Argumentation of first year High School students on the theme of "Energy": discussions in an Environmental Education perspective

Abstract: This article presents an analysis of arguments produced by students about the theme "Energy: production, uses and environmental impacts", with the aim of contributing to the studies on the theme Environmental Education in Basic Education. The theoretical concepts that underlie our study are related to the process of social interactions, in the Vigotskian perspective, and to the production of arguments, from the standard of Toulmin. The data presented in this research were collected with students of the first grade of the High School in the discipline of Physics of a public school in the State of São Paulo. The study provides evidence that classroom work promotes an enabling environment for the emergence of valid arguments, and favors the implementation of the Environmental Education process with the critical approach.