Itineraries of the “State of the Art of Higher Environmental Education in Argentina” (EArte-Ar). Pathways, preliminary findings, and challenges

caminhos, resultados preliminares e desafios

Abstract

The present article deals with a double objective. First, we intend to describe the itinerary covered by the Argentine group (EArte-Ar) of the State of the Art of Higher Environmental Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (Arte-ALyC). Secondly, we present the preliminary results of its study on the masters’ and doctoral theses associated with the above-mentioned field of knowledge in the country. After framing the study in a broader discussion of environmental education, the methodological section describes and justifies each of the steps of the iterative process, detailing the criteria and instruments employed for collecting and selecting the 52 theses that constitute the final universe of theses built by the Argentinian group. In terms of findings, two nuclei of information are exhibited. The first one refers to postgraduate thesis repositories, which exhibit an incipient digitization process and a high disparity of situations in Argentina. The second moment refers to the universe of postgraduate theses that address the relationship between educational processes and the environment. The second finding describes a 1) greater quantitative weight of theses that belongs to masters’ programs over doctoral ones; 2) the predominance of theses produced from the areas of natural and biological sciences, and to a lesser extent, from the social sciences and humanities; 3) and, finally, 2014 is shown as the most fertile year in terms of production of theses. Although some specific issues related to educational processes and the environment are described, this article states that one of the challenges for the medium term is the rigorous systematization and analysis of the type of issues studied in the theses selected for the study.