Os guardiões das araucárias: literatura, ludicidade e alfabetização científica na educação infantil

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the contributions of the children's story The Guardians of the Araucarias to promoting scientific literacy and fostering appreciation of the native fauna and flora of the state of Paraná in early childhood education. The methodology involved the development of the children's storybook The Guardians of the Araucarias, accompanied by three-dimensional finger puppets representing the characters. The story was then presented to a group of preschool children through a storytelling activity. Data were collected using field notes, audio recordings, and the children's drawings. The initial assessment revealed a complete absence of native fauna and flora in the students' free drawings. After the storytelling activity, this scenario changed significantly, establishing both an emotional and cognitive connection between the children and the local biome. In the final assessment, 100% of the drawings depicted native animal species, and 87.5% included the Araucaria tree as a flora representative. Therefore, the story contributed to the appreciation of Paraná's native fauna and flora in early childhood education, while also promoting scientific literacy and environmental education among the students.

Keywords: Science Education, Native Fauna and Flora, Environmental Education.