LANDSCAPE DESIGN AMONG 1ST YEAR STUDENTS OF BASIC EDUCATION: DISCUSSION FROM A CASE STUDY

Abstract

The work comprises a result obtained in a Research of Scientific Initiation First Steps, whose objective was to know and discuss the landscape conception of the students of the first year of High School and, also, to subsidize the extension and teaching activities that have been carried out by the University of São João del-Rei (UFSJ), in the context of teaching geography and geographic education. The research considered the Tijuco neighborhood and the landscape in which the Escola Estadual Professor Iago Pimentel is located, in the city of São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais, as a spatial clipping. The discussion is based on the idea of ​​the totality of the landscape, on the interaction between nature, society and culture, as well as on the categories of form and content; appearance and essence, in dialogue with Bertrand (2004) and Santos (1996). In the methodology, free drawing was used as a resource used by students to represent their notion of landscape. To deepen the knowledge about this perception and the look at the place where they live, it was proposed to prepare letters from young people to one of the youth researchers. Young people were asked to write about the place where they live, about their relationship with this space and their social practices. The survey, carried out during 2020/2021, took place remotely, due to the pandemic period, and had the collaboration of four 1st year students from that school. During the research, the spatial composition of the landscape of the Tijuco neighborhood was analyzed, highlighting the contrast between this neighborhood and those of the São Caetano region (upscale residential area). Most of Tijuco is made up of smaller houses than the houses’s São Caetano. The houses are closer to each other, the neighborhood with less urban infrastructure and a population with lower socioeconomic conditions than the population of the São Caetano region. This analysis took place with the help of satellite images, through which the spatial composition - structure, form and content - in the two areas was observed, as well as the students’ prior knowledge and initial readings about the place. The qualitative results show that students (75%) represented the landscape mainly related to the idea of ​​nature, highlighting a naturalistic view of this concept, with emphasis on biotic and physical-natural elements such as birds, coconut trees, relief, sunset and anthropic, reinforcing the stereotype of beauty and aesthetics. Only one student (25%) considered aspects such as bus stops, streets, buildings and arrangements that portray part of a city and an urban routine. From the representations, the reality experienced by the students and the readings, a critical debate was carried out on the concept of landscape, on the formation and condition of the students’ neighborhood. These have an affective relationship with the landscape and the place. The research, in addition to bringing conceptual and methodological elements to be taken up in extension activities, reinforces the importance and need to discuss the concept of landscape in the teaching of geography. This concept enhances understanding the dynamics of space from the study of the neighborhood, establishing a connection between the concept, the spatial configuration in line with the visible and invisible aspects of the landscape.