“Eu tô observando! Agora eu também sou da natureza!” Diálogos entre Observação de Aves e Percepção Ambiental na Educação Básica

Abstract

Researches on environmental perception have been conducted since the 1970s, initially from Environmental Psychology and susequently by other areas of knowledge, such as Humanistic Geography, Philosophy, Architecture and Urbanism, thus constituting itself as a transdisciplinary field. Marin (2007) highlights the importance of a greater exploration of the topic by the Environmental Education and emphasizes the phenomenological basis of environmental perception, which articulates cognitive, sensory, social, cultural and affective aspects. According to Tuan (1980), perception is at the basis of the construction of attitudes and values commited to the environment, and must be worked on aiming the overcoming of environmental problems. The present research proposed a practice of birdwatching as a strategy to stimulate environmental perception of students at Colégio Estadual Professora Zélia dos Santos Cortes, in the municipality of Nova Friburgo, RJ. For this purpose, a group of students who had previously practised birdwatching in two experiences, in 2018 and 2019, were chosen. The research was developed in three stages, in 2022: a conversation circle to collect the memories of the previous experiences, a field activity for birdwatching in the Três Picos State Park, municipality of Cachoeiras de Macacu, RJ, and a second conversation circle to capture the participants’ impressions after this new field activity. The data collection methodology was the Conversation Circle, with recording and subsequent transcription of the dialogues, and the data was worked according to the Content Analysis methodology. 20 charts were produced, based on contexts that were previously discussed in the conversation circle. The subjects developed within each unit of context were transformed into units of analysis, which were categorized in an inductive process. The categories have been described, interpreted and exemplified accordind to a qualitative approach. The results showed that birdwatching can be used as a strategy capable of stimulating the multiple aspects that make up the perceptive phenomenon, such as cognitive, social, affective, sensory and aesthetic, thus being able to contribute effectively to the pedagogical work in the area of environmental education.