SOILS AND DESERTIFICATION IN CURRICULAR PARAMETERS, BNCC AND TEXTBOOKS: CHALLENGES TO TEACHING PRACTICE

Abstract

In recent years, the theme of desertification and soil degradation has gained notoriety, but there are gaps regarding the presence of this problem in teaching materials and educational curricula. Evaluating and including desertification and the role of soil degradation in teaching materials is not an easy task. In this context, this article aims to analyze how the curricular parameters and textbooks of the educational areas of basic education in Geography, Science and Biology address the relationship between soils and desertification, with the research focus on schools in municipalities in the Sertão do São Francisco Mesoregion, semi-arid region of the states of Pernambuco and Bahia. The study was developed through the analysis of 34 textbooks, worked on in the aforementioned schools between the years 2018 and 2024, with the following evaluation criteria: approach to the study theme; incentives for proposing activities; and resources used in the communication of the theme between the author and the teacher. The National Curricular Parameters, the curricula of the states of Bahia and Pernambuco, and the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) were also analyzed. The aim was to analyze how the topic of soils and desertification is presented and encouraged to be developed in the final years of elementary school and high school. Despite being a topic that is currently in evidence, there are gaps regarding the inclusion of the relationship between desertification and soils in textbooks. The relationship was found in only two books, one aimed at teaching geography and the other at biology. Regarding the national curricular parameters, the state curricula, and the BNCC, the topic under study is encouraged, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. However, it is not reflected in the textbooks. Based on the results obtained, teachers need complementary materials to support the textbook and thus develop their classes that involve the relationship between soils and desertification, because in addition to conceptual errors, most of the materials did not present the key theme of this article.