A CASE STUDY: A STRATEGY FOR TEACHING ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION

The environmental education objective is to facilitate the development of environmentally sensitive individuals, able to build knowledge and to assume critic and reflective stances helping them to take decisions concerning the problems of their social environment. In a society where massive exploitation of the natural resources evidences man's irrational and measureless use of ecosystems, teaching natural sciences in the environmental education framework must be aimed at stimulating ethical behaviors and actions on the use and care of the natural environment. Thus, inside a research-action process, the present article reflects on the teaching of Natural Sciences in elementary education, its articulation with environmental education, and finally the implementation of case study as a didactical strategy that favors the development of the epistemological and meta-cognitive condition of the scientific literacy, while permitting such disciplines to intertwine and complement each other, and making a contribution to the systemic reflection on the social and educational practices in order to improve the social environment and the quality of life.