Estratégias em Educação Ambiental para valorização da mata de São José da Mata, Campina Grande-PB

Abstract

The teaching of Botany is often considered by most students as something difficult to understand, uninteresting and boring. Knowing that human action in the environment reflects the way it is perceived, this work aimed to develop and evaluate methodological strategies of Environmental Education for the teaching and learning process related to the understanding and valuing of the diversity of plants, especially those which constitute the Caatinga biome. This is a participatory research with a quantitative and qualitative approach, carried out between April and August 2022, with a 7th grade of elementary school class at a private school, located in the urban area of the District of São José da Mata–PB. For the qualitative data, the Dynamic Model of Construction and Reconstruction of Knowledge for the Environment (MEDDIC) was used. For the quantitative analysis, the data obtained was evaluated based on proportional methods, presented in graphs and spreadsheets in the Microsoft Excel software program. As results: after raising awareness and be trained in Environmental Education, most students (55%) demonstrated a change of environmental perception, in which the environment of the human being is also the environment; regarding the importance of the forest, located in the District of São José da Mata, 86% of the participants in the final questionnaire recognized its relevance; there was a change of perception regarding the environmental problems which affect the place where the students are inserted, a significant increase referring to deforestation 26% and forest fires 13% in the final questionnaire. In other words, they are able to recognize local problems, and this understanding motivates the search for a solution. In this context, it is essential to emphasize the importance of implementing Environmental Education in educational institutions since the early grades, in an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary way, as it supports critical reflection and acts as a link between human beings and nature, allowing us to know and understand natural laws and their processes, and to value life in all its aspects, whether social or cultural.