Educação para a sustentabilidade em licenciaturas da área das ciências da natureza na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte: abordagem curricular e ideias e atitudes de estudantes

Abstract

Unsustainable growth practices in front of the increasing poverty and the planetary environmental crisis are accelerating. The educational sphere can not and should not be oblivious to these issues, particularly with regard to ethical, economic, technological and socio-environmental aspects. It is in these circumstances that we point out the interest in teaching and learning processes that problematize the associations between Science, Technology and Society in an approach in which the principles of an education for sustainability can be the basis for the reflective formation and construction of values. In this perspective, studies in the field of Natural Sciences Teaching have been dedicated to investigate the conceptions about sustainability of teachers in formation in this area, as well as indicating the promotion of training oriented to educate in the perspective of sustainable development. In this context, the objective of this work was to investigate the ideas and attitudes related to Sustainability of students of science teaching courses of Chemistry, Physics and Biology of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte and to understand how the guiding principles of education for sustainability are presented in the undergraduate courses in Chemistry, Physics and Biology. Using an instrument that is an adaptation of the Views on ScienceTechnology-Society VOSTS questionnaire, we sought to identify the Conceptions on sustainability of these students at two levels: the definitions of the concept and the operational principles needed to achieve sustainability - a relationship between the discourse about a concept and the principles and operative practices. The attitudes or predispositions of the graduates in relation to the concept of sustainability and the actions they believe should be put into practice in order to achieve it have revealed that, to a certain extent, they incorporate a correct discourse, but they lack a better understanding of the consequences of human actions in the life of the planet.