Educação ambiental como campo de conhecimento: a contribuição das pesquisas acadêmicas para sua consolidação no Brasil

Abstract

This article discusses the contribution of academic research carried out through postgraduate programs in Brazil for the development and consolidation of the field of Environmental Education in this country. It presents some features and trends of the 2641 dissertations and theses produced in the period 1981 to 2008. Moreover, this work describes the structure, purposes and some preliminary data from the project "Environmental Education in Brazil: analysis of academic production (theses and dissertations)", which is under development by research groups linked to State University of Campinas, State University of São Paulo - Rio Claro Campus, University of São Paulo - Ribeirão Preto Campus, and Federal University of São Carlos. The main aim of the project is to establish the state of the art of Environmental Education in Brazil and to generate a database that will benefit further analytical studies on the academic production in this area.