ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AS A TOOL FOR RAISING AWARENESS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE CERRADO BIOME IN TOCANTINS

Abstract

The intensification of the socio-environmental crisis and the increasing anthropogenic pressures on the Brazilian Cerrado, especially in the state of Tocantins, highlight the need for educational strategies capable of fostering environmental awareness from the earliest stages of schooling. Environmental Education (EE), when integrated into Early Childhood Education, emerges as a structuring, for shaping values, attitudes, and affective bonds with nature, contributing to biome conservation and to the development of a critical and context-based socio-environmental awareness. The problem addressed was to understand how Environmental Education, developed in Early Childhood Education, can serve as an instrument to sensitize children toward the preservation of the Tocantins Cerrado, considering childhood pedagogical foundations, official policy documents, and the valorization of territory and local knowledge. This article aimed to analyze the contributions of Environmental Education in Early Childhood Education to environmental sensitization and to the formation of values oriented toward Cerrado preservation in the Tocantins context. Methodologically, this is a qualitative study of a theoretical and exploratory nature, conducted through a systematized literature review based on national and international scientific publications, normative documents, and public policies related to Environmental Education, Early Childhood Education, and the Cerrado. The bibliographic search was carried out in databases such as Scopus, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect, with selection guided by the PRISMA protocol and interpretive analysis grounded in Content Analysis. Data analysis was conducted interpretively, in light of Critical Environmental Education. The results show that Environmental Education in Early Childhood Education, when grounded in playful practices, concrete experiences with nature, and the valorization of territory, promotes the construction of affective bonds, a sense of belonging, and the development of ethical and sustainable values. However, challenges were also identified regarding teacher education, school infrastructure, and the effective implementation of legal guidelines in everyday pedagogical practice. It is concluded that Environmental Education in Early Childhood Education is an essential strategy for preserving the Tocantins Cerrado, as it promotes contextualized, critical, and socially grounded education, contributing to the formation of sensitive, participatory subjects committed to sustainability from early childhood.