Representações sociais de meio ambiente de discentes do curso de licenciatura em educação do campo da UFTM: subsídios para a educação ambiental

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the social representations (SR) of the Environment of undergraduate students of the Rural Education course at the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro (UFTM), in order to point out possible elements for Environmental Education (EE). It adopted as theoretical framework the Theory of Social Representations of Serge Moscovici and the Structural Approach, identifying the possible elements of the central core and the peripheral system of the SR. This research is qualitative and had as data collection instrument questionnaire. The Evoc software and Content Analysis were used for the analysis. In the categorization were used the conceptions of environment systematized by Sauvé, namely: Nature, Resource, Problem, Place where one lives and Project. The results obtained were divided into five axes: "Previous training experiences in the environmental theme", "Structural analysis of the SR of Environment", "The importance of the environment for the participants", "Conceptions of the environment of the students" and "Points for teaching action in the environment". In the first, the academics cited three disciplines that they thought were responsible for promoting greater criticality and reflection on environmental issues, which were "General Ecology in the context of Field Education", cited by seven students (30.43%), one student cited the discipline of "Environmental Chemistry in the context of Field Education" (4.35%). Fourteen people did not mention any specific discipline (60.87%). Regarding participation in projects/activities related to EE at school or in their communities, of the 23 participants who answered the questionnaire, ten students had not participated in actions involving the environmental theme, which represents (43.48%) of the public of this study, while 13 undergraduates were somehow engaged in projects/activities related to EE, representing (56.52%). In turn, in the second axis, in the identification of the structure of the SR of the graduates, the terms "Caring, "Preserving" and "Life" are part of the possible central elements of the SR of the environment of the undergraduates and the peripheral elements are the terms: "Agroecology" and "Nature". In the third axis of analysis, the predominance of the word "Life" when defining what the environment is, indicates a biocentric aspect for this issue. In the fourth axis, on the conceptions of the environment, it was possible to identify the categories "Problem" and "Projects" occupying the centrality of the students' responses, already as secondary presence of the categories found that prevailed in the answers: "Place where one lives" and "Problem". Most of the students in this study wish to act as teachers, working in their classes on environmental issues, providing greater contact with the context of the field. It is understood that the SRs of these students show a feeling of care and preservation with the environment, it is perceived that they adopt a more critical stance towards the anthropic actions that modify it. In view of these aspects, it is believed that EE can point out ways for subjects to be more concerned about environmental issues and to take care of the environment and the elements sheltered by it.