Studies focusing on environmental education and continuing education of science teachers play an important role in the science education area. This research analyzed conceptions of environment in a continuing education course for science teachers developed at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The analysis of the material was made using a qualitative approach and content analysis methodology. The conceptions of environment were analyzed and characterized by the use of categories previously defined and selected from the literature. Although different conceptions were identified, the conception of environment as a resource prevailed, demonstrating a serious limitation of the course in the environmental education of the participating science teachers. As a result of the education process, a naive and limited view on environment by teachers was observed. The results point to the need to reformulate continuing education courses in order to favor a more critical environmental education.
　　Keywords: environment, science teacher, continuing education
　　 Introduction
　　Over the last decades, science education research that has been preoccupied with the way science is associated with ethical, political and social aspects. In this context, studies focusing on environmental education and continuing education of science teachers play an important role in the science education area.
　　Kuhn (1980) and other researchers have shown the importance of in-service training for science teachers to keep abreast of changes in their field in subject matter, curriculum development and instructional techniques. Aleixandre and Gayoso (1996) presented an approach that attempts to use environmental education as a thread in scientific methodology courses intended for teacher education. In Brazil, an overview on science teacher education has been recently published (Villani, Pacca, & Freitas, 2009). It analyzes the most significant events that have been occurring in Brazil’s educational, social and political areas over the last half century, in comparison with a set of relevant worldwide events.
　　A clear understanding of the concept of teacher education and the analysis of conceptual frameworks related to professional education conditions are fundamental to understanding the education process in which teachers are involved. Based on the classification of paradigms of Zeichner (1983), conceptual guidelines of Feiman-Nemser (1990) and the classification of Pérez Gómez (1998), García (1999) proposed five types of teacher education orientation: academic, technological, personalist, practical and social reconstructionist. 　　In the academic orientation, continuing education is seen as a process of transmission of scientific knowledge and culture, by means of a specialist training. In the technological orientation, education is seen as an applied science and the teacher as a coach who dominates the applications of scientific knowledge produced by others and transformed into rules of action. The personalist orientation believes that each person develops their own strategies to become a teacher, occupying the main role in teacher training to achieve personal development training. The practical orientation is found in the organization and development of teaching practices, and it valorizes learning from experience. According to that perspective, practical experiences contribute to providing teachers with better training, because they combine observation, direct experience and inter-relationships with more experienced colleagues. The social reconstructionist orientation is an ethical and social reflection, seeking the ability to analyze the social context. In this orientation, teacher education is directly related to processes of change, innovation and curriculum development for teachers, who are considered as individuals committed to the principles of social justice and democracy.
　　The characterization of the environmental approach in a particular educational context is generally thought considering the analysis of EE (environmental education) expressed in the context analyzed. From this perspective, a lot of research has been developed, identifying different conceptions of EE and proposing different categories to illustrate the form of ownership and the meaning assigned to that expression. As a result, a significant number of categories associated with the concept of EE are generated, whereupon there is a diffusion of meanings attributed to that expression.
　　This tendency of researches to identify the perceptions and meanings of environment and EE is pointed by several studies available in the literature. Parallel to these studies, other researches have been carried out aiming to characterize different conceptions of environmental education and environment in order to understand the different forms of ownership of these issues.
　　Sauvé (2005) proposed seven ways of apprehending the environment: as nature, as a resource, as a problem, as a system, as a place to live, as the biosphere and as a community project. These categories are based on the understanding that environmental education can be understood from our relationship with the environment. Considering the importance of environmental education in teacher education, this research focuses on the identification and analysis of the conceptions of environment expressed in the materials produced in a continuing education course occurred at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, assuming the environment as a key concept to the consolidation of a process of continuing education committed to an effective environmental education. This research leads us to the understanding of different forms of ownership of environmental issues in these courses, often presented as a challenge for the construction of a critical, complex and reflective thinking (Jacobi, 2005), as needed for the construction of teacher identity (Pimenta, 1999).