education in the classroom. Therefore, we conclude that materials like the one developed in this work, may be added to school curricula, since its multidisciplinary approach allows discussions on the subject during classes in different disciplines.

Acknowledgements. The authors thank FAPESP (process number 18042-9/2012) and the whole team of the OSCIP Passatempo Educativo for their assistance in this work.

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