DIGITAL LIBRARY
PEDAGOGICAL PROPOSAL TO ENHANCE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
Universidad de La Sabana (COLOMBIA)
About this paper:
Appears in: ICERI2018 Proceedings
Publication year: 2018
Pages: 9760-9763
ISBN: 978-84-09-05948-5
ISSN: 2340-1095
doi: 10.21125/iceri.2018.0808
Conference name: 11th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Dates: 12-14 November, 2018
Location: Seville, Spain
Abstract:
In Colombia the Environmental Education in Early Childhood - EEEC is being born and although some experiences are recorded they are not significant, because there is unfamiliarity the teachers about the pedagogical processes of the same in the first years, and the pedagogical resources for teaching are limited.

The result of a descriptive, qualitative research with a propositive scope gave as an outcome "Connect with your territory", a pedagogical primer for developing EEEC strategies. The pedagogical proposal was validated with peers; a pilot test was implemented in two kindergartens in the municipality of Chia - Colombia. The results were significant because it showed that the four chapters of the primer guide the initial education teachers to resignify their own strategies with a pro-environmental sense.

Argument:
According to García [1], during the 70s various strategies emerge to make communities live harmoniously with the natural environment. One of them is the configuration of pro-environmental culture through educational processes, a task that must start from early childhood [2].
Therefore, the design and development of a pedagogical material that guides teachers to integrate environmental education processes in their classrooms, is not only relevant, but also necessary to consolidate this field of knowledge at the initial levels of education.
The project gave as a main result the primer "Connect with your Territory", which aims to provide early childhood teachers guidance on the processes of Environmental Education in children between 3 and 6 years, through activities that imply the exploration of the environment, the game, art, literature and research, as important factors to potentiate pro environmental competences.

Methodology:
The research project "Design of a primer for environmental education in early childhood" was developed within the framework of a macroproject called "Environmental education in early childhood, a look in Latin America". The objective was to characterize the processes of environmental education that developed in early childhood education centers in Latin America.

Primer chapters:
In the first chapter the historical, conceptual and pedagogical elements of environmental education and its exercise in early childhood are synthesized. In the second module, the teachers will find topics related to the natural sciences, which will be shared with the children in the class spaces. The third module provides a pedagogical and didactic framework for the development of environmental education activities in early childhood [5]. In the last chapter, we present examples of activities or experiences for the application of the pedagogical proposal "Routines of Environmental Learning.

After the implementation with teachers and children some conclusions are: The design of pedagogical strategies that are characterized by practical experience and permanent contact in the natural element allows children to explore, question, solve problems, interact, use their body, investigate, know, rehearse, persevere and gain independence [7].

In accordance with the above, it is indicated that the structure and design of the book helps the teacher to integrate EEEC processes. A material guides the educational action and resignifies its action within the classroom.
Keywords:
Environmental Education, early childhood, pedagogical resources, early education teacher.