A biodiversidade em instituições educativas de Araucária/PR: uma abordagem inovadora entre educação ambiental e ciência cidadã por meio do uso do aplicativo iNaturalist®

Abstract

The exacerbated population growth of cities increasingly causes the loss of biodiversity, causing the natural habitat of fauna and flora species to become more restricted. Consequently, part of this biodiversity remains inhabiting urban spaces, as if it was “camouflaged” to the human eyes, staying almost imperceptible. That situation leads us to the following question: which is the species diversity present in educational units of the Municipal Education Network of Araucária/PR? To answer to this problem, the following general objective was proposed: to understand and give visibility to the urban biodiversity present in some educational units in the municipality of Araucária/PR, engaging their teachers for the use of innovative technologies such as the iNaturalist® app, integrating Environmental Education and Citizen Science through an academical extension course. Citizen Science seeks to integrate scientific knowledge with popular knowledge, promoting a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach for environmental issues. The aim is to engage Basic Education teachers to act as active citizen scientists in favor of Environmental Education, by awaking in the teaching staff a sense of investigation and curiosity of knowing the local biodiversity. The theoretical basis of this research is based on the authors: Leff (2001, 2010.a, 2010b, 2012), and Morin (2008, 2011), regarding to Environmental Education; and Bonney (2009), Irwin (1995), Zamoner (2021), and Rumenos (2020), concerning Science Citizen. This is a qualitative research, descriptive type, in which the data collection instruments were: observation during the extension course, analysis of the planning of an educational proposal related to training, analysis of the two questionnaires applied to the course participants (beginning and end), and documents such as dissertations and theses. Content analysis, by Bardin (2004), was used to categorize the data and analyze the forms. The results indicate that the teachers who participated in the extension course “Citizen Science: biodiversity within the walls of educational institutions” broadened their views regarding the presence of different biological species in the space of the educational unit; some teachers had difficulties regarding the use of technological equipment, especially the iNaturalist® app. The course also enabled clarifications and dissemination of Citizen Science for teachers, contributing to their professional development and to the quality of education with regard to the use of resources and technological applications. We concluded that during the training there was greater attention from teachers to their work environment regarding the presence of biological species, with some of them involving students and children in viewing and observing species. We hoped that this research can contribute to the engagement of Environmental Education practices integrated to the Citizen Science, given that it is an knowledge area that is still little explored in Brazil, especially in basic education.