Avaliação do projecto de educação ambiental do CMIA de Viana do Castelo : "escola da natureza"

Abstract

A Educação Ambiental (EA) é uma área que tem vindo a ganhar importância no mundo atual, sendo-lhe atribuída um importante papel na transmissão de conhecimentos, de competências, de atitudes e de valores para uma cidadania consciente e responsável. Existem inúmeros projetos de educação ambiental a ser desenvolvidos em Portugal, contudo são poucos os que efetuam a sua avaliação. Com esta dissertação pretende-se avaliar até que ponto o projeto de educação ambiental “Escola da Natureza”, desenvolvido pelo Centro de Monitorização e Interpretação Ambiental (CMIA) de Viana do Castelo no ano letivo 2011/2012, promoveu a aquisição de conhecimentos e mudanças de comportamentos e atitudes nos alunos envolvidos. Com vista ao cumprimento dos objetivos propostos foram avaliados os conhecimentos e atitudes dos alunos sobre os três temas inseridos no projeto “Escola da Natureza” - mar, rio e montanha- em duas fases do projeto: na fase inicial (antes da realização das sessões pedagógicas) e na fase final (após a realização de todas as sessões pedagógicas). Para a recolha de dados realizaram-se questionários a todos os alunos participantes no projeto. A amostra para este estudo foi constituída por 299 alunos de diversos graus de ensino, desde o 1º ciclo do ensino básico ao ensino secundário. Em acréscimo, analisaram-se as opiniões e as sugestões dos professores e dos alunos das turmas envolvidas no projeto. Da análise global dos resultados pode-se concluir que a contextualização de aprendizagens, proporcionada pelas intervenções pedagógicas, em contexto de sala de aula e trabalho de campo, contribuiu positivamente para uma mudança conceptual significativa. À medida que a faixa etária dos alunos aumenta, verificou-se que o nível de pré-conhecimentos dos alunos sobre os temas também aumentou e portanto as diferenças após as intervenções pedagógicas foram menores. No que se refere à avaliação das atitudes, pode-se concluir que as atividades desenvolvidas no âmbito do projeto de educação ambiental não influenciaram significativamente a predisposição dos alunos para a preservação dos ecossistemas em estudo.

The Environmental Education (EE) is a field that has been gaining importance in today's world, and assigned an important role in the transmission of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values for a conscious and responsible citizenship. There are numerous environmental education projects being developed in Portugal, but, among them, few are subjected to an objective evaluation. With this thesis I aim to assess the extent to which environmental education project "School of Nature", developed by the Centro de Monitorização e Interpretação Ambiental (CMIA) of Viana do Castelo in the academic year 2011/2012, promoted the acquisition of knowledge and alters behaviours and attitudes in the students involved. In order to fulfill these objectives, the previous knowledge and attitudes of students on the three themes included in the project "School of Nature" - sea, river and mountain-project was evaluated in two phases: the initial phase (before the realization of educational sessions) and the final phase (after completion of all educational sessions). Data collection was carried out by means of standardized questionnaires. The sample for this study consisted of 299 students of various levels of education, from the 1st cycle of basic education to secondary education. In addition, the opinions and suggestions of teachers and students of the classes involved in the project were analysed and taken in account in the final design of the questionnaires. With the obtained results it can be concluded that the contextualization of learning, provided by pedagogical interventions in the context of classroom and fieldwork, contributed positively to the significant conceptual change. As the age of the students increases, it was found that the level of pre-knowledge of the students on the topics also increased and therefore the differences after educational interventions were lower. Regarding the assessment of attitudes, it can be concluded that the activities carried out under the project for environmental education did not influence the willingness of students to the preservation of ecosystems under study.The Environmental Education (EE) is a field that has been gaining importance in today's world, and assigned an important role in the transmission of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values for a conscious and responsible citizenship. There are numerous environmental education projects being developed in Portugal, but, among them, few are subjected to an objective evaluation. With this thesis I aim to assess the extent to which environmental education project "School of Nature", developed by the Centro de Monitorização e Interpretação Ambiental (CMIA) of Viana do Castelo in the academic year 2011/2012, promoted the acquisition of knowledge and alters behaviours and attitudes in the students involved. In order to fulfill these objectives, the previous knowledge and attitudes of students on the three themes included in the project "School of Nature" - sea, river and mountain-project was evaluated in two phases: the initial phase (before the realization of educational sessions) and the final phase (after completion of all educational sessions). Data collection was carried out by means of standardized questionnaires. The sample for this study consisted of 299 students of various levels of education, from the 1st cycle of basic education to secondary education. In addition, the opinions and suggestions of teachers and students of the classes involved in the project were analysed and taken in account in the final design of the questionnaires. With the obtained results it can be concluded that the contextualization of learning, provided by pedagogical interventions in the context of classroom and fieldwork, contributed positively to the significant conceptual change. As the age of the students increases, it was found that the level of pre-knowledge of the students on the topics also increased and therefore the differences after educational interventions were lower. Regarding the assessment of attitudes, it can be concluded that the activities carried out under the project for environmental education did not influence the willingness of students to the preservation of ecosystems under study.