AS TRILHAS ECOLÓGICAS COMO ESPAÇO EDUCATIVO NÃO FORMAL E AS INTERFACES COM O ENSINO MÉDIO INTEGRADO NO INSTITUTO FEDERAL GOIANO - CAMPUS CERES

Abstract

This dissertation investigated the use of ecological trails at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology Goiano – Ceres Campus as non-formal educational spaces, analyzing their contributions and challenges for the comprehensive education of students in the Technical Course in Environment Integrated with High School. The research starts from the observation that the hegemonic educational model, centered on the transmission of content in formal and disciplinarily fragmented environments, presents structural limitations for the comprehensive education advocated by Professional and Technological Education (EPT). In this context, non-formal educational spaces — especially ecological trails — emerge as privileged territories for the articulation between theory and practice, for the development of technical, scientific, socio-emotional and environmental skills, and for the realization of the principles of comprehensiveness, polytechnics and human emancipation, which are fundamental concepts in the constitution of integrated technical education. This research adopted a qualitative approach, combining a narrative literature review—a scientific publication that extensively analyzes and discusses a topic, offering an interpretative synthesis and the "state of the art" on a given subject—documentary research, and the application of a semi-structured questionnaire to 32 participants: 19 students from the 3rd year of the course, 9 teachers, and 4 members of the campus management team. The data were analyzed using Bardin's (2016) content analysis technique. The results revealed that all participating students had already experienced activities on the trails, and that the managers recognized the pedagogical potential of these spaces. Paradoxically, only 1 of the 9 teachers used the trails regularly in their practice, highlighting a tension between recognizing the potential and its pedagogical implementation. This tension was attributed by the subjects themselves to inadequate infrastructure, a lack of collective planning, and a lack of guiding instruments. It was also found that the trails are formally included and classified in the Political-Pedagogical Project of the campus as "leisure and circulation areas," which represents a significant institutional limitation for their curricular integration. As an educational product linked to this dissertation, a Pedagogical Guide for Ecological Trails was developed, available in interactive digital and printed format, with interdisciplinary activity scripts, observation sheets, usage protocols, and articulations with the curricular components of the course, accessible at https://trilhas-ept.skywork.website. It is concluded that the ecological trails of IF Goiano – Campus Ceres have effective potential to contribute to the comprehensive education of students, provided they are used with pedagogical intent and supported by institutional policies that recognize them as legitimate didactic-pedagogical spaces.