As vivências dos alunos com as árvores: um caminho para desenvolver a afetividade com as plantas

Abstract

Trees are living beings that adorn and enrich our landscapes, inspiring our affection. Children often have an intense connection with trees, and it is in this stage phase of life that affective, and potentially lifelong, memories are developed. School is a stimulus-rich environment that, through science classes, gives students the opportunity to interact with plants and discover new sensations, impressions, and feelings, and to address botanical imperception. In this respect, the present study analyzes the experience of middle school students with trees and the potential of these plants in science learning. Participants were students in their first year of middle school at a public school in Itaboraí, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. The observational methodology was used, and the following activities were carried out: (1) Establishing students’ prior knowledge of trees and their experience and relationship with these plants; (2) My favorite tree; (3) Adopting a tree. Most of the students defined trees as food plants that produce mainly fruit. They also reported having trees at home, having planted one before, and associated their importance with supplying regulating and provisioning ecosystem services. The majority of students stated that trees are living beings and reported having kissed or hugged a tree, with fruit trees cited as particular favorites. Adopting a tree and giving it an everyday (not scientific or common) name encouraged greater empathy and a better student-plant bond. These results demonstrated similarities in how each student associates, describes, identifies, and thinks about trees, and although the answers given were similar, they were still unique. The students shared a rich array of experiences and, when stimulated and encouraged through the proposed activities, became strong allies in the botany teaching-learning process.