| Summary: | Environmental perception studies have been included in management projects that seek nature conservation. The main objective of this work was to eva¬luate students’ and teachers’ environmental perceptions regarding a natural protected area (Caetés Ecological Station) that is situated in the surroundings of their schools, in order to support an program aimed at its conser¬vation, which is a requisite to assure the conservation of that protected area. In the first stage of the study, stu¬dents were asked to write essays and to draw mental maps about their place of residence. In contrast, teachers answered a questionnaire about environmental issues related to their teaching experience. In the second stage, teachers attended a lecture and were guided by the authors on a tour around the ecological station. Students’ essays and drawings showed a manifest content of unveiled conscience, not necessarily linked to the presence of a protected area in their neighborhood. In their answers to the questionnaires, the teachers demonstrated little knowledge and interaction regarding the ecological station. However, after the lecture-and-tour activity, the teachers suggested that the political pedagogical project of their schools should include environmental educa¬tion activities at the Caetés Ecological Station. There was a cognitive change among the teachers, since they demonstrated the intention of seeking a deeper and closer relationship with the local ecological station.
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