Análise das concepções de educação ambiental dos professores de ciências naturais da 7ª classe da Escola Primária Completa do Alto-Maé

Abstract

The study analysed the conceptions of environmental education adopted by the Natural Science teachers of grade 7 at Alto-Maé Primary School as part of the teaching-learning process, where the problem of study focused on understanding which conceptions of environmental education teachers use in the treatment of environmental issues. A qualitative study, of a descriptive nature was carried out, which allowed the recording, analysis and data sorting related to conceptions of environmental education through words, feelings and social values. The study was carried out using interview and non-participative observation based on a convenience sample. Individuals were interviewed at the site where the study was carried out, the School Headmaster and three Natural Science teachers and four (4) students from different classes and four (4) Natural Science lessons, distributed in different classrooms were also observed. Through the collected data during the interviews and observation, it can be stated that at Alto-Maé Primary School the Environmental Education is conceived as a complement to the topics of the conventional programmatic content, being at most the point of arrival of the teaching-learning process in science teaching. Thus, for teachers, EE is taken as an illustration of the concepts taught, as a field of application of theory, as topics of knowledge that highlight environmental disturbances related to the content studied, or as a collection of natural resources. With the study, it is concluded that although the literature points to three different conceptions of integration of environmental education in the teaching of Natural Science (environmental education as an appendix, environmental education as a parallel axis and environmental education as an integrating axis of science teaching), the teachers from this school adopt the use of the conception that sees environmental education as an appendix, because for them, environmental education is a topic of the subject program that involves the study of concepts, components and problems related to the environment, so environmental education is seen as a complement to the various topics of the educational program. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt the use of other conceptions, so that there’s a broader view of what environmental education is, of its principles in order to transform students into adults with pro-environmental awareness.