A Critical Look at the Sustainable Development Goals from an Experience Carried Out by Elementary School Students: To Be or Not to Be, Is That the Question Una mirada crítica a los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible a partir de una experiencia realizada por estudiantes de primaria: ¿ser o no ser, esa es la cuestión? Alynne de Oliveira¹, Beatriz Rodrigues¹, Victória Rodrigues¹, Kelly Pinheiro dos Santos¹, Laísa Maria Freire¹, Cristian Merino² ¹ Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro ² Pontifcia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso Abstract Tis study analyzes the limitations, possibilities, conditioning factors, and qualitative substrates for the signifcance of sustainability approaches in global discourses such as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In order to do this, an Environmental Education workshop was held with elementary students in two public schools in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Te students (n = 103) were divided into fve groups. Each group received a kit containing a photograph of a work of art, a photograph of Rio de Janeiro, and a news report. As a result of the activity, the participants made a drawing about the construction of a sustainable world. In order to identify their drawings, a qualitative analysis strategy was used through systemic networks and classifcation into levels of representation. Te results indicate that the students relate some SDGs to each other, although the drawings concentrated on the level of representation as description. In School 2, greater sophistication and complexity are observed in the drawings, which include symbolic, syntactic, and semantic aspects. Finally, the conclusions indicate that the drawings include imperative verbs, prescribing modes of change and action for the children to participate. Keywords: ecopedagogy, environmental education, drawing analysis, sustainability, sustainable development goals. Post to: Alynne de Oliveira Laboratório de Limnologia da UFRJ. Avenida Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, Edifício do CCS, Bloco A, Sub-Solo, Sala A0-008 - Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro/RJ CEP: 21.949-900, Brasil. oli.alynne@gmail.com Financiamiento asociado: Proyecto de extensión “Vida en el agua, agua en la vida: entrelazando la educación ambiental y la divulgación de la ciencia, la universidad y la escuela” - Universidad Federal de Río de Janeiro (UFRJ); Proyecto PIBID/CAPES 2018-2019 Número del proceso: 88882.215740/2018- 01; Coordinación para el Mejoramiento del Personal de Educación Superior - Brasil (CAPES/Print) - Número del proceso: 88881.312004/2018-01; Programa Institucional de Internacionalización (CAPES/PRINT) Número de proceso: 88887.466572/2019-00; Proyecto Fondecyt 1180619 (ANID, Gobierno de Chile). © 2020 PEL, http://www.pensamientoeducativo.org - http://www.pel.cl ISSN:0719-0409 DDI:203.262, Santiago, Chile doi: 10.7764/PEL.57.2.2020.7 Pensamiento Educativo. Revista de Investigación Educacional Latinoamericana 2020, 57(2), 1-23