RECOGNITION OF URBAN FAUNA AND FLORA BY STUDENTS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL II – MUNICIPAL UNIT OF EDUCATION PROFESSOR FLORESTAN FERNANDES, SANTOS – SP AS PART OF THE PIBID-UNISANTA PROJECT Matheus Mano-Clara, Celina Moreira Barreto, Uélcio Jackson Magalhães Alves Jr., Gustavo Koerich, Mariana Hoff Duque, Jorge Luis Santos

Abstract

In recent decades, the urban environment has been viewed as dissociated from the natural environment. Human beings do not see themselves as agents who participate in this environment and whose actions can positively or negatively influence the processes of modification of this environment. This condition is also observed in the city of Santos, located on the coast of São Paulo, where the presence of fauna and flora in the urban environment ends up going unnoticed by most people. The objective of this study was to use techniques for recognizing urban fauna and flora by 7th grade students of Elementary School II of the Professor Florestan Fernandes Municipal Teaching Unit, in the city of Santos-SP as part of the PIBID project (Institutional Program for Teaching Initiation Grant) of the Santa Cecília University (UNISANTA), in the sub-area of ​​biology. The techniques used were schematic representation using sulfite paper, pencil and eraser, cameras or cell phones to photograph the environment, since some elements of the environment can be mobile, making a more detailed schematization difficult. Through observations in the vicinity of the school, the children recognized the urban fauna and flora, drawing what they understood as part of the urban environment. Of the observations made, 60% referred to vegetation and the remainder to animals. Among the diagrams about the flora, all were of angiosperm plants, of which 80% were part of the eudicotyledonous group and 20% were monocotyledonous. As for the drawings referring to the fauna, 78% were domestic animals such as dogs, cats and birds, 20% referred to invertebrates such as arachnids and insects, and only 2% referred to human beings as part of the environment. In the classroom, ways of differentiating the groups observed in the field were presented with the help of PIBID scholarship students. The study showed that the children's view of urban fauna and flora is limited to organisms sustained by people, that is, domestic animals and ornamental plants. Furthermore, it was possible to verify that few are inserted in a participatory context in relation to the urban environment. In the present study, the characteristics of the components of the urban fauna and flora typical of the city of Santos were recognized, thus the applied methodology allowed the understanding of the relationship of the theoretical knowledge already learned with the reality of the environment.