Criança-natureza: aspectos cognitivos e afetivos da criança na relação com a natureza

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the relationship between the child and nature from cognitive and affective aspects in 75 boys and girls from 7 to 11 years of age and that live in the city of Boa Vista-RR. The relation to nature is also named as connection with nature which is understood as an individual feeling, which involves emotion, cognition and sense of belonging. The qualitative research was based on the Piagetian clinical method, based on the drawing technique followed by an individual interview. Data from the interview were submitted to content analysis. The results showed that nature is understood by the child as a beautiful and fun place, but far from its own habitat, which reveals an affective distance between the child and the natural world. Children show affection and positive attitudes towards nature, although there is no evidence of a deepening in this relationship and care is tied to small actions such as throwing away garbage, not polluting and not deforesting. It was concluded that it is necessary to develop educational actions in all contexts, family, social and cultural to reconnect the child to nature in order to increase the probability of pro-environmental actions in the future and provide better physical and mental well-being to the child.