Environmental Perception of 5th Year Elementary School Students through Cultivation and Phenotypic Plasticity of Plants

摘要

The study of children’s environmental perception is an essential tool for understanding the behavior and planning actions that provide awareness and development of their ethical position towards the environment they live in. The objective of this study was to evaluate the opinion of students of the 5th year of Elementary School about the concepts related to the importance of the environmental condition to plants. The activities involved 26 children from nine to eleven years old. They made:? 1 ) a comparison between Boldo Mirim ( Plectranthus neochilus ) and Boldo Brasileiro ( P. barbatus );? 2 ) an experiment with Boldo Brasileiro and observed the development of this plant in relation to two nutritional conditions of the soil and four solar intensities. It was possible to identify the children’s perception of plant characteristics and the results of the experiments performed through the measurements they made on the plants, the observation of the experiment carried out, ? their questionnaire replies, their reports, and their drawings. This strategy contributes to children’s knowledge of abiotic (soil, light) and biotic factors (root production, and plant growth) related to plant phenotipic plasticity in response to different environmental conditions. The activities performed helped the children to ? construct ? environmental perception and ? deconstruct ? the botanic blindness that affects most people since an early age.