191

Arhuaco ancestral knowledge as

a techno-pedagogical strategy for

the development of environmental

awareness in fourth-grade students of

Colegio La Sagrada Familia

Keyla Vanessa Ariza Córdoba

María Claris Oñate Quiroz

Rolando Hernández Lazo

To reference this article / Cómo citar este artículo / Para citar este

artigo: Ariza-Córdoba, K. V., Oñate-Quiroz, M. y Hernández-Lazo, R. (2023).

El conocimiento ancestral arhuaco como estrategia tecnopedagógica para

el desarrollo de la conciencia ambiental en los estudiantes del grado cuarto

del Colegio La Sagrada Familia. Revista UNIMAR, 41(1), 191–211.

https://doi.org/10.31948/Rev.unimar/unimar41-1-art12

Reception date: January 18, 2022

Review date: May 5, 2022

Approval date: July 19, 2022

Abstract

The objective of this research was to implement a techno-pedagogical strategy

based on the ancestral knowledge of the Arhuaca indigenous community, to develop

environmental awareness in fourth-grade students of the primary school ‘La

Sagrada Familia’ in the city of Valledupar. The research had a qualitative approach

and a socio-critical paradigm that allowed identifying the potential for change in

the way students perceived and related to nature. The action research method was

applied, which was developed in three phases: deconstruction, reconstruction,

and evaluation. The work unit consisted of 15 students. The results indicated that

there was a signicant change in the development of environmental awareness in

each of its dimensions. It was concluded that, although the implemented techno-

pedagogical strategy provided a great contribution to the integral formation of the

student, it is recommended to link technological tools and ancestral knowledge to

pedagogical projects, as a contribution to educational processes.

Keywords: environmental awareness; techno-pedagogical strategy; ancestral

knowledge.

Master in Pedagogy. Teacher at Colegio Franciscano Jiménez de Cisneros, Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia. Email: vanessadelvalle _1@hotmail.com

Master in Pedagogy. Head teacher of the Educational Institution Trujillo, Becerril, Cesar, Colombia. Email: mariaclarisoq@gmail.com

Master in Health Informatics. Educational Technology Expert. Teacher of the Universidad Mariana, Valledupar, Cesar, Colombia. Email:

rolandohdez66@gmail.com

An article resulting from the research entitled: ‘Arhuaco ancestral knowledge as a techno-pedagogical strategy for the development of

environmental awareness in fourth-grade students of Colegio la Sagrada Familia’, developed from March 8, 2019, to December 2, 2021,

in the municipality of Valledupar, Cesar, Colombia

192

El conocimiento ancestral arhuaco como estrategia

tecnopedagógica para el desarrollo de la conciencia

ambiental en los estudiantes del grado cuarto del

Colegio La Sagrada Familia

Resumen

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo implementar una estrategia

tecnopedagógica basada en los conocimientos ancestrales de la comunidad

indígena arhuaca, para desarrollar conciencia ambiental en los estudiantes

del grado cuarto de la básica primaria del Colegio La Sagrada Familia de la

ciudad de Valledupar. La investigación tuvo un enfoque cualitativo y paradigma

sociocrítico, que permitió identicar el potencial de cambio en la forma cómo

percibían y se relacionaban los estudiantes con la naturaleza; se aplicó el método

de investigación acción, que se desarrolló en tres fases, a saber: deconstrucción,

reconstrucción y evaluación. La unidad de trabajo estuvo conformada por 15

estudiantes. Los resultados indicaron que hubo un signicativo cambio en el

desarrollo de conciencia ambiental en cada una de sus dimensiones. Se concluyó

que la estrategia tecnopedagógica implementada proporcionó un gran aporte a

la formación integral del estudiante. De igual forma, se recomienda vincular las

herramientas TIC y los conocimientos ancestrales a los proyectos pedagógicos

como aporte a los procesos educativos.

Palabras clave: conciencia ambiental; estrategia tecnopedagógica,

conocimientos ancestrales.

O conhecimento ancestral arhuaco como estratégia

tecnopedagógica para o desenvolvimento da

consciência ambiental em alunos da quarta série do

Colégio La Sagrada Familia

Resumo

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi implementar uma estratégia tecnopedagógica

baseada no conhecimento ancestral da comunidade indígena arhuaca, para

desenvolver a consciência ambiental em alunos da quarta série da escola primária

‘La Sagrada Família’, na cidade de Valledupar. A pesquisa teve uma abordagem

qualitativa e um paradigma sociocrítico que permitiu identicar o potencial de

mudança na forma como os alunos percebem e se relacionam com a natureza. O

método de pesquisa-ação foi aplicado, desenvolvido em três fases: desconstrução,

reconstrução e avaliação. A unidade de trabalho foi composta por 15 alunos. Os

resultados indicaram que houve uma mudança signicativa no desenvolvimento

da consciência ambiental em cada uma de suas dimensões. Concluiu-se que,

embora a estratégia tecnopedagógica implementada tenha proporcionado

grande contribuição para a formação integral do aluno, recomenda-se vincular

ferramentas tecnológicas e saberes ancestrais a projetos pedagógicos, como

contribuição aos processos educativos.

Palavras-chave: conhecimento ancestral; estratégia tecnopedagógica;

conhecimento ancestral.

Arhuaco ancestral knowledge as a techno-pedagogical strategy for the development of environmental awareness in fourth-

grade students of Colegio La Sagrada Familia

193

Keyla Vanessa Ariza Córdoba

María Claris Oñate Quiroz

Rolando Hernández Lazo

1. Introduction

In recent decades, worldwide, great concern has

arisen over the environmental crisis to which

the prevailing development model has led the

planet, which has manifested itself in multiple

problems such as climate change, the dramatic

loss of biodiversity, the reduction of available

fresh water and air pollution, as stated in the

sixth report of the United Nations Environment

Program (UNEP, 2019).

According to the report, the general state of

the environment has continued to deteriorate

around the world. Since 1880, the global mean

surface temperature has risen between 0.8 and

1.2 degrees Celsius, recording eight of the ten

warmest years on record in the past decade.

Regarding air pollution, pollution causes between

six and seven million premature deaths a year;

95% of the planet’s population lives in areas

with levels of ne particles higher than those

recommended by the World Health Organization

(WHO) (UNEP, 2019).

The protected areas do not reach sucient

percentages of terrestrial habitats, reaching only

15%; the same happens with the coastal and

marine areas, which only reach 16%; there is a

large number of species in danger of extinction,

whose percentage is found in 42% of terrestrial

invertebrates: 34% of freshwater and 25% of

marine ones. Since 1970 it has been noticed

that a large percentage of the planet’s wetlands

no longer exist, being important ecosystems

to improve climate change conditions (UNEP,

2019). Regarding the report,

‘Urgent measures on an unprecedented scale

are needed to stop and reverse this situation

and thus protect human and environmental

health’, the report concludes. The positive

side is that the measures that must be taken

are known and that they are even included

in international treaties such as the Paris

Agreement or the so-called Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs). The loss of

biodiversity and air pollution must be halted,

water and resource management improved,

climate change mitigated and adapted to it,

and resources used eciently, among others.

(Planelles, 2019, para. 3)

Similarly, in Colombia, the classic model of

development is a model based primarily on

economic growth which seeks to exploit the

natural system, causing a gap in the relationship

established between human beings and nature.

According to a preview of the V National

Biodiversity Report, prepared by the Ministerio

del Medio Ambiente and the UN Development

Program (UNDP, 2014), environmental damage

is due to several ‘motors’, namely: land

exploitation, the destruction of ecosystems due

to the invasion of species that do not belong

to the environment, water pollution, which has

become a problem due to mining, livestock

farming, and other economic exercises that

prevail over environmental conservation and,

nally, climate change.

Regarding the transformation and loss of

biodiversity, the degradation of the natural

forest and deforestation continue to be

important drivers. Regarding deforestation,

the natural forest cover went from 56.5% in

1990 to 51.4% in 2010. The deforested areas

have been transformed mainly into pastures

for cattle ranching and agricultural areas,

while the deterioration of the forest is linked to

interventions in the territory, associated with

the expansion of mining, crops for illicit use, and

the extraction of tropical wood (Ministerio de

Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible, Programa de

las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo, 2014).

Amid this environmental crisis, laws, norms,

and decrees have been established so that

companies, natural persons, and educational

institutions found strategies for the conservation

and preservation of the environment, such as

Law 629 of 2000, “using which approves the

‘Kyoto Protocol’ of the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change”, Law 23 of 1973,

“by which extraordinary powers are granted to

the President of the Republic to issue the Code of

Natural Resources and Environmental Protection

and other provisions”, and Decree 1743 of 1994:

Whereby the Environmental Education

Project is instituted for all levels of formal

education, criteria are set for the promotion

of non-formal and informal environmental

education, and coordination mechanisms

are established between the Ministerio de

Educación Nacional and the Ministerio del

Medio Ambiente.

However, despite the regulatory advances in

environmental matters and the eorts made to

comply with the provisions, the outlook is not

encouraging.

[Some authors] such as Eschenhagen

(2007), Le (2007), Arias and López (2009),

and Noguera (2011) have pointed out that

the environmental crisis is not the crisis of

depletion of non-renewable natural resources

as the discourse has presented of sustainable

development, but rather a crisis of modern

Arhuaco ancestral knowledge as a techno-pedagogical strategy for the development of environmental awareness in fourth-

grade students of Colegio La Sagrada Familia

194

Keyla Vanessa Ariza Córdoba

María Claris Oñate Quiroz

Rolando Hernández Lazo

culture, of the epistemology with which

Western civilization has understood being

and their environment. (Vargas, 2015, p. 21)

Therefore, it is necessary to develop processes

that recognize the diversity of knowledge

and generate an intercultural dialogue that

contributes to the creation of new knowledge,

behavior patterns, reections, and behaviors

about the environment (Vargas, 2015).

Meanwhile, indigenous communities show

a dierent way of seeing and inhabiting the

world that, in our opinion, poses an alternative

to the prevailing development model and the

transformation of the relationships that some

human beings have established with nature.

Some social groups, globally and nationally,

have proposed alternatives arising from Andean

worldviews and conceptions of life, such as

Sumak kawsay or ‘Good Living’ in Ecuador,

and Suma Qamaña or ‘Living Well’ in Bolivia,

philosophies that claim:

A vision of life in fullness, in harmony and

balance with nature, without a human being

at the center and with happiness that also

goes through a good spiritual life, far from the

industrialist [...] and predatory model, where

accumulation, competition [...], individualism

and the notion of economic value to all things

[...] are the foundations. (Niel, 2011, as cited

in Vargas, 2015, p. 24)

All indigenous peoples [...], although with

dierent denominations according to each

language, context, and form of relationship,

conceive the concept of living well, which can

be synthesized in:

‘Know how to live in harmony and balance;

in harmony with the cycles of Mother Earth,

the cosmos, life, and history, and balance with

all forms of existence in permanent respect’

(Huanacuni, 2010, as cited in Vargas, p. 25).

In Colombia, the indigenous peoples of

the Amazon refer to the concept of living

well [...] when speaking of ‘Returning to

the Maloka’, which is dened as ‘returning

to ourselves; it is to further value ancestral

knowledge, the relationship harmonious with

the environment [...]; it is to protect our

knowledge, technologies, and sacred sites;

it is not to be an individual but a collective

being [...]; it is to take advantage of what the

Western world oers without abandoning its

own social and cultural values, and practices.

(Huanacuni, 2010, as cited in Vargas, 2015,

pp. 25-26)

So, based on an intercultural proposal that has

been raised from environmental education and

the Good Living of each indigenous people,

with their knowledge and ancestral practices of

environmental protection and life in harmony

with nature, the present project seeks to

contribute to the construction of environmental

culture, through a techno-pedagogical proposal

based on Arhuaco ancestral knowledge, aimed at

developing environmental awareness in primary

school students of the La Sagrada Familia School

in Valledupar, who, despite environmental

training received, carry out polluting actions

and aggression against the fauna of the school,

which raises the need to contribute to raising

awareness about the environmental problems

we face today.

Therefore, it seeks to potentiate education

in ecological values and practices that lead

human beings to deconstruct their relationship

with nature that, until now, has generated the

deterioration of many natural ecosystems. In

this way, it is intended to generate a brotherly

relationship with Mother Earth and recognize the

damage done to nature when its resources are

contaminated or abused, against the ancestral

principles that good living and reciprocity

speak to. Likewise, it is important to generate

awareness from the experience and relationship

with Mother Earth, so that all this knowledge is

later multiplied autonomously and voluntarily by

each of the students, in whatever context where

they are.

Given the situation, the following questions

arise:

• How a techno-pedagogical strategy based on

Arhuaco ancestral knowledge would facilitate

the development of environmental awareness

in primary school children of the La Sagrada

Familia School in Valledupar?

• How to identify knowledge of the Arhuaco

worldview and their position towards nature

in them?

• How to design a techno-pedagogical strategy

based on indigenous ancestral knowledge,

so that it contributes to developing

environmental awareness in students?

• How to implement a techno-pedagogical

strategy based on knowledge of indigenous

ancestors, that contributes to developing

environmental awareness?

• How to assess the eects generated by a

techno-pedagogical strategy implemented

Arhuaco ancestral knowledge as a techno-pedagogical strategy for the development of environmental awareness in fourth-

grade students of Colegio La Sagrada Familia

195

Keyla Vanessa Ariza Córdoba

María Claris Oñate Quiroz

Rolando Hernández Lazo

in the development of environmental

awareness?

To answer these questions, the following general

objective was raised: Develop environmental

awareness through the implementation of a

techno-pedagogical strategy based on the

ancestral knowledge of the Arhuaca indigenous

community in fourth-grade students of Colegio

La Sagrada Family from the city of Valledupar.

To achieve this, specic objectives were

directly linked to the development of each of

the implemented activities, namely: Identify

the knowledge of the Arhuaco worldview and

the position towards nature in the students;

design a techno-pedagogical strategy based

on indigenous ancestral knowledge, which

contributes to developing environmental

awareness in them; implement and evaluate

this strategy.

To justify the investigation, it was taken into

account that the progressive deterioration of the

environment is one of the problems that most

aict not only Colombia, but the entire world,

and the educational sector is no stranger to this

reality since it has entrusted it with the task of

generating processes that lead to awareness

and the generation of pro-environmental values

and practices, which translates into a challenge

for educational institutions, forced to propose

strategies that contribute to conservation and

preservation environment. According to Rengifo

et al. (2012):

Today, in our Colombian society, there is a

need for an environmental education that

persists in knowledge, attitudes, behaviors,

and habits towards the environment, aimed

at making humanity change its classic

conception that nature is a passive and

complacent element, which is automatically

regenerated because it is an innite good,

always available to satisfy the whims of the

human being. (p. 3)

La Sagrada Familia de Valledupar School,

complying with the legal provisions that urge

educational institutions to generate training

processes in environmental matters, has

included dierent environmental contents in its

curriculum, developing environmental education

chairs and annually executing the Environmental

School Project (PRAE), stipulated in Decree 1743

of 1994. However, behaviors that contribute to

the environmental deterioration of the school

have been observed, such as the mistreatment

of animals and plants belonging to the fauna

and ora of the institution, and the inadequate

deposit of solid waste in the respective bins for

this purpose, especially in elementary school

students.

Therefore, the researchers consider it important

to implement educational proposals that

strengthen the aective bond of students with

nature, through the experience of the Arhuaca

indigenous community, generating awareness

and development of values, relationships,

attitudes, and environmental behaviors. With

this purpose, the present techno-pedagogical

strategy is carried out, which, being innovative,

uses ICT tools and directly involves students

in carrying out their activities and generates

greater interest and participation for them,

which produces signicant learning.

This strategy is based on the ancestral knowledge

of the Arhuaca indigenous community, which

allows an intercultural experience that, in

addition to attracting attention and clearing

up doubts, aims to promote environmental

awareness in fourth-grade children, in the

unlearn and learn from a new relationship with

nature, so that later this learning is reected

in practice and in the daily life of each one

of them in any context. In this way, they will

become information multipliers and, with their

practice, they will set an example, generating

environmental awareness in other people, and

applying the principles of ancestral knowledge

on environmental issues.

In the investigation process, works such as that

of Arredondo et al. (2018) in the international

context were reviewed. The authors make a

comparative study in the localities of Chiapas,

Mexico, between experiences and practices of

environmental education in four rural primary

schools of formal school systems and the

alternative educational model that is practiced

within an autonomous school, through school

ethnography and the hermeneutic-dialectical

method of the constructionism. As the strategies

proposed in the ocial textbooks were not

sucient, in daily practices, teachers and external

actors carried out extracurricular activities

that take into account the environmental and

cultural context and put in direct contact the

children with elements of nature, generating

greater motivation, signicance and interest

in environmental issues and the promotion of

knowledge, appropriation, and appreciation of

nature.

Regarding the previous investigation, it is

shared that how environmental education has

been developed has not managed to promote

sucient appropriation and social responsibility

in the face of daily environmental problems; in

Arhuaco ancestral knowledge as a techno-pedagogical strategy for the development of environmental awareness in fourth-

grade students of Colegio La Sagrada Familia

196

Keyla Vanessa Ariza Córdoba

María Claris Oñate Quiroz

Rolando Hernández Lazo

part, because the environmentalist discourse

reproduced in schools is framed in a technical and

scientic logic that makes no sense for students

and does not generate an authentic appreciation

and awareness of nature. Therefore, it is

necessary to implement alternative educational

models that arise from the dialogue of dierent

knowledge and develop interdisciplinary,

intercultural, integrative, contextualized, and

holistic pedagogical strategies, for the generation

of critical, purposeful thinking and promoter of

lifestyles in harmony with nature (Arredondo et

al., 2018).

In this way, an aspect that generates an

important contribution to current research and

that must be taken into account is that students

can have direct contact with all the elements of

nature that are part of their environment. In this

way, greater enthusiasm and links with nature

can be generated in them when carrying out the

proposed activities, which could be very positive

in generating greater environmental awareness.

At the national level, the research of Garavito

and Chaparro (2017) stands out, who carry

out a study of the projects developed at the

José Félix Restrepo IED School since 2011,

aimed at integrating ancestral knowledge in the

classroom, resorting to the presence of some

indigenous groups from the Muisca, Arawak,

Misak, Huitoto, and Ticuna communities, to

rescue their knowledge on environmental,

cultural, community, and territorial issues. The

methodological approach is part of qualitative

research and uses qualitative and descriptive

information, linked to ethnographic exploration.

This research is novel and very signicant outside

of the usual contents of the curriculum and the

traditional chair referring to the environment,

to accommodate the knowledge of the Taitas,

grandparents, and mamos of various indigenous

communities, through the power of the word and

dierent activities such as singing workshops

to water, awareness of the Pachamama,

ceremonies, word circles, eco-yoga activities,

muralism, music, and visits to empower and

recognize territories, to learn holistically about

the forms used by these groups to take care

of their territories, resources, communities,

respect for water, species, and the environment

in general.

Likewise, this experience calls on teachers

and educational institutions to promote and

generate intercultural experiences that allow not

only to contribute to environmental education,

but also to training in ethics and humanities, to

strengthen identity, based on the link with other

worldviews and relationships with nature and, to

the construction of a social fabric that favors the

senses of citizenship, by perceiving the sacred

in the experience with nature and the divine in

sharing with the ecosystem.

In this way, the contribution of this study

to current research is the promotion of

interculturality based on the experience of people

belonging to the indigenous community in the

study area: La Sagrada Familia School, where

a small percentage of students are part of this

community, whose experiences, told rst-hand,

will be a great contribution to the motivation of

other students.

In the local context, the research by Castro and

López (2019) was found, whose objective was

to promote, through environmental culture, the

saving and ecient use of water. The educational

institutions involved were the following:

Pedro Castro Monsalvo Technical Educational

Institution (INSTPECAM), Upar Educational

Institution, Alfonso López Pumarejo Educational

Institution, and CASD Educational Institution,

from the municipality of Valledupar.

The results and conclusions of this research

showed that the strategies used motivated

and transformed the habits of the educational

community by assuming new roles in favor of

caring for the river as the main source of water in

the city. In addition, specically, the technological

strategies, such as the use of software, apps,

and interactive pages, allowed the development

of critical-reexive thinking and the acquisition

of a commitment to the conservation and saving

of water.

Regarding local studies related to using ancestral

Arhuaco knowledge to develop environmental

awareness or other similar, no evidence of

current work has been found that provides bases

for the background of this research.

For a better understanding of this research work

in terms of the theories developed, the Arhuaco

ancestral knowledge was addressed. According

to the Arhuaco worldview, in the beginning,

the Mother of Origin designated each of the

peoples some commitments that make up the

Law of Origin, the sacred mandate that contains

the principles and elements that sustain the

existence and the harmony of the universe,

the which was determined by the Mother to

govern and regulate everything that exists in

the universe.

So, the Law of Origin is a set of teaching-

learning codes that inuences and directs the

Arhuaco ancestral knowledge as a techno-pedagogical strategy for the development of environmental awareness in fourth-

grade students of Colegio La Sagrada Familia

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Keyla Vanessa Ariza Córdoba

María Claris Oñate Quiroz

Rolando Hernández Lazo

order and functions of the communities and all

the expressions and actions within the dierent

areas of the daily and spiritual life of the peoples,

mediated and supported by the oral tradition that

is taught from their languages, at the head of the

Mamos, must be respected to guarantee social

coexistence, harmony, and balance between all

the natural components that constitute the body

of Mother Earth (Consejo Territorial de Cabildos

Gobernadores de la Sierra Nevada de Santa

Marta [CTC] and Ministerio de Cultura, 2016).

The Law of Origin is the highest standard and

basis of thought for the indigenous peoples of

the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta; from there,

their Ancestral Knowledge and Wisdom System

was instituted, which cannot be understood in a

fragmented or separate manner, but rather as an

intertwined tissue that shapes the structure of a

whole, which it is holistic and comprehensive.

Therefore, ancestral knowledge is dened as the

set of ideas, principles, and norms established

from the Law of Origin, related together with

behavior, to maintain the balance and harmony

of Mother Nature. This allows them to preserve

the structure of their worldview (CTC and

Ministerio de Cultura, 2016).

They call it the Law of Origin because the Mother

dened it that way when the world only existed

in thought; this means that the materialization of

the world was determined by that original Law;

therefore, it is considered the essence and raison

d’être of all existence itself and a normative

principle, compliance with which depends on the

coexistence, harmony, and balance required for

the life of all species and/or beings in the world

and universe. Thus, for the peoples of the Sierra,

it becomes the maximum guide for all events

in life, which does not exclude any society or

human group, since it concerns the principles of

life in the universe and the forces that govern it

(CTC and Ministerio de Cultura, 2016).

Regarding environmental awareness, certain

attitudinal and behavioral aspects that are linked

to each person’s culture must be considered;

thus, Le (1998, as cited in Prada, 2013)

expresses:

Faced with the current global environmental

problems and the lack of citizen commitment

to care for the environment, it has become

essential to search for strategies that

allow reection and the development of an

ecological culture to transform the relations

between man and nature, from a new

knowing, understanding, seeing, and acting,

which allows in daily life to assume attitudes

of cooperation, solidarity, and environmental

awareness. This culture is generally

understood as an awareness of the dierent

social actors and a mobilization of citizens to

protect the environment. (p. 232)

Therefore, any proposal, strategy, or process

in environmental education has the purpose of

developing environmental awareness, a term

dened as follows:

‘The set of experiences, knowledge,

perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, values,

motivations, and experiences that the

individual actively uses to solve problems

in their environment in a sustainable way’

(Adelina et al., 2012); that is, environmental

awareness is related to knowledge of the

environment, to the attitudes that we

show towards an environmental problem,

to the behaviors that we adopt, and to

the experiences that we experience in the

environment where we live. (Bravo, 2017,

pp. 47-48)

Becoming aware of our role in the environment

is the general objective of any Environmental

Education program and it should be sought to

achieve in all citizens, to ensure sustainable

development and the future of the earth.

Morachimo and Cattaneo (1999, as cited in

Bravo, 2017) express that:

Environmental awareness is determined

by the development of moral awareness

about the local environment. In this sense,

environmental awareness is understood as:

The moral-ethical level that allows you to

choose freely and critically before actions

of conservation, protection, and sustainable

use of the environment, which has been

promoted through activities that motivate

you, allow you to acquire knowledge,

facilitate experimentation, evoke your

commitment, and allow you to act on your

local environment. (p. 50)

Environmental awareness occurs in

stages that are related to the dimensions

of [environmental awareness]; that is, with

the aective, cognitive, conative, and active.

For an individual to acquire a commitment

to caring for the environment that surrounds

him, he must integrate these dimensions

of environmental awareness into his daily

actions. (Gomera, 2008, as cited in Bravo,

2017, p. 52)

Arhuaco ancestral knowledge as a techno-pedagogical strategy for the development of environmental awareness in fourth-

grade students of Colegio La Sagrada Familia

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Keyla Vanessa Ariza Córdoba

María Claris Oñate Quiroz

Rolando Hernández Lazo

Table 1

Environmental awareness as a tool for environmental education

Dimension Characteristics Actions

Cognitive

Category of information and understanding about

issues related to the environment

Ideas are discussed

Aective

Perception of the environment; Beliefs and feelings in

environmental matters

Emotions are

discussed

Conative

Willingness to adopt pro-environmental criteria in

behavior, expressing interest or predisposition to

participate in activities and contribute to improvements

Talk about attitudes

Active

Carrying out environmentally responsible actions and

behaviors, both individually and collectively, even in

compromising or pressure situations

Show behaviors

Source: Gomera (2008, as cited in Bravo, 2017, p. 53)

“These four dimensions are similar to the phases that Morachino proposes to create environmental

awareness […]; environmental education must move from awareness to permanent voluntary

action” (Bravo, 2017, p. 53).

Table 2

Dimensions of environmental awareness

Authors

Information

-Knowledge

Emotions Attitudes Behaviors

Gomera, A.

2008

Cognitive Aective Conative Active

Morachino, L.

1999

Knowledge and

information

Developed capacities

Sensitization

and interaction

Valuation and

commitment

Voluntary action

Experimentation

and interaction

Source: Morachino (1999, as cited in Bravo, 2017, p. 54)

On the other hand, pedagogical strategies are all the actions or activities carried out by the teacher

to facilitate the training and the teaching-learning process of the students (Gamboa et al., 2013).

For Bravo (2008, as cited in Gamboa et al., 2013), pedagogical strategies “make up the curricular

scenarios for the organization of training activities and the interaction of the teaching and learning

process where knowledge, values, practices, procedures, and typical problems of the training eld

are achieved” (p. 103).

Likewise, pedagogical strategies are a set of activities, as already mentioned, whose purpose is to

allow teachers to meet the objectives set. In this regard, Aguirre et al. (2012) refer: “Not an action,

but a set of actions are those that are present in a pedagogical strategy, otherwise, instead of a

strategy, what you would have, is an activity” (p. 11). For this reason, students should value the

work done by teachers, since this allows them to stimulate, facilitate and promote learning.

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A pedagogical strategy must have certain characteristics to be successful; therefore, it must be

created in such a way that it can change, taking into account the dierent circumstances that may

occur. Thus, it must be coupled with the changes in the environment, the characteristics of the

students, and the priorities of the teacher, to gradually transform, from a real state to a desired

state.

Table 3 shows how the structure of a pedagogical strategy should be, according to the approaches

of Sierra (2007).

Table 3

Structure of a pedagogical strategy

Phases Indicators

Guidance

Detection of contradictions in a given pedagogical context.

Future aspiration, highlighting the improvement of those involved in the educational

process.

Establishment of socio-pedagogical signicance.

Implication

Accuracy of the contribution of the subjects of education and the pedagogical

reality to the objective.

Lines of action and pedagogical inuence.

Establishment of commitments and pedagogical responsibility based on their

contribution to the objective.

Formulation

Establishment of the degree of the scope of the learning situation.

Synthetic expression of concept(s) or intention(s) of the interaction of the

pedagogical process that guides the actions.

Indication of the variants to raise the concept (s) or intention (s) of the direction

of the educational process.

Planning

Relationship between the components of the educational process, according to the

concept expressed.

Establishment of activities taking into account the changing context in which the

learning situation takes place.

Establishment of dierent degrees of complexity of the compensatory, dierentiated,

and/or developmental activities in the learning situation.

Execution

Establishment of the activities in correspondence with the results of the group and/

or individual pedagogical diagnosis.

Organizational structure to deploy the actions in the areas of pedagogical inuence.

Precision for the implications for the direction of the pedagogical process and for

the people who are protagonists of the pedagogical process.

Control

Indication of monitoring and control of the previous phases.

Establishment of the feasibility of the pedagogical proposal (didactic, educational).

Incorporation of measures to promote success in the strategic behavior of students.

Source: Sierra (2007).

Regarding ICT, according to Nieblas (2016), “they are all those resources, tools, and programs used to

process, manage, and share information through various technological supports, such as computers,

mobile phones, televisions, portable audio and video players, or game consoles” (para. 1).

The incorporation of ICT into education has become a process whose implications go far beyond

the technological tools that make up the educational environment; there is talk of a didactic

construction and how signicant learning can be built and consolidated based on technology;

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strictly pedagogical, there is talk of the use

of technology in education. (Díaz-Barriga,

2013, as cited in Hernández, 2017, p. 329)

For this reason, technological tools have become

educational resources that allow the learning

process to be improved; little by little they

are breaking with traditional practices (books

and boards), to force teachers to update their

teaching methods in the ICT role.

On the other hand, “the rise of including ICT in the

curriculum is the result of the eort to promote

motivation and innovation, as a response to

globalization” (Amante & Gómez, 2017, p. 110).

“It is dicult for the educational technology that

is used today, to generate knowledge by itself;

hence, pedagogical mediation must be immersed

in this eld along with ICT; this synergy is called

techno-pedagogical mediation” (Ramírez et al.,

2020, p. 133).

Therefore, the close relationship between

technological resources and education is

revealed.

Among the benets [of ICTs] stands out

the variety of methods that can be used,

the ease of treatment, the presentation and

understanding of certain types of information,

the autonomy in the process, and the

optimization of individual work; [in addition], it

facilitates collaborative work, which broadens

the perspective of students, since it shows

them [diverse] situations, more ecient

learning, and more lasting knowledge. (García,

2006, as cited in Sánchez, 2012, p. 29)

It is precisely in the educational eld where

ICTs become important as basic tools that

contribute to quality learning, [...] serving

for the development of autonomous and

complex thinking and selective and critical

use of information translated into knowledge.

(Sánchez, 2012, pp. 30-31)

[Regarding] its design, organization,

conguration, and use to facilitate the

process, it is based on learning theories

such as Gestalt theory, Cognitivism, and

Constructivism (Leore, 2000, as cited in

Sánchez, 2012, p. 32).

The Gestalt, by studying perception and its

inuence on learning, serves as a reference

point for the virtual design of materials and

instruction, based on perception principles

such as gure-ground contrast, simplicity,

proximity, similarity, symmetry, and closure

(Ormrond, 2008). (Sánchez, 2012, p. 32)

Cognitivism, for its part, reveals the entire

set of internal or unobservable processes of

thought or reason, known as mental processes

involved in knowledge; therefore, the use

of concept maps and activation of previous

schemes and motivation can help to shape

activities within these learning environments.

(p. 33)

Similarly, constructivism contributes to the

enrichment of a virtual learning environment,

since its basic foundation is found in the

interaction with knowledge and with other

people, the active role of the student in the

learning process, the construction of meanings,

solving problems, and transferring what has

been learned to real contexts. (p. 33)

In the same way, behaviorism has not been

alien to virtual learning scenarios, since the

contributions of this approach have served

as a reference in the organization of most

traditional online courses where content

is organized by units or levels to which

the student has access and, subsequently,

responds or performs activities that allow

him/her to put into practice the knowledge

related to the online content. (p. 34)

2. Methodology

This work is framed within a critical social

paradigm whose purpose is to promote social

transformations, giving answers to specic

problems within a community, but with the

participation of its members, involving them

in the adoption of consensual decisions for

the transformation from the interior (Alvarado

& García, 2008). In response to this, it was

intended to transform the thought, attitude,

and aptitude regarding what primary school

students knew as nature, which allowed better

care for the preservation and conservation of

the environment.

The research had a qualitative approach, with

a description of the problem situation and

observations within the same community, for

which the researchers were present daily in this

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context, being aected by the problem, seeking

a deep understanding of human behavior and

the reasons governing such behavior.

The methodological process was oriented under

a type of pedagogical-action-research design

(IAP), dened by Restrepo (2006) as follows:

an instrument that allows the teacher to

behave as a long-range learner, as a lifelong

learner, since it teaches him how to learn, how

to understand the structure of his practice,

and how to permanently and systemically

transform his pedagogical practice. (p. 97)

The importance of applying the IAP investigative

method was based on the change in current

practices in the face of environmental pedagogy,

to achieve pertinent transformations through

new didactic strategies that include ancestral

knowledge that contributes to the formation of

love for nature, bearing in mind the following:

Non-reective practice, in eect, imprisons the

teacher in a mechanical routine, with minimal

variation and creativity, whereas when that

is subjected to reection, self-criticism, and

valid reconstruction, the educator frees

himself from the routine, and in its practice,

the innovation, permanent monitoring of the

eects of the latter and the systematization

of the practice ourish as practical, eective,

and supported knowledge. (Restrepo, 2004,

as cited in Rojas, 2015, p. 22)

Thus, signicant learning in the students will be

promoted and the result of the investigation will

be more protable.

The unit of analysis was made up of 27

students of the fourth grade C of the primary

school, ranging from 8 to 10 years of age,

approximately. The work unit was made up of

15 students, of whom eight were men and seven

were girls, mostly belonging to the Vallenato

culture, from socioeconomic strata 2, 3, and 4,

understanding this as levels of basic livelihood in

economic matters in Colombia. The techniques

and instruments used to collect information

were: observation (eld diary), diagnosis and

evaluation (questionnaires), and interviews

(interview guide).

3. Results

The results respond to the questions and

objectives of the research, from the application

of techno-pedagogical strategies based on

ancestral Arhuaco knowledge, collected through

dierent strategies, techniques, and instruments

proposed in the methodological design, which

is described in each section of the stages of

the IAP method through interaction with the

mentioned students. Results of the development

of environmental awareness in the dierent

stages of the investigation will be shown.

Stage 1

The rst specic objective was executed: Identify

the knowledge of the Arhuaco worldview and its

position towards the nature of the fourth-grade

students of the Colegio La Sagrada Familia

through a diagnostic workshop. The results are

presented below.

This activity consisted of ten questions with

closed answers, applied to 15 students through

the Google Form tool:

Question 1: What are the components of

nature? 93% of the students mentioned animals,

water, plants, mountains, and rocks, while 7%,

in addition to these components, identied or

mentioned human beings as part of nature.

Question 2: How do you consider nature? 96%

of the students answered: like our mother,

who must be taken care of to guarantee the

existence and coexistence of all species and

beings in the world; 4% conceived it as a set of

elements that were created to satisfy the needs

and sustenance of the human being.

Question 3. How do you consider your dealings

with the following components of nature?

Animals: 69% of the students answered that

they treat them excellently; 27%, give them

good treatment, and 3% a regular treatment,

which is inferred as respectful treatment.

Plants: 41% indicated that they have excellent

treatment with them; 49% a good treatment,

and 10% a regular treatment, from which it can

be deduced that they treat better animals than

plants.

Question 4. When you were in face-to-

face classes at school, did you ever see your

classmates inappropriately treating the living

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(animals, plants) and non-living (water, soil)

components of nature? 69% of the students

answered yes, while 31% answered no.

Question 5. Do you think that indigenous

people should make the most of oil and emerald

resources to increase economic gains, even if

they contaminate water sources? 100% of the

students answered that they should not prefer

the exploitation of oil and emeralds, even though

they generate economic prots. Among their

reasons, they stated that water has great value,

since it generates life, while the exploitation of

emeralds and coal contaminates water sources

and, although it generates economic prots,

causes illnesses and deaths.

Question 6. Do you consider it correct to

call ‘Mother Earth’ to Nature? 100% of the

students answered yes, attributing a sacred

and important value to it, for being the one who

cares and provides what is necessary to live;

therefore, they consider human beings to love

her and take care of her as she takes care of us;

like the Arhuaco community, they attribute to

the human being the role of protector, and not

of the owner of nature.

Question 7. Do you think we must comply

with regulations to protect nature? 93% of the

students believe that, like the Arhuaca indigenous

community, certain rules must be met to protect

nature, compared to 7% who said they did not.

Question 8. Do you consider that all animal,

vegetable, mineral, and human species come

from Mother Nature and that we are all brothers?

82% of the students considered yes, compared

to 18% who answered no.

Question 9. Do you consider that all the

components of nature -water, wind, animals,

plants, minerals, humans, etc.- are part of

a single body and that when one of them is

aected, the whole body is aected? 72% of the

students considered yes, compared to 28% who

considered no.

Question 10. Do you think we should compensate

or give back to nature for everything received?

90% of the students considered yes, compared

to 10% who said the opposite, so the concept

of reciprocity must be raised and worked on,

where it is stated that, just as we use the goods

of Mother Earth, she must be remunerated and

paid through sanitation.

Stage 2

Once the diagnostic workshop was developed

and its analysis carried out, it was possible to

observe some environmental principles related

to the Arhuaca indigenous worldview, which

should be socialized and deepened with the

students, since, despite having knowledge and

sharing positions regarding the importance

of caring for nature, the behaviors observed

and recorded in the eld diary showed certain

inconsistencies between their cognitive and

attitudinal part. In this stage, the design and

implementation of a pedagogical strategy based

on indigenous ancestral knowledge were carried

out; in this way, the second and third objectives

of this investigation were executed.

To implement the techno-pedagogical strategy,

the interview technique was used; with it,

information was collected on the Arhuaco

ancestral knowledge and the basic principles

that guide how this indigenous community

conceives and relates to nature, which allows

them for establishing harmonious relationships

with Mother Earth, such as the sacred vision of

nature, the respect, good living, and reciprocity.

The information was organized and shared with

the students through a podcast, dened as

“digital audio les, easily distributed on the web,

and that is linked to RSS syndication systems,

allowing it automatic and periodic review”

(Solano & Sánchez, 2010, p. 125).

For the realization of the podcast, named ‘An

ancestral experience with mother nature’

, the

Podnation platform was used and it was organized

into three episodes: 1) ‘Relationship with Mother

Nature’; 2) ‘Environmental reciprocity’ and, 3)

‘Environmental behavior and awareness’.

At the end of the previous process, the episodes

were shared with the students through the

platform that the school uses to implement its

academic activities, called ‘Educa Evoluciona’,

whose characteristics are very similar to those

oered by the Google Classroom platform.

Along with each episode listened to, a series

of virtual workshops was carried out on the

Quizizz and Kahoot platforms: a gamied and

interactive questionnaire for students to answer

synchronously from their electronic devices, to

Available at the following link: hps://www.podnaon.co/show/una-

experiencia-ancestral-con-nuestra-madre-naturaleza

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motivate and promote the learning; likewise, generate pro-environmental commitments and actions

that would stimulate awareness about the deterioration of the environment in their surroundings

and, with it, the sense of commitment and responsibility, which will lead to actions and projects

that contribute to its care. It is important to mention that, to enter the aforementioned digital

platforms, the creator of the activity must share the entry link and a code that can be used once,

if the activity is done in real-time, as in this case; therefore, each time the questionnaires are

enabled, all the participants have to enter at the same time; the generated login code will be

dierent in each case.

After the reproduction of the podcast episodes and the solution of the workshops on the digital

platforms, another activity was carried out, also programmed through the Educa platform, which

consisted of representing nature through a drawing and, the way how we should relate to her.

Finally, the environmental proposals and the elaboration of the home garden were executed, to

develop environmental awareness in the students, by promoting and generating meeting spaces

and relationships with nature directly, experiencing the principles of care and reciprocity, which

allowed them to interact dierently with it and create fraternal bonds of aection, since they came

into contact with the natural elements of the environment, staging and putting into practice the

dierent dimensions of environmental awareness.

Stage 3

In search of the validity and credibility of the implemented techno-pedagogical strategies, an

analysis of all the information collected was carried out and an evaluation rubric was applied

taking into account all the dimensions that develop environmental awareness. In the same way,

a questionnaire was applied based on the new ecological paradigm (NEP), which allowed the

execution of the fourth and last specic objective of the investigation (see Table 4), designed and

applied through the Google Form tool. The results indicate the feelings, reactions, and attitudes of

the students regarding the care and protection of the environment, in addition to measuring the

degree of agreement or disagreement concerning the Arhuaco ancestral approaches and principles

about the importance and sacred value of the nature, as well as actions that degrade and damage

the environment globally and locally.

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Table 4

NEP questionnaire based on the Likert scale

NEP Questionnaire

Check the option that best represents

you

Strongly disagree 1

In disagreement 2

Neither agree nor disagree 3

In agreement 4

Strongly agree 5

Humans were created to rule over the rest of

the natural world

The balance of nature is strong enough to

support the exploitation of natural resources

Plants and animals have as much right to exist

as human beings

Human beings are part of nature and we must

care for and protect it

Are we all responsible for the environmental

situation at a local, national, and global level,

and is it up to us to reduce environmental

damage and pollution?

At present, the global environmental situation

is very serious due to the contamination of

rivers, soil, air, etc

I think it is important that there is a recycling

program in my community since we are

contaminating the soil, the river, and the seas

I would like to participate in environmental

cleaning and awareness days since I consider

it essential to preserve the environment that

surrounds us

If there was a solid waste recycling program in

my neighborhood, I would participate

Source: Adapted from Moyano-Díaz and Palomo-Vélez (2014)

The responses to the questionnaire are described below:

Statement 1. Humans were created to rule over the rest of the natural world. 80% of the students

declared to be strongly in disagreement and 20% in disagreement.

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Statement 2. The balance of nature is strong

enough to support the exploitation of natural

resources. 100 % declared to be strongly in

disagreement.

Statement 3. Plants and animals have as

much right to exist as human beings. Students

manifested in their entirety, empathy towards

plants and animals; this is evidenced by strongly

agreeing with the question statement.

Statement 4. Human beings are part of nature

and we must care for and protect it. All students

strongly agreed with this statement.

Statement 5. Are we all responsible for the

environmental situation at a local, national,

and global level, and is it up to us to reduce

environmental damage and pollution? 93%

indicated that they strongly agree with the

approach, while the remaining 7% answered

that they agreed.

Question 6. At present, the global environmental

situation is very serious due to the contamination

of rivers, soil, air, etc. 100% of the students

answered that they strongly agreed, evidencing

great concern for global environmental problems

and disapproval of polluting actions and the

damage that is generated to the entire planet.

Question 7. I think it is important that there

is a recycling program in my community since

we are contaminating the soil, the river, and the

seas. Students manifested in their entirety to be

strongly agreed with this statement.

Question 8. I would like to participate in

environmental cleaning and awareness days

since I consider it essential to preserve the

environment that surrounds us. 100% stated

that they strongly agreed; this reects a positive

attitude towards caring for the environment, a

high degree of involvement, and an attitude of

responsibility for environmental protection.

4. Discussion

Once the results were obtained, it was necessary

to analyze them to know the contributions they

generated to the research and their importance.

This was done in stages, just like how the

research was developed.

Stage 1

After analyzing the results of the diagnostic

test, some essential aspects can be highlighted:

there is a need to reinforce the conception of

nature in which the human being is conceived

as a living being belonging to it, who shares

this planet with other species and it is related

to the environment to survive, so that all the

components of nature, including human beings,

are part of the same life system, which is

interconnected and interdependent with each

other.

If we were more aware of the fact that we are

part of nature and that we depend on it to exist,

it would be possible to assume a posture and

attitude of respect, and not one of control,

domination, and destruction. It is urgent to

generate actions that allow assuming the role of

protectors and guardians of mother nature.

Finally, it is essential to work on the concept of

interdependence or the network of life, in which

life is approached as a great network that is

interconnected, in which all its elements depend

on each other and, the actions and reactions

that it takes out in the network are like a

spider web: when a thread breaks, the spider

web begins to destroy itself. The CTC and the

Ministerio de Cultura (2016) emphasized that

the Law of Origin is closely related to behavior

to maintain balance and harmony between all

the natural components that constitute the body

of Mother Nature, which allows the structure of

their worldview to be maintained.

Stage 2

The incorporation of ICTs in the teaching process

has had a signicant impact due to their benets

being “correlated and integrated to improve

student skills” (Badía et al., 2016, as cited in

Ramírez et al., 2020, p.133). Considering this,

technological strategies are used to facilitate

the information apprehension process and thus,

once the students listened to the podcast, a test

was applied through the Quizziz and Kahoot

platforms, where the development of the

cognitive dimension was evidenced, manifested

in a signicant degree of attention and

apprehension of the knowledge and principles

of the Arhuaca community addressed in the

dierent episodes, under the following topics:

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what is nature, why is it called mother nature,

how and under what principles should we relate

to nature, what place and role the human being

occupies within nature, what is reciprocity, how

it is practiced and how we can improve our

relationship with mother nature. This allowed

evidencing the development of the cognitive

dimension as part of environmental awareness,

according to what was stated by Prada (2013):

Environmental knowledge is a complex

process that includes the obtaining, analysis,

and systematization by the individual, of the

information coming from their environment,

social by nature; this constitutes an

important step for its understanding through

concrete actions that, in turn, inuence the

development of this knowledge. (p. 237)

In the same way, from the observation in the

dierent spaces and socialization meetings,

it was veried that the students managed to

understand the concept of nature as Mother

Earth, arguing that it could be called this way,

since all forms of life and because it provides

us with all the necessary elements to exist and

survive. Regarding the principles of care and

reciprocity, they managed to propose everyday

examples in which they can apply, according to

their contexts, activities to reduce environmental

problems and improve their relationship with her.

Regarding the aective dimension, during

the meetings and socializations, the students

showed feelings of concern about the

environmental deterioration of the planet and

the risk situation of animal and plant species,

stating that they were in favor of their care and

protection, demonstrating a signicant degree

of environmental sensitivity and adherence

to ecological values. Their position was also

reected in the dierent drawings made about

nature, in which they reect a feeling in favor of

respect and care for the environment.

The development of the conative dimension was

reected in the willingness to act personally

under the principles of care and reciprocity

of indigenous ancestral knowledge, denoting

attitudes favorable to the protection of nature

through the proposals made to recover and

improve the environment where are found,

evidencing willingness and interest in carrying

out activities for the good of the environment,

as well as a feeling of individual responsibility

in terms of caring for the environment and the

awareness of the community to which they

belong, showing themselves in favor of the

correct management of the garbage, saving

energy, caring for animals and plants, creating

a recycling program, and nes for people who

throw garbage in unauthorized places and/or

who harm animals.

When implementing the activity of the home

garden, the development of the cognitive and

active dimensions was evident, since the students

showed mastery and practice of the principles

of care and reciprocity with mother nature

when selecting the seed, preparing the land

for its planting, watering and other necessary

care for its cultivation, understanding that this

represented retribution for the plants through

oxygen and the fruits they would produce.

Likewise, they validated the meaning of plants

from the Arhuaco worldview, considering them

as sacred and important sisters, arguing that

they come from Mother Nature, just like human

beings, and that they have a fundamental role

in the web of life.

The development of this stage shows a great

relationship with the research carried out

by Ramos et al. (2011), which deals with the

transmission of traditional knowledge regarding

natural cycles such as climate, lunar and solar

cycles through the life history of Nasa indigenous

people and work with student boys and girls in

Toribio, Cauca. The authors used ethnography,

analyzed the interaction between western and

indigenous knowledge, and built an educational

proposal in which they articulated knowledge

about nature, to contribute to education in

natural sciences and environmental education,

relevant to the country’s cultural diversity.

In this way, the children were put in direct

contact with the elements of nature in the

environmental and cultural context, generating

greater motivation, signicance, and interest

in environmental issues, the promotion of

knowledge, appropriation, and appreciation

of nature. This research is an invitation for

intercultural education not only to occur in

indigenous territories but throughout the

national territory, in a dialogue of knowledge

that allows the real recognition of the “other-

other”, its cosmology, and its knowledge.

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Under this scenario, deepening indigenous

knowledge through their real experience

generates a very signicant contribution and

agrees with the results of this study, since it

is desired, in addition to complying with the

provisions of the law regarding environmental

education, to conceive a learning that lasts over

time because when developing the lecture in a

real way or natural contexts, students will show

greater interest and participation in the activities,

which will also cause signicant learning.

Stage 3

Once the entire techno-pedagogical strategy

was implemented, an evaluation was made

to identify the contributions to the research.

Through the questionnaire, the change of the

students regarding their initial conception of

the environment was observed, they ended up

rejecting the role of dominance and property

that the human being assumed before nature,

which led them to exploit natural resources

without measuring the degree of destruction

and the damage it causes to living beings and

the environment in general. Likewise, they

managed to perceive nature as a whole, which is

interconnected, whose stability depends on the

set of relationships of all the living beings that

make it up; therefore, they are aware that if

there are overexploitation relationships, this will

upset the balance, aecting not just one part,

but the whole group.

Students took a positive attitude towards

recycling, seen as part of the solution to the

problem of pollution; thus, regarding this

approach, they showed a high willingness to

participate in recycling activities and programs,

which is evidenced by the results of the ninth

question, since in their entirety they stated that

they strongly agreed.

In this last stage, as already expressed, it was

evidenced that the sense of belonging and other

aections towards nature are generated by the

direct relationship that the students experienced

with Mother Earth, which allowed them to reect

on their environmental behavior, generating

critiques that helped them nd a solution to

the problem presented. Consequently, the

teacher must know elements and activities that

are carried out in indigenous communities, to

improve environmental education and science

teaching, as suggested by Rayas et al. (2017),

when proposing to incorporate or strengthen

the original indigenous visions about the

environment in teaching practices.

When reecting on the role of teachers

in this research, the importance of their

knowledge about the treatment that indigenous

communities have with Mother Earth is evident;

this will help in the process of generating greater

environmental awareness and ensuring that the

progress generated is not only seen as a product

of the intervention of the researchers with the

students under study but also as a generalized

process that can be expanded throughout the

institution. Therefore, working with our models

of reality and more critical models is a signicant

contribution that goes beyond the reection of

practice, the didactic and the pedagogical, in the

understanding and resolution of the social and

environmental problems of the context.

5. Conclusions

The analysis and interpretation of the results allow

for establishing conclusions related to the most

important aspects thrown in the development of

the activities, taking into account each one of

the specic objectives, which allows explaining

if it was possible to comply with what was stated

in the general objective.

From the data obtained through observation

and the applied questionnaires, it was possible

to identify the techno-pedagogical strategy

to be implemented for the development of

environmental awareness in students. This

diagnosis was adequate and satisfactory since

it facilitated to demonstrate after its application,

important information consistent with the

knowledge, feelings, attitudes, and behaviors

of the students regarding the assessment and

care of nature and the environment in which

they are located, which allowed a signicant

development of environmental awareness in

each of its dimensions.

Regarding the cognitive dimension, there were

dierent activities: application of workshops,

questionnaires, and socialization spaces

generated in the development of the techno-

pedagogical strategy; next, the implementation

of the strategy where the students demonstrated

Arhuaco ancestral knowledge as a techno-pedagogical strategy for the development of environmental awareness in fourth-

grade students of Colegio La Sagrada Familia

208

Keyla Vanessa Ariza Córdoba

María Claris Oñate Quiroz

Rolando Hernández Lazo

the understanding and appropriation of the

Arhuaco ancestral concepts and principles

around the sacred value of nature, its integral

conception, good living, and reciprocity, which

allowed them to signify and value the nature

from another perspective, far from the utilitarian

and instrumental vision, which was essential for

them to recognize the value and importance of

relating harmoniously with all the components

of nature and thus, contribute through conscious

and daily actions, with their care and protection.

In the aective dimension, the techno-

pedagogical strategy enabled experiential

spaces where students expressed positive

feelings and emotions about nature and their

environment; they showed aection and respect

through their care approaches and actions with

the dierent natural components; likewise,

concern for the environmental deterioration of

the planet and the damage that human beings

cause, expressing being in favor of their care

and protection. This demonstrates an important

development of environmental sensitivity, a

relevant element since the dierent emotions

reected in terms of the aective processes

developed in the relationship with nature

inuence the perception of the development of

pro-environmental behaviors and actions.

Regarding the conative dimension, during the

meetings, the students showed pleasure and

willingness to participate in the dierent activities

proposed; they assumed a positive attitude

towards the possibility of acting personally

under the ancestral principles of reciprocity and

good living, thereby contributing to the care and

protection of nature. From activities such as the

creation of the garden and the elaboration of

proposals to recover and protect the environment

where they are located, they were willing and

interested, assuming favorable attitudes towards

caring for the environment through actions from

their homes and surroundings, actions such as

the proper management of garbage, recycling,

saving energy and water, and caring for animals,

plants, rivers, and ditches.

On the other hand, the application of the techno-

pedagogical strategy facilitated and fostered

in the students the development of activities

and actions for the protection and care of the

environment through the execution of their

environmental proposals, with which they put

into practice the principles of care and reciprocity

with nature, based on pro-environmental

behaviors with which they sought to contribute

to solving the environmental problems identied

in their contexts, such as cleaning days, garbage

collection, reforestation, planting, awareness

campaigns regarding the management of

garbage, care for plants and animals, waste

separation, recycling organic and inorganic

materials, creation of neighborhood committees

to care for and guide visitors on caring for the

environment, recycling solid waste, saving

energy and water, as well of the reduction in the

use of plastic and disposable bags.

Consequently, the dierent actions and

behaviors carried out by the students, allowed

the rearmation of pro-environmental concepts,

feelings, and attitudes, promoting a greater

approach, interrelation, and experiences with

nature and the environment of their context,

allowing the participation and activation of all

the dimensions that environmental awareness

integrates, since they evidenced an important

degree of reection, thought, emotions, and

attitudes of care with each pro-environmental

action carried out, as well as the protection of

the environment, which is expected to translate

into the persistence or continuity of themselves

or other environmental actions.

Finally, based on the execution of the techno-

pedagogical strategy implemented and linking

the Arhuaco ancestral knowledge to it, the

research was evaluated for the last objective.

This allows us to conclude that the strategy

enormously contributed to the integral formation

of the students since, through transversality,

they were able to generate other knowledge and

environmental reections that allowed them to

see the environmental reality critically, causing

interest and satisfaction for the learning acquired

during this experience.

Similarly, it is concluded that technological tools

(ICTs) play an important role in the application

of strategies since they generate interest

and motivation in students; in addition, the

knowledge that is transmitted is easier and they

assimilate it better.

Arhuaco ancestral knowledge as a techno-pedagogical strategy for the development of environmental awareness in fourth-

grade students of Colegio La Sagrada Familia

209

Keyla Vanessa Ariza Córdoba

María Claris Oñate Quiroz

Rolando Hernández Lazo

6. Recommendations

Given the results and conclusions of this study,

the researchers consider it pertinent to establish

some recommendations that give rise to new

studies related to the subject or, to continue

with the development of this one; therefore, it

is suggested:

To the teachers: link up and commit to

contributing from their work, so that current

and future generations relate in a respectful,

harmonious, and conscious way with nature;

in this way, the progressive deterioration that

human beings have caused to the environment

can be somewhat reversed, uniting the ancestral

knowledge and practices of indigenous groups,

as valuable information that oers guidance to

develop educational processes that train citizens

aware of the negative impact -individual and

collective- generated for the environment. Also,

use ICTs tools in educational projects.

To the institution: allow spaces for students to

carry out interaction activities and direct contact

with nature; for example, having a small part of

the land to implement a school garden and work

collaboratively; thus, they would practice new

values and new experiences. In the same way,

continue developing the techno-pedagogical

strategy designed and implemented in the

present study in a transversal way, linking other

subjects that are part of its curriculum, avoiding

that it remains only the responsibility of the

Natural Sciences area.

To the students: make the most of these types

of activities in which they can learn much more

about other cultures and apply and multiply

them in caring for the environment, not only at

Colegio La Sagrada Familia but throughout the

community, as a socio-environmental projection.

7. Conict of interest

The authors of this article declare not to have

any conict of interest regarding the work

presented.

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Contribution:

The authors participated in the preparation,

reading, and approval of the manuscript.