Educação Ambiental Crítica para a abordagem da crise ambiental e da problemática da poluição plástica no Ensino Médio.

The environmental crisis, resulting from the dynamics of nature exploitation established in industrial society through the incessant pursuit of expanding the production and consumption cycle, has waste generation and disposal as some of its most problematic aspects. In this context, plastic pollution plays a prominent role, associated with the exorbitant and growing quantity of plastic waste dumped into ecosystems and the high resistance presented by the material. Therefore, due to the gravity of the situation and the demand for proposals that promote the development of environmental awareness and a change in students' attitudes, the educational product developed presents a proposal for Environmental Education based on a critical, reflective, and dialogical approach. The instructional material, consisting of four learning guides, was applied to students in a second-year class of the New High School at a public school. The proposal's effectiveness was confirmed through the observation of student participation and performance during the activities and through the comparison and Discursive Textual Analysis of the responses collected in the questionnaires administered before and after the implementation of the educational product. The obtained results demonstrated the development of environmental awareness facilitated by a deepened understanding of the students about the social, political, economic, and cultural issues involved in the environmental crisis and the problem of plastic pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]