The conceptual- methodological chaos in Environmental Education

Abstract

Studies on Environmental Education (EE) have exhaustively emphasized that it must not be mixed up with the teaching of Ecology. However, some EE researches and activities in Brazil still maintain the conceptual controversy over what Environment, Environmental Education, Nature, and the teaching of Ecology are. Likewise, there are few researches that analyze the context which led to such controversies, how they were legitimated, and what would justify the preference for any of these terms. Based on these considerations, this paper aims at historically and epistemologically identifying some possible roots of misunderstandings between Environment/Nature and Environmental Education/teaching of Ecology. Therefore, I focus on the philosophical and historical basis of the current environmental crisis and relate the occurrence of Environmentalism and EE to the concern our society shows about this crisis. At last, I discuss the implications such misunderstandings have for the development of Environmental Education. Key words: Environment; Ecology; Education.