As concepções de meio ambiente e natureza: implicações nas práticas de educação ambiental de professores da rede estadual de ensino no município de Aparecida de Goiânia (GO)

• Main Author: MORAES, Fernando Aparecido de
• Publication Date: 2009
• Format: Master thesis
• Language: por
• Source: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFG
• Download full: http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/handle/tde/574
• topic: Educação Ambiental, Concepção, Meio Ambiente; Educação Ambiental, Concepção, Meio Ambiente; CNPQ::CIENCIAS HUMANAS::EDUCACAO

Given the environmental issue faced nowadays, the relevance of EE (Environmental Education) is evident, as it contributes to the search for changes in the way we behave and exist in the world, and is developed from different points of view and perceptions in the basic school. It is known that in order for it to become satisfactorily effective, it still has to break several barriers related to teachers, schools, public policies and society as a whole. Hence, considering the importance of EE, its challenges in stepping on this unstable ground, and our necessity to learn how it has been practiced and understood, this research was carried out in the schooling environment of Aparecida de Goiânia GO, with the main goal of learning the conceptions and practices of EE by the teachers of the State public school in this city. We have worked with teachers of the morning shift basic and high schools, of the subjects Science, Geography, Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry. The research was extensive (quantitative) and comprehensive (qualitative) in which we used the questionnaire, method largely used in social research. As the analysis progressed, we noticed that the conceptions of nature, environment and EE by teachers are distant from meeting the needs of environmental issues, because as the are motivated mainly by their life experience and professional development, they maintain the values and practices that support the current model of life, based on anthropocentrism and on the development at any cost. In this way, they end up perceiving environmental issues as something fragmented and superficial, which tends to lead to a dichotomy, placing man as a totally different creature from the others. As we know that their conceptions affect the activities that they develop at school, we notice that the practices that they say to perform and to label as EE are distant from the public policies. Consequently, they approach environmental issues in their activities in a naïve and simplistic way. We understand the importance of teachers initiatives. Despite their limited knowledge, they try to apply EE in schools, but we understand that many modifications need to take place in order for both their conceptions and their practices to change, so that we can seek the building of knowledge that involves the environmental issue and its distinct aspects. However, in order for such changes to take place, it is understood that SEDUC needs to permit bigger curricular flexibility, with emphasis on interdisciplinary treatment of EE, investments in initial and continued teachers training as well as civil society involvement, represented by the people from around the school, in the environmental issues