Indissociabilidade entre educação ambiental e ecologia : raízes e frutificação no currículo e na formação de ecólogos(as) na Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Abstract

Ecology and Environmental Education are inseparable in understanding and addressing socioenvironmental issues, as the union of both aspects proposes a critical view of these relationships, highlighting the need for transformations. However, within higher education, Environmental Education is often approached in a limited way, without exploring its emancipatory potential. This study investigates how Environmental Education is present in the training of students in the Ecology course at the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS). The research, with a qualitative approach, is based on the analysis of questionnaires administered to students from different periods of the course, identifying their conceptions about Environmental Education and Sustainability before and after contact with the curricular component Environmental Education. The results reveal that, although students recognize the importance of Environmental Education, their understanding remains linked to traditional and instrumentalized perspectives of the environment. In light of this scenario, this work points to ways to strengthen the presence of Environmental Education in the Ecology course at UFS, contributing to the formation of eco-political subjects capable of acting critically and transformatively in society.