ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION APPLIED IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF PORTO FELIZ

Abstract

Environmental education has become an essential component of the contemporary educational process, especially in the face of socio-environmental challenges impacting life on a local and global scale. In this context, the present study, entitled "Environmental Education in the Classroom as a Strategy for Building Ecological Awareness," aims to analyze the role of pedagogical practices developed in the school environment in the formation of students who are more aware, critical, and committed to environmental preservation. This is a qualitative research study, based on a literature review and reflections on pedagogical experiences focused on environmental issues in daily school life. The results indicate that the inclusion of environmental education in the classroom, when carried out in an interdisciplinary, contextualized, and participatory manner, favors the construction of sustainable values, attitudes, and behaviors. Strategies such as investigative projects, practical activities, collective discussions, and problematization of real-life situations demonstrate potential to broaden students' understanding of the interactions between society and nature, stimulating critical thinking and socio-environmental responsibility. Furthermore, it is evident that the teacher assumes a fundamental mediating role in organizing meaningful experiences that connect curricular content to environmental issues experienced by students. It is concluded that environmental education, by going beyond isolated approaches and assuming a continuous and formative character, effectively contributes to the development of ecological awareness and to the formation of citizens capable of acting in the construction of more sustainable societies. Thus, the need to strengthen pedagogical practices committed to social and environmental transformation in the school context is reinforced.