CONTRIBUIÇÕES DA EDUCAÇÃO AMBIENTAL CRÍTICA PARA O PROCESSO DE ENSINO E APRENDIZAGEM EM CIÊNCIAS VISANDO À FORMAÇÃO CIDADÃ.

This research aims to investigate the contributions of a formative process in the teaching of Sciences, which assumes the presuppositions of Critical Environmental Education, for the socioenvironmental formation of students facing the environmental problems existing in their community. This training process had the effective participation of 17 students from the initial years of Elementary School who live in a rural community in the municipality of Cruz das Almas - Bahia. The collection and analysis of the data took place through the construction of drawings developed in participatory science workshops to investigate previous and acquired knowledge about the students' environmental perception. As a result it was possible to perceive how the naturalistic view is impregnated in the formation of the students, a fact that makes it difficult to understand the Environment, in order to consider its multidimensionality. However, the analysis reveals that the transition from a more reductionist environmental conception to a more comprehensive one is possible, depending on how Environmental Education is inserted, especially in the teaching of Sciences, also revealing a certain approximation between the Environmental representations of students with reality experienced by them, as there is a gradual insertion of the human being and his constructions in that environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]