Educação ambiental e a prática docente na educação básica: um estudo em escolas do semiárido baiano

Abstract

Environmental Education (EE) is an essential educational process for fostering critical thinking and civic engagement, promoting an understanding of the relationships between society and nature. In the context of the semi-arid region of Bahia, which is part of the Caatinga biome—particularly within the geographical context of the municipality of Paripiranga, Bahia— this topic gains importance in light of the socio-environmental challenges faced in the region, related to agricultural practices that impact soil and water resource conservation, solid waste disposal, deforestation, water scarcity, and the environmental constraints characteristic of semi-arid regions. In light of this, the focus of this research is on the approach to Environmental Education in science instruction in that municipality, examining the public policies, pedagogical practices, and teachers’ perceptions that guide this topic in public schools. Consequently, the central research problem concerns the weaknesses in the integration of Environmental Education into the school curriculum, highlighting challenges related to teacher training and the development of pedagogical practices in science education. The general objective of this research is to analyze the approach to Environmental Education in science education during the final years of elementary school in public schools in Paripiranga, in northwestern Bahia. As specific objectives, the study aims to: 1) investigate the municipality’s legal instruments and tools focused on Environmental Education; 2) evaluate the policy for continuing professional development of teachers in the municipal school system regarding the integration of this subject; 3) identify teachers’ perceptions of their experiences with pedagogical practices in Environmental Education carried out in their schools; and 4) examine the problems, difficulties, and challenges faced by science teachers when addressing Environmental Education in the municipal school context. This is a qualitative, exploratory, and basic research approach, involving a review of documents and fieldwork, with the use of a semi-structured questionnaire approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP-UFS), analyzed through Discursive Textual Analysis. The results indicated that Environmental Education is present in the municipality’s regulatory documents and in the schools investigated, through projects and pedagogical practices related to the local socio-environmental context. However, some weaknesses were evident regarding the integration of this topic into the school curriculum, limitations in teachers’ continuing professional development, and difficulties in linking science content to the environmental issues of the studied locality. Furthermore, it was observed that the approach to Environmental Education still occurs, in many cases, in an ad hoc and unsystematic manner. In this regard, the study reinforces the need to strengthen critical, contextualized pedagogical practices capable of bridging the gap between schools, the community, and the local socio-environmental reality.