Mobile mandala garden as a tool of environmental education in an early childhood school in Southern Brazil

Abstract

The raising of environmental awareness should begin in early childhood and continue throughout life in the form of educational strategies that enhance the discussion, critical reflection and formation of values for a citizenship, where the school is an important space to work on environmental education. Given the above, the present study aimed to develop an environmental education project in a public school of early childhood education, through the construction of a mobile mandala garden as a pedagogical tool. The type of research was qualitative, for the action research method was used. The school under study is located in a city in Southern Brazil. An interview with the school's coordination allowed the diagnosis of the situation of environmental education in the preschool. The study was conducted with students from a preschool class (students between three and four years of age). The construction of a mobile mandala garden for the cultivation of vegetables was used as a pedagogical tool for the development of environmental education practices (pedagogical activities) around the vegetable garden. The behavior and attitudes of the students in the pedagogical activities developed around the vegetable garden were recorded in a field diary and photographs. The content analysis method enabled the analysis of the collected data. The results demonstrated the mobile mandala garden as a pedagogical tool that enhanced engagement, participation and dialogue between students and the school community. The environmental education practices developed around the vegetable garden enabled students to learn about the environment, planting vegetables and healthy eating from an early age, stimulating the development of values such as respect, ethics, cooperation and community. This study was innovative and made scientific progress on the creation of a pedagogical tool with the potential of being used in environmental education activities.