https://tede.unioeste.br/handle/tede/579 2026-08-08T06:36:24Z https://tede.unioeste.br/handle/tede/8590 Title: Educação Ambiental na Educação Fundamental com vista ao Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável Autor: Ferreira, Magda Gonçalves Primeiro orientador: Oliveira, Irene Carniatto de Abstract: The global environmental crisis is one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century, rendering environmental education (EE) an urgent political and formative instrument, particularly in elementary education, with the aim of shaping critical individuals committed to sustainability. In rural contexts, such as Marechal Cândido Rondon, EE becomes even more strategic, as it engages directly with sustainable rural development and therefore requires an analysis of curricula and methodologies. Historically, EE consolidated after milestones such as the Clean Air Act in England and the work Silent Spring (1962), driven by the intensification of the environmental crisis. The general objective of this research is to investigate the importance of EE in elementary education for the promotion of sustainable rural development. Its specific objectives are to evaluate EE practices within the school environment, identify the challenges faced by rural educators, and assess the impact on children’s environmental awareness. The methodology adopted is mixed (documentary and fieldbased), combining document analysis with questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation in rural schools, thus assuming a descriptive and exploratory character. The study is organized into three chapters. Chapter 1, “Legal Foundations and Humanized Practices,” examines the Brazilian legal framework (Law No. 9,795/1999), which establishes EE as an essential, permanent, and crosscurricular component, emphasizing the central role of the teacher as mediator, model, and agent of transformation, as well as the importance of affectivity and direct contact with nature. Chapter 2 evaluates how the intensification of climate change requires the integration of science education in the early years of elementary schooling in order to promote critical thinking and children’s protagonism, treating climate education as a structuring theme. Chapter 3, “Assessment of Practices,” seeks to evaluate, through questionnaires administered to students, parents, and teachers in the rural area of Marechal Cândido Rondon, the recognition of the relevance of the theme and children’s understanding of concrete environmental problems, although without the incorporation of personal actions. For teachers, the pedagogical difficulties encountered—whether related to materials or to long-term projects—constitute limits that are difficult to overcome. Given the community’s strong connection to agricultural activity, the full implementation of EE in the school is essential. Publisher: Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná Tipo do documento: Dissertação 2026-02-09T00:00:00Z https://tede.unioeste.br/handle/tede/8583 Title: Identidade e resiliência na perenidade da agricultura familiar: uma análise qualitativa no Noroeste do Paraná Autor: Martins, Deisi Graziela de Lima Primeiro orientador: De Grandi, Adriana Maria Abstract: Family farming plays a strategic role in Brazil’s economic, social, and environmental development, accounting for a significant share of food production and contributing to the maintenance of rural populations. However, the permanence of family farmers on their properties cannot be explained solely by economic factors, as it also involves symbolic, cultural, and social dimensions that influence their capacity to adapt to contemporary transformations. In this context, this thesis aimed to examine the relationship between identity and resilience in shaping the permanence of family farmers on agricultural properties. The study was conducted within an interpretivist paradigm, adopting a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach with a phenomenological orientation. The methodological procedures included a literature review on identity, resilience, and family farming, an analysis of scientific articles published in national and international databases, and semi-structured interviews with family farmers from the northwestern region of Paraná, Brazil. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis, enabling the development of interpretative categories related to identity, resilience, and permanence. The findings revealed that family farmers’ identity is shaped by their connection to the land, family heritage, territorial belonging, and the appreciation of knowledge transmitted across generations. Resilience was expressed through adaptive strategies such as production diversification, technology adoption, reorganization of farming activities, and the strengthening of social support networks. The analysis demonstrated that identity and resilience operate interdependently, contributing to the continuity of family farmers in rural areas. The review of studies on identity showed that territoriality, food culture, family succession, social recognition, and resistance to the hegemonic agribusiness model are central dimensions of identity within family farming. It is concluded that the permanence of family farming results from the dynamic interaction between identity, resilience, and social, economic, institutional, and territorial factors, constituting a multidimensional phenomenon that goes beyond the limits of economic rationality. Publisher: Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná Tipo do documento: Tese 2026-03-06T00:00:00Z https://tede.unioeste.br/handle/tede/8526 Title: Vitrine tecnológica como instrumento de inovação para a transição agroecológica Autor: Grisa, Simone Primeiro orientador: Feiden, Alberto Abstract: This thesis examines the role of agroecological technological showcases as instruments of innovation and learning in the agroecological transition in Paraná, highlighting the articulation between science, local knowledge, and technology transfer. It begins with a historical contextualization of agriculture to problematize the diffusionism of the Green Revolution, highlighting its socio-environmental limitations and the processes of exclusion of family farmers. Within this framework, it defends the participatory construction of knowledge and agroecology as a scientific, practical, and political paradigm, oriented towards the redesign of agroecosystems based on diversity, soil health, the use of bio-inputs, short marketing circuits, and social justice. Based on this framework, the research problem is defined as understanding how technological showcases function as innovation and learning devices, with objectives that include characterizing and mapping the actors involved and analyzing the adoption of technologies by family farmers in the Metropolitan, Western, and Southwestern regions of the state. The justification is anchored in the advancement of organic production in Paraná, the inductive role of public policies, and the emergence of open innovation arrangements such as showcases and living labs as responses to the environmental and climate crises. Methodologically, this is a qualitative and exploratory research, developed in two stages articulated with document analysis and a multiple case study involving four showcases: CPRA/Agroecology Research Station (Pinhais), VITAL/Show Rural (Cascavel), CVT/Unioeste (Entre Rios do Oeste), and the Agroecological Systems Area/IDR (Pato Branco). Data collection combined direct observation and semi-structured interviews with 40 participants (farmers, technicians, and researchers), followed by content analysis to integrate empirical evidence and theoretical frameworks. The results indicate that the four showcases comprise a complementary arrangement of research and development, demonstration, and extension. The CPRA is configured as a state-level reference experimental station in training, bio-inputs, agroforestry systems, and environmental education. VITAL operates as a highly visible didactic-expository unit at a mega-fair, with integrated demonstrations supported by a broad inter-institutional network. The CVT/Unioeste prioritizes training and technological development in grains, cassava, weed management, and appropriate machinery, associating participatory certification and field days. In Pato Branco/IDR, certified thematic showcases are linked to short circuits and the techno-economic analysis of production systems, strengthening the link between demonstration and productive decision-making. The interviews reveal convergences around learning by doing, cooperation, motivation, and partnerships, while also highlighting tensions: while farmers emphasize the ethics of care, autonomy, and economic viability, organizers prioritize standardization, indicators, workforce qualification, and funding stability. Structural challenges persist, such as generational succession, gaps in agricultural extension services, resource instability, power asymmetries, and the risk of "protocolization" with the reduction of processes to organic checklists. Even so, the showcases are configured as niches of innovation that, when supported by public policies and multi-stakeholder governance, accelerate the diffusion of practices, reducing risks and strengthening productive, environmental, and sanitary resilience, with repercussions on the supply of healthy food. It is concluded that the technological showcases operate as socio-territorial innovation ecosystems, capable of translating technical-scientific evidence into contextualized and replicable solutions for family farming, with positive impacts on sustainability, income, and public health. For its consolidation and scaling up, institutionalization and continuous funding are recommended; the development of standardized metrics for technical-economic, ecological, and social impacts; the adoption of action-research protocols with deliberative power for farmers; integration with agricultural extension services, credit, and public procurement; and strategies for training and attracting young people with catalytic instruments. Finally, it is proposed to advance quantitative studies that measure the contribution of these showcases to the adoption of technologies and the results of agroecosystems, reinforcing their potential as a replicable model of agroecological transition in the country. Publisher: Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná Tipo do documento: Tese 2026-02-13T00:00:00Z https://tede.unioeste.br/handle/tede/8442 Title: Juventude rural da UNICAFES Brasil: o contexto e a construção das estratégias de vida e trabalho Autor: Soares, Simone Cesario Primeiro orientador: Basso, Dirceu Abstract: Young people in rural Brazil are leaving the countryside, and there are several factors contributing to this situation, including low income, difficulty accessing land, and the lack of or restricted access to public goods and services, within a context of social inequality highlighted by the absence of public policies targeting youth, and more specifically rural youth. Thus, this study sought to understand and analyze the strategies adopted by these young people in shaping their life plans, based on an analysis of the following dimensions: autonomy, participation, agency, and future. The study is characterized as qualitative. Data collection took place between 2021 and 2022. The research subjects were 100 young people residing in all regions of Brazil who were involved in initiatives developed by UNICAFES Braz rational theory, with an application adapted to the analytical method employed by Maurício Serva (1996; 1997) in light of the proposed objectives. The UNICAFES cooperative network plays an important role in this context by providing training to young people through programs based on the principles of the solidarity economy. These training programs address the needs of young people in family farming, enabling them to remain in rural areas and adapt to rural realities. Thus, the study revealed that most of the young people surveyed intend to remain in rural areas, but the conditions are not attractive. As a result, young people are seeking income outside their farms, or even outside rural areas. To earn income, they are engaging in various jobs, sometimes in rural work, sometimes in urban activities. Public policies, even those targeted at this demographic such as Pronaf-Jovem do not reach young people. Despite this situation, families still encourage young people to remain in the countryside. Furthermore, most young family farmers still operate primarily within a substantive framework, as they adopt agricultural practices that are minimally mechanized and/or automated, as well as practices more focused on agroecological and/or agroforestry production that is, more sustainable management practices. Publisher: Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná Tipo do documento: Tese 2026-03-06T00:00:00Z