Banca de DEFESA: ALEX GOMES SARAIVA JUNIOR

THE SCHOOL GARDEN AS A TOOL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Environmental Education, School Garden, Agroecology, Geography, Sustainability.

Currently, Environmental Education has become an important tool for understanding the
conservation of natural resources and the nature around us. Therefore, disseminating this discussion
and addressing this topic in schools is essential so that individuals can have contact with
Environmental Education from their earliest years. This study investigates the potential of the
School Garden as a pedagogical tool and a catalyst for the development of critical and
contextualized Environmental Education. The empirical focus is the Jaceruba settlement, an
agricultural area in the buffer zone of the Tinguá Biological Reserve, where conflicts between
production models and conservation demand localized educational solutions. The main objective of
this research was to analyze how the Environmental Education in Focus Project, implemented at the
Jaceruba Municipal School, can establish the school as a central hub for the discussion of
sustainability and promote the articulation between the school environment and the community of
producers. The methodology used is qualitative and exploratory in nature, structured as a case
study, based on the precepts of Critical Environmental Education and Agroecology. The project's
actions included the construction of the garden as a "living laboratory," thematic workshops, and
the installation of supporting infrastructure. The results demonstrate that the school garden
transcended its physical function, proving to be an effective tool for interdisciplinary teaching,
community engagement (through the participation of parents and students in the workshops), and
practical demonstration of sustainable cultivation alternatives, offering a pedagogical counterpoint
to the conventional agricultural model. It is concluded that, by contextualizing teaching and
connecting theory with local productive practice, the school, through the garden, consolidates itself
as the central and articulating agent of Environmental Education in the settlement.