Educação ambiental na perspectiva da produção de sentido de justiça social e cidadania: representações sociais de licenciandos e professores de biologia

Abstract

This work is inserted in the Science and Mathematics Teaching Line of the Doctoral course of the Post-Graduation Program in Education of the Federal University of Uberlândia. The present research had as objectives to identify the social representations of the students in the initial formation process of four undergraduate courses in Biological Sciences, offered in Institutions of Higher Education of the State of Minas Gerais, on Environmental Education, from the perspective of the production of meaning on Social Justice and Citizenship; to investigate the meanings of the students' representations on Environmental Education, Social Justice and Citizenship in the process of training of the graduates, and also to know the impacts of the discussion of these subjects on the teaching action of the students graduated in their professional performance. The problem of this research consists of two guiding questions: What are the social representations of citizenship, social justice and Environmental Education in the scenario of the construction of the teaching professional?; What role of these representations on pedagogical practice in Environmental Education Teaching? The research took place in the period between 2016 and 2018, and took as a methodological inspiration the qualitative approach, in which we used, as a theoretical and methodological reference, the Theory of Social Representation in the Moscovician perspective, which allowed us to approach the subjectivity of the subjects studied and, therefore, access the representations of the 131 graduates of Biological Sciences courses. The production of information was based on the application of a questionnaire, as well as the use of word evocation, and interviews with 25 Basic Education teachers, who graduated from undergraduate courses. Based on the information obtained, we can consider that students and teachers share the representation that Social Justice is defined by the perspective of the equal distribution of goods and rights, including the respect for differences and the valorization of the currently disregarded identities. As for the representation on citizenship, most of the graduates and teachers shared a concept that involves the conquest of rights (political, social and civil), with guarantee to emancipation and full freedom. Regarding the teaching practice of Environmental Education, the analysis converges to a scenario in which most activities have prioritized a conservative model, both by approaching recurrent themes and by methods that are worked through actions with an eventual character. Most teachers justify that initial training is not enough to contemplate the universe of social, economic, environmental, political and cultural complexities and diversities that exist in school. For another group of teachers, even in the minority, the challenge lies in the sphere of school management, which imposes limits and conditions from conception to the accomplishment of Environmental Education activities in the school space. Although this thesis does not deplete the possibility of future research on this subject, it is expected that it contributes to the discussions around Environmental Education in the perspective of social justice and citizenship.