Cartoon as support material in education for biodiversity conservation: The feasibility of using “the Tom and Jerry show”, “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” and “Masha and the Bear” series in elementary school

Abstract

The impacts of anthropogenic activities they affect biotic and abiotic factors in charge of ecosystem balance. Therefore, different didactic-pedagogical resources and activities for environmental education (EE) in schools have been suggested; however, approaches aimed at early school years are scarce in the literature. Thus, the general objective of the present study is to evaluate the feasibility of using cartoons as support material for EE activities performed in elementary school environment. We analyzed 196 episodes of “The Tom and Jerry Show”, “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” and “Masha and the Bear”, 55h16min of analysis, in total. Forty-one (41) episodes had the potential to be explored in EE activities due to their plots and scenes. These episodes address contexts linked to themes related to some environmental theme. Students of elementary school, who participated in the EE activity, assumingly acquired knowledge about different general environmental issues and about the Cerrado biome after they participated in the proposed activity. Therefore, the current outcomes have confirmed the hypothesis that cartoon can be used as didactic-pedagogical support material for of EE activities aimed at children.