SOILS AND DESERTIFICATION IN CURRICULAR PARAMETERS, BNCC AND TEXTBOOKS: CHALLENGES TO TEACHING PRACTICE

Abstract

In the last few years, the theme linked to desertification and directed to soil degradation has gained notoriety, but there are gaps regarding the presence of this problem in didactic materials and educational curricula. Assessing and including desertification and the role of soil degradation in teaching materials is not an easy task. In this context, this article aims to analyze how the curricular parameters and textbooks of the educational areas of basic education in Geography, Science and Biology address the relationship between soils and desertification, having as a research focus the schools of municipalities in the Mesoregion of the Sertão do São Francisco, semi-arid in the states of Pernambuco and Bahia. The study was developed through the analysis of 34 textbooks, worked on in the aforementioned schools between the years 2018 and 2024, with the following evaluation criteria: approach to the study theme; incentives for propositions of activities and resources used in the communication of the theme between the author and the teacher. The National Curriculum Parameters, the curricula of the states of Bahia and Pernambuco and the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) were also analyzed. The aim was to analyze how the theme soils and desertification are presented and fostered to be developed in Elementary School, Final Years and High School. Despite being a theme in evidence today, there are gaps regarding the inclusion of the relationship between desertification and soils in textbooks. A relationship found in only two books, one directed to the teaching of Geography and the other to Biology. As for the national curriculum parameters and the state curricula and the BNCC, the theme under study is stimulated, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. However, it was not reciprocated in textbooks. From the results raised, teachers need complementary materials to assist the textbook and thus develop their classes that involve the relationship between soils and desertification, because in addition to conceptual mistakes, most of the materials did not present the key theme of this article.