The discussion about the environment constitutes a transversal and interdisciplinary theme, given the interrelation between society and nature, as the environment is above all the "common home" of all forms of life and society. Thus, this research aimed to analyze environmental perception through the use of mental maps about the place where 9th-grade students from the Tracuateua community, a rural area of the city of Bragança, live. This research was part of the activities developed in the project “ECOA: interactive actions for coastal environmental education in rural schools of Bragança city, Amazon, Brazil” during the year 2022. The research was conducted at E.E.E.F. Maria de Nazaré César Pinheiro. This school is located in the Bacuriteua community, within an important coastal area with the world's largest continuous stretch of mangroves, on the banks of the Caeté River estuary. This particularity is important for the local economy, as the community is predominantly fishing-based. This investigation is based on the phenomenological method. The research subjects were 9th-grade elementary school students, about 17 in total. The students were instructed to draw elements that constitute the local environment, spatializing the environment of their daily routines. The theme was: the environment of the living space. All students created mental maps, and 6 mental maps were selected for the research, representing 35% of the total, which constituted the sample for description and analysis. The students are identified by the symbols E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, and E6. The maps were decoded and analyzed based on interpretations of: the form of representation of the elements; the distribution of elements in the image; the specificity of the icons; and the presentation of other aspects or particularities. The mental maps reveal the students' relationship with the environment, expressing feelings and experiences. Some maps reflect a romantic and enchanting view of nature, while others demonstrate concerns about environmental preservation, representing socio-environmental issues (inadequate disposal of solid waste), a reality closely related to the current context in which these students live. However, some drawings showed a degree of abstraction by representing a natural space distinct from the students' place of residence, depicting other natural elements different from the ecosystems surrounding them, for examples, mangroves. Nonetheless, it can be inferred that mental maps significantly contribute to building students' sense of belonging and, consequently, to developing an environmental culture of the place, as a pedagogical tool for organizing information visually and logically, which can be especially useful when discussing complex issues such as environmental education. It is important to highlight that mental maps are related to the characteristics of the real world, that is, they are not imaginary constructions of imaginary places but are created by real historical subjects, reproducing real, lived, materially produced and constructed places..
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