Environmental Education, STSE Education and Freirean Perspective: reinterpretations for a humanizing interface

Abstract

This article addresses the fundamental elements of the interface between Environmental Education (EE), Education in Science, Technology, Society and Environment (STSE) and the Freirean Perspective in the context of Science Education in Brazil. To this end, it starts from two mutually complementary analytical movements: a theoretical approach, delving deeper into works and works by authors whose ideas guide existing investigations in the investigated fields; and an empirical approach, described by the analysis and legitimization of dimensions of science, technology, society and nature combined with Paulo Freire’s political-pedagogical reflections, considering three inseparable moments of the author’s life and work: a) his birth and development on Recife soil (1921-1964), in which the work Education and Brazilian Current Affairs is analyzed; b) his departure from Brazil due to the establishment of the civil-military coup and his international experiences (1964-1979) in which the work Pedagogy of the Oppressed is analyzed and; c) his return to Brazil in a democratic context until his death (1979-1997), in which the work Pedagogy of Hope: a reunion with the Pedagogy of the Oppressed is analyzed. The investigation undertaken involves Discursive Textual Analysis (DTA) and the epistemological exercise of understanding and explaining cultural creations. The results point to the presence of scientific-technological and socio-environmental dimensions in the Freirean thought that develops for the emergence of a humanizing interface called Freire-STSE-EE, which is announced based on three fundamental and inseparable elements: a) Worldviews and socio-environmental values; b) Places and social contexts of shared training and; c) Insurgent knowledge and practices.