Apesar da importância do oceano e da urgência de sua conservação, ainda há muito descaso com esse ambiente. A partir da reflexão sobre essas implicações, esta pesquisa traz quatro projetos ambientais do litoral do Rio Grande do Sul para trabalhar essas e outras questões baseadas nas provocações trazidas pelo filósofo Bruno Latour. Com abordagem qualitativa, a pesquisa teve por objetivo ouvir os representantes de cada projeto, tendo sido a coleta de dados realizada por meio de entrevista semiestruturada, com a aplicação de um questionário. As respostas dos educadores trazem temas emergentes e urgentes nos dias de hoje, fazendo conexões com um passado manchado por desastres ambientais e um presente e futuros possíveis, após o cenário da pandemia.

Throughout global history, various infectious diseases have emerged as particularly relevant within an era. Some examples include the Bubonic plague of the fourteenth century, the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918, the HIV epidemic of the 1980s, and the Zika virus outbreak in 2015–16. These instances of emerging infectious disease represent ideal opportunities for timely, relevant instruction in natural and health science courses through case studies. Such instructional approaches can promote student engagement in the material and encourage application and higher-order thinking. We describe here how the case study approach was utilized to teach students about emerging infectious diseases using the 2014–16 Ebola virus outbreak as the subject of instruction. Results suggest that students completing the case study not only had positive perceptions of the mode of instruction, but also realized learning gains and misconception resolution. These outcomes support the efficacy of case pedagogy as a useful teaching tool in emerging infectious diseases, and augment the paucity of literature examining Ebola virus knowledge and misconceptions among undergraduate students within United States institutions.