A educação ambiental na escola municipal Aníbal Pereira Júnior de Alto Araguaia

Abstract

The study of the concept of environment is Very important in the comprehension of the relationship between man and the environment, and of the educational process so that the subjects to be taught and the teaching approach can be chosen wisely. The objective of this master’s thesis is to identify teachers’ concept of environment in order to analyze their teaching practice in regard with environmental education in the municipal school Aníbal Pereira Junior located in the rural area of Alto Araguaia-MT in Brazil. Therefore we seek to answer three research questions: 1) What is the concept of environment held by the teachers of the municipal school Aníbal Pereira Junior?; 2) Is environmental education on the syllabus?; 3) How does environmental education take place in the school? We employed a qualitative approach in which the curriculum was analyzed, classes were observed, workshops were held, and questionnaires were filled out. The five categories adopted in the analysis of the teachers’ responses were those proposed by Malafaia and Rodrigues (2009) – romantic, utilitarian, comprehensive, reductionist and socioenvironmental. The data were collected through a questionnaire which consisted of twelve questions answered by the teachers who participated in this study. Six teachers from the first to ninth grade were interviewed. The results from the documental analysis showed the need of implementing teacher education programs, redesigning the school’s syllabus, reflecting on teaching practices regarding environmental education from a transversal and interdisciplinary perspective, and enforcing educational policy. The results from the observation of the classes demonstrated the importance of teacher education programs to enhance transverse environmental education. The results from the workshops and questionnaire revealed a predominance of socioenvironmental conception. The final product of this master’s thesis consists in supporting material for teacher education, which covers suggestions, guidelines, reflections on teaching practices, teaching strategies, and new trends and technologies for environmental education.