Memórias e percepções relacionadas à educação ambiental: um estudo de caso sobre as famílias dos alunos do curso técnico em agropecuária do IFFAR – Campus Santo Augusto

Abstract

Environmental Education (EE) is characterized as an educational process aimed at forming citizens who are conscious and committed to environmental preservation and sustainable development. The growing concern over the environmental crisis has made EE a fundamental topic in the educational context. In Brazil, Law No. 9.795, dated April 27, 1999, mandates the incorporation of practices and values related to environmental preservation and sustainable development at all levels of education. This law establishes guidelines for teaching the subject, preferably in an integrated and interdisciplinary manner. The present study, developed within the Professional and Technological Education Graduate Program, under the research line "Organization and Memories of Pedagogical Spaces in Professional and Technological Education (EPT)," aims to investigate the conceptions of EE expressed through the memories and perceptions of a group of subjects - students of the Agricultural Technician Course at the Federal Institute Farroupilha (IFFar) - Santo Augusto Campus and their families, seeking to identify characteristics of the political-pedagogical macro-trends: conservative, pragmatic, and critical. The theoretical foundation of this investigation is based on the studies of Philippe Pomier Layrargues and Gustavo Ferreira da Costa

Lima, who categorized the field of Environmental Education in Brazil into three macro- trends, aiming to highlight the different approaches and theoretical perspectives involving environmental issues (Layrargues and Lima, 2011). Therefore, the question arises: How do the students and families of the Agricultural Technician course at IFFar - Santo Augusto Campus perceive environmental issues between humans and the environment, and what EE conceptions do they hold? The investigation follows a qualitative approach, using case study procedures. Data collection involved a questionnaire for students and their families, followed by semi-structured interviews with some of these families. The collected data were analyzed using the content analysis technique proposed by Bardin (2011). The research revealed that although there is a strong connection between the subjects and the environment, their characteristics tend to favor a pragmatic view of environmental issues, with a more discreet presence of the critical view. In light of this, a critical approach to EE is suggested in educational spaces, providing a broader contextualization and fostering critical thinking within the academic community and society. As an educational product, a booklet was developed for the school community, aiming to promote reflection on environmental issues and bringing memories of the families who participated in the research.