Educação ambiental como elo entre unidades de conservação e escola: desafios e oportunidades

Abstract

Environmental Education (EE) is an important implement to the necessary mind and behavioural changes about the environment, and has the advantage of being able to be developed both in formal educatioan spaces, such as schools, and in non-formal ones, as the conservation units (CU). Both institutions have relevant educational potential and responsibilities. Based on the understanding that the integration of these institutions contribute to reaching the goals of environmental education and conservation units, and specially the greater objective of conservation, the present study aimed to obtain an overview of environmental education actions that integrate schools and conservation units within the state of Rio de Janeiro and to carry out a survey on the perceptions and educational practices associated with EE within the scope of the Curió Municipal Natural Park (CMNP) (Paracambi, RJ). For such objectives it were used the Systematic Quantitative Literature Review and the case study methodology. Some results found were that the transdisciplinary nature of EE is reflected in the publications; the location and category of CU were shown to be factors that influence the execution of the activities in these spaces. It was verified the application of different methodologies for the development of the EE, reflecting in the numerous binding actions identified, with positive results. Regarding to the CMNP, it was found the agreement about the relevance of making efforts to develop EE with children, and that the challenges for the effective implementation of EE in CU and schools are shared by most of these institutions, situation wich demands profound sociopolitical transformations. CU and schools have shown themselves to be important spaces for the development of EE, whose integration has the potential to provide the necessary awareness, emancipation and transformations targeted by critical education. However, there is still a long way to go to achieve the EE goals. It is necessary to change the society and decision makers’ perception about socio-environmental issues. It is expected that the results of this work can support the formulation of public policies and assist educators in their teaching, in order to form citizens committed to socio-environmental issues and nature conservation.