Educadores socioambientais: formação inicial docente em Ciências e Química sob a ótica da Educação Ambiental Crítica com ênfase em mudanças climáticas

Abstract

Climate change (CC) affects daily life and intensifies socio-environmental inequalities. In this context, teacher education in Environmental Education (EE) that articulates political, economic, social and cultural dimensions is essential. However, within the environmental field, there are numerous currents of EE that may either reinforce social inequalities or foster the collective transformation of society. In the Brazilian context, conservationist EE has predominated in teacher training. Thus, this study aimed to integrate the principles of Critical Environmental Education (CEE) into the initial education of Biological Sciences and Chemistry teachers, promoting a critical reinterpretation of CC in Chemistry teaching. The Student~Teacher~Learner (S~T~L) approach guided the methodological framework, integrating affective dialogues and active listening. To this end, a remote workshop was designed and implemented in the second semester of 2024, directed at undergraduate students in the Biological Sciences degree program offered in the Distance Education (DE) modality by the Centro de Educação Superior a Distância do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (CEDERJ). The workshop addressed chemical concepts from the General Chemistry Elements (GCE) course and was evaluated through the creation of a gamified activity on the Wordwall platform. Data collection involved Google Forms questionnaires and student narratives. For the Chemistry undergraduates in the in-person modality at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), three sessions were developed during the first semester of 2025, within the course Química na Escola IV, which offers greater flexibility for addressing CC related themes. Data collection included dialogues, debates, discussion circles, visual productions, and student narratives. The results indicate that integrating CEE into initial teacher education in both programs encourages future educators to critically reflect on the context of CC and on their own EE training. The proposal goes beyond the transmission of knowledge, enabling transformative learning that encompasses awareness and action, so that future teachers may approach the challenges of global warming in their educational practices in a critical and emancipatory manner. Thus, the research contributed to engaging teachers as socio-environmental multipliers.