USE OF EPISTEMIC THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL PLAY: A REPORT USING THE MANN-WHITNEY TEST

UM RELATÓRIO PELO TESTE DE MANN-WHITNEY

Abstract

Within the scope of Environmental Education [EE], the use of playfulness beyond fun is limited. The unitarian view of play in EE contributes to the difficulty of students in positioning themselves on socio-environmental issues. Related to these points, the objective of this article is to evaluate the effects of the use of epistemic theoretical assumptions in playful activities on environmental conservation and preservation. The research is anchored in the question of how the use of assumptions, playful intentionality, environmental sustainability and interdisciplinarity enables the student to broaden the cognition about an environmental issue. This is a qualitative-quantitative explanatory study, based on the Mann-Whitney statistical inference test. The test compared two groups of students to see if students in Group A achieve broader cognitive levels compared to students in Group B. The study shows, through ranking, quartiles and medians, that groups A and B are statistically different. The results showed more accurate effects on the perception [cognition] of Group A students on topics of conservation and environmental preservation. We infer from the study that the teacher's playful training is an aspect that requires attention, because efforts are only made to preserve a natural environment if play, play and make believe are pedagogically based. The report shows that the theme is a fertile field for new studies on the use of epistemic theoretical assumptions in environmental playfulness.