EDUCATION OF THE PEDAGOGUE AND TEACHING OF SCIENCE: THE SCHOOL GARDEN AS A SPACE FOR DIALOGUES ON ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Abstract

Teacher education for the early years of elementary school generally includes minimum hours for contents related to the Teaching of Science. Given this issue, this paper presents some reflections on the education of pedagogues, specifically for the Teaching of Science, based on works of theoreticians such as Delizoicov and Angotti (2000); Bizzo (2002); Ducatti-Silva (2005); Ovigli and Bertucci (2009). The study aims at analyzing the teaching and learning in Science by implementing school gardens, and the way they can contribute to interdisciplinary studies at this stage of schooling. The garden enables the teacher to propose issues such as the problems related to nature, the use of pesticides that contaminate the food produced in the garden, the growing cycle, the soil characteristics, soil irrigation, the production relations, healthy eating, the distribution and provision of beds, among others. In this perspective, we believe that the inclusion of contents of Science in teacher education is essential for understanding the space garden/school and the way it can be used to promote the Environmental Education. The results showed that the school gardens are an important tool for the teacher since they permit to address issues related to the teaching and learning of Science, as well as to deepen topics related to the Environmental Education.