Abordagens de educação ambiental em livros didáticos de ciências

Abstract

Studies about the school curriculum run through historical milestones, however, it is necessary to understand some points of view about their theories within the educational context, in attention to Environmental Education, a transversal theme, perhaps conveyed in didactic materials (such as Books Didactics), guiding documents, public policies, laws, etc. For this purpose, in the first chapter, we investigated in theses and dissertations of the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology, using the descriptors: “Environmental Education and Science Textbooks ”, Having as methodology of analysis the conceptions of Environmental Education: social ecology, natural ecology, ecology and conservationism. Therefore, from the 14 selected academic works, we observe that Environmental Education is still seen as an environmental and market issue, in which the environment is understood only as a useful resource for human beings. Therefore, the concept of Conservationism appeared in 12 studies. Social ology was found in two (2) works. It should be noted that the concepts of Natural Ecology and Ecology were not found. The results show the need for more questions and debates, in addition to encouraging the participation of social and political movements that aim at social transformation. And, for the second chapter, we developed a didactic sequence focused on Environmental Education, for which we aim to analyze students' understandings of the social, economic and ecological importance of water, in addition to reflecting on the importance of discussing and emphasizing Environmental Education through different teaching strategies. The didactic sequence has a qualitative approach and was organized in five scenarios with a focus on Environmental Education, each with a different methodology: questioning, terrarium, film, water treatment and water bill. These activities were developed in a 6th grade class at a state public school. We observed that the students understood in a satisfactory way the importance of water in maintaining the life and well-being of the living beings of our Planet. This demonstrates that different teaching strategies, when well organized, become allies in the teaching and learning process between students and teachers, without leaving the Books Didactics aside, in the search for new ways of working with Environmental Education and, consequently, training citizens critical and reflective about environmental issues. Finally, for the third chapter, we analyzed 10 Books Didactics collections of Sciences approved by the National Textbook Program, in order to understand how they work with Environmental Education. For that, we used as a basis the macro trends of Environmental Education, namely: conservationist, pragmatic and critical. Thus, we consider the referred study relevant because the Books Didactics is a guiding material even in the classroom curriculum, as it is distributed 10 free of charge to institutions. When looking at the Science Books Didactics, we identified the conservationist and pragmatic macro trends more frequently, since many of them focus on environmental preservation, however, without focusing on changing the current socioeconomic model. However, few excerpts highlight Environmental Education within the critical macro trend, necessary to discuss attitudes and actions, showing important changes in relation to Environmental Education. Therefore, from this research, we understand that the teacher has a prominent role in the choice and use of Books Didactics, needing planning and organization of classes, like the didactic sequence, which can be an ally in the work with the Environmental Education in the classroom, seen the different methodological forms in favor of Environmental Education, consequently of life.