O letramento científico de estudantes surdos na educação ambiental: construção de saberes a partir de um recurso bilíngue sobre o Cerrado

Abstract

The absence of a bilingual guide grounded in Critical Environmental Education (CEE) hinders the quality training of bilingual educators, who seek to promote an integrated approach to scientific literacy with social, cultural, and environmental dimensions. Therefore, educational and environmental practices should encompass all individuals, including those belonging to minorities, such as the deaf. To this end, the present research was developed at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Goiás (IFG) – Aparecida de Goiânia Campus, with students of the Bilingual Pedagogy degree program (Brazilian Sign Language/Portuguese). The general objective of this study was to understand the scientific literacy processes of deaf people, investigating their linguistic, cultural, and educational specificities, with a view to developing a bilingual pedagogical resource that would favor the construction of social and environmental values related to the Cerrado biome, contributing to the critical and civic education of this population. The specific objectives were: a) to develop a guide on the Cerrado biome from a bilingual perspective (Brazilian Sign Language/Portuguese); b) to enable deaf students to achieve autonomy in the formation of scientific concepts linked to socio-environmental aspects through practical activities geared towards their reality; c) to verify the existence of known/unknown signs in Brazilian Sign Language by the deaf community for use in addressing representatives of the Cerrado's fauna and flora; d) to develop and validate the Educational Product (EP) with students of the Bilingual Brazilian Sign Language/Portuguese Pedagogy degree course. Methodologically, it was a study with investigative questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and brainstorming techniques; therefore, it is a qualitative research study. The theoretical framework was composed of authors such as Quadros and Schmiedt (2006), Lebedeff (2017), Loureiro (2002; 2012; 2019), and Bizerril (2001), whose works have been fundamental to deepening discussions about the scientific literacy of deaf students within the scope of Environmental Education focused on the Cerrado biome, in light of the bilingual perspective ensured by Law nº. 14.191/21. Thus, the contributions of these authors favor the emergence of still spring knowledge about the local environment. The results showed that research focused on the education of deaf people from the perspective of Environmental Education is still incipient in the context of the Cerrado biome, revealing the need for greater depth and expansion of studies in this area. The data obtained in the research indicated that, through the PE (presumably a specific educational approach) and scientific literacy, deaf and hearing students showed greater approximation to the concepts and scientific knowledge about Environmental Education in the context of the Cerrado biome. Thus, the bilingual guide on the Cerrado biome is configured as a suitable teaching material for the education of deaf students, due to its bilingual nature and its didactic-pedagogical profile favorable to the understanding of the issues addressed by Critical Environmental Education. However, it is important to highlight the need to deepen the investigations involving the triad of Environmental Education, Cerrado biome, and Deaf Education, from the perspective of bilingual education.