Case report: vegetable gardens in rural schools and environmental education

  • Sylvia Helena Espíndola Salles Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais (PPGCA). Universidade de Taubaté (UNITAU), Estrada Municipal Doutor José Luiz Cembranelli, n°5000, CEP: 12081-010, Taubaté, SP, Brazil.
  • Giovanna Brito Lins Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais (PPGCA). Universidade de Taubaté (UNITAU), Estrada Municipal Doutor José Luiz Cembranelli, n°5000, CEP: 12081-010, Taubaté, SP, Brazil.
  • Adriana Mascarette Labinas Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais (PPGCA). Universidade de Taubaté (UNITAU), Estrada Municipal Doutor José Luiz Cembranelli, n°5000, CEP: 12081-010, Taubaté, SP, Brazil.
  • Maria Lúcia Paulino Silva Sousa Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais (PPGCA). Universidade de Taubaté (UNITAU), Estrada Municipal Doutor José Luiz Cembranelli, n°5000, CEP: 12081-010, Taubaté, SP, Brazil.
  • Elisa Mitsuko Aoyama Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais (PPGCA). Universidade de Taubaté (UNITAU), Estrada Municipal Doutor José Luiz Cembranelli, n°5000, CEP: 12081-010, Taubaté, SP, Brazil.
  • Marcos Roberto Furlan Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais (PPGCA). Universidade de Taubaté (UNITAU), Estrada Municipal Doutor José Luiz Cembranelli, n°5000, CEP: 12081-010, Taubaté, SP, Brazil.
Keywords: environmental sciences, interdisciplinarity, pedagogical activity, school gardens

Abstract

In schools, a vegetable garden can enable the development of various pedagogical activities in environmental education and food reeducation, as it can unite theory and practice in a contextualized way. The objective of the present work was to implant gardens in rural municipal schools, analyze their potentialities as a didactic resource for the disciplines of elementary school and verify if they can contribute to environmental education and food reeducation. The gardens were planted at schools located in the rural area of the municipality of Taubaté, State of São Paulo. In addition to activities with teachers and students, there was also a demonstration of agricultural practices to community producers. After conducting vegetable garden-related activities with students, an analysis of the interaction with other subjects in the curriculum was carried out. As main results, it was observed that, in addition to connecting the theoretical concepts of the disciplines to the daily lives of students and the community, a vegetable garden at school assists in the development of content in a multidisciplinary way and promotes critical formation of students and teachers regarding the use of environmental and food resources. Observation of the participants related to the gardening activities supports the conclusion that the garden in the school environment significantly facilitated the development of themes related to environmental education and food reeducation.


Published
02/12/2020
Section
Papers