Environmental education in elementary school: curricula, actions, and COVID-19

Abstract

Environmental education has emerged with force since the end of the 20th century as a paradigm of life, research and being, due to the great social, technological and environmental changes of our times. In basic education, environmental education is responsible for raising awareness, preparing and promoting in students a critical sense of nature and all that it entails. This research reports on the role of environmental education in the curricula, including the actions taken and the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through two semi-structured online interviews and bibliographic analysis, we reflect on environmental education in basic education, specifically at the primary level. Among our findings is an educational reality in which there is a gap between what is expected and what has been done to create an environmental awareness.