Social representations developed by high-school students about environmental issues

Abstract:

This article presents research findings on possible social representations developed by high-school students about the environmental problems of a city in the northwestern Paraná. Reflections on the importance of incorporating environment-related topics in science teaching has motived this work’s investigative efforts, as well as the importance of a social recognition of those topics in the action-taking processes. Data collection was undertaken through the word free evocation technique and analyzed in accordance to the structuralist approach of the Theory of Social Representations, in first and second year high-school classes. Results reveal an ongoing necessity of striving for a teaching style that stirs new environment notions, in which social factors are acknowledged as existent; since, through the considerations in the study, it was indicated that two of the classes investigated harbor naturalistic social representations of environmental issues. Thus, this study aims to contribute to the search for reflections and actions that permeate socioenvironmental issues.

Keywords:
science teaching; environment; theory of social representations