Educação ambiental crítica participante: impactos socioambientais dentro da comunidade

Abstract

The formation of ecological subjects is one of the biggest challenges of Environmental Education (EE), since current educational systems have molded a standard way of working with environmental issues. Another obstacle is the dissociation of human beings and nature, in which individuals do not see themselves as part of the environment. In this sense, the work with EE should contribute to a social transformation, starting from a critical EE perspective, because it escapes from traditional methods and does not stick to isolated activities, understanding that sustainable education requires constant actions aimed at raising awareness, training, and engagement of the population. With this in mind, this work aimed to encourage individual and collective environmental responsibility within a community, using the investigative method of action research and seeking to answer "How can the work with Environmental Education impact the behavior of residents and the visibility of the natural areas of a community? For this, the socio-environmental problems were identified from meetings with community representatives, as well as possible solutions and the creation of an action plan. This planning consisted of a series of activities aimed at raising the environmental awareness of the community's residents, reaching mainly the children, with the following activities: conversation rounds; making vases with PET bottles; building a vertical vegetable garden; garbage collection; a game about selective waste collection; production of toys with recyclables; planting native seedlings; and the preparation of an educational guide about all the activities carried out. To analyze the socio-environmental impacts of the educational actions carried out, two data collection tools were used for audiences of different age groups: children up to 12 years old drew what was learned by them at the end of each action, while young people and adults answered an evaluation questionnaire. The activities started a mobilization for the theme, awakening the attention of some residents to the environmental problems of the area, who currently avoid the inadequate disposal of garbage in the natural areas of the neighborhood. In addition, the research provided the revitalization of spaces through the planting and cultivation of native species, it also encouraged the protagonism of those being researched and transformed the researcher as an ecological subject and biologist active in the third sector. However, to follow a line within critical EE, this work must be continued to reach more residents and spaces within the community.