Aspects of the critical environmental education in elementary education through mathematical modeling activities

Abstract

This research deals with the implementation of environmental education in a Mathematics course-subject by using mathematical modeling. It presents and discusses the repercussions of this process according to the conservative and critical perspectives on environmental education and of the theoretical and methodological aspects of mathematical modeling. This research was conducted in four classes of the 9th-grade of an elementar public school in the city of São Lourenço do Oeste, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Data were collected through semi-structured surveys, notes on a field diary, and focal group interviews, all which was later submitted to contente analysis. By the students’ perception, the issue is not merely environmental, but rather socio-environmental. Even though it was recorded a behavior of diligence with nature, propriety and awareness, there has been also records of a reflective and critical demeanor regarding the environmental. Students have shown a better understanding of the environmental reality and a better understanding of mathematics through mathematical modeling.