Educação ambiental crítica e diálogo intercultural: uma sequência didática sobre as origens históricas e o contexto local (Alagoa Nova-PB) da cana-de-açúcar e da cachaça de alambique

Abstract

The technical and neoliberal nature of the National Common Core Curriculum makes us reflect on the formal school curriculum and the difficulties of contextualizing the teaching of natural sciences. Cultural and environmental issues are intrinsically linked to the lives of the population of Alagoa Nova, Paraíba, Brazil. It is therefore necessary to incorporate them into local school curricula. The overall aim of this research is to investigate the possibilities of theoretical and methodological convergence between the critical-social approach of Environmental Education (EE) and Intercultural Education (IE) from a decolonial perspective in the teaching of Natural Sciences (ECN), in the context of the development, validation and application of a prototype Didactic Sequence (DS) in collaboration with the teacher of a local public school, with reference to the historical process of sugar cane and the production of cachaça de alambique. The specific objectives were: to investigate the historical origins and current local context of sugar cane and cachaça production, in terms of cultural and environmental aspects; to discuss possibilities for convergence between environmental education, in its critical-social current, and social education from a decolonial perspective, as a foundation for teaching natural sciences; to validate design principles for teaching natural sciences in the 9th grade of elementary school through the historical contextualization of sugar cane and cachaça production based on EI Decolonial and EA in its critical-social current, mobilizing content in different dimensions; and to analyze, collaboratively with the class teacher, the contributions of the DS to the students' understanding of the historical origins and current local context of sugarcane and the production of cachaça de alambique, in terms of cultural and environmental aspects. The research adopted a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and collaborative methodological approach, seeking approximations with action research, using Maria Cecília de Souza Minayo's dialectical hermeneutics as a reference for producing and analyzing the findings. The integrative review identified three theses and two dissertations. We used three key words (interculturality, environmental education and science teaching). and only one academic production brought up a dialog about this triad, although it didn't use the didactic strategy called SD. Our DS, through application research, by Tjeerd Plomp, pointed to the extent to which local history, in cultural and environmental terms, favored a reflective look and a theoretical and practical deepening in the face of the colonialities of capitalism. The elaboration, development, validation and collaborative analysis of the DS enabled theoretical and practical convergences based on the theoretical triad (EE, EI and ECN) as well as a look at the need for continuing training for teachers in these theoretical fields and the urgency of public educational policies that drive changes in curricula committed to the premises of this triad.