Utilização de plantas medicinais como ferramenta no ensino de botânica em uma escola do ensino médio, Pedro II, Piauí, Brasil

Abstract

In teaching biology, botany is one of the areas that presents the greatest difficulty for students to comprehend. It is often approached in the classroom in a way that is not related to the reality of the school and the community, instead it is summarized in lectures. Non-formal teaching spaces contribute to the contextual construction of knowledge, making it possible to approach botanical contents in a more practical way. Medicinal plants have become an important tool in the teaching of botany, since they allow the scientific and popular knowledge to be worked out and enable an interdisciplinary approach. The objective of this work was to analyze the use of medicinal plants in the medicinal garden and the ecological trail to teach botany during the 2nd and 3rd years of high school located in the municipality of Pedro II, Piauí, Brazil. In the accomplishment of this work, the foundations of qualitative-quantitative research were used. The data was obtained from questionnaires, one applied before the proposed activities (pre-test) and another after the practical (post-test) approach. The qualitative analysis of the research data was performed through the content analysis technique. For the quantitative analysis, the data was analyzed by means of descriptive statistic procedures. This was done by calculating the relative frequencies of the answers given. This was presented as percentages. The teachings were done using a practical class in the medical garden of the school, field class in the ecological trail, and a practical class that created a collection of pressed plants and a collection of fruit and seeds to present to the school community. Through the analysis of the pre-test questionnaire it was possible to verify that the students participating in the research had previous knowledge about medicinal plants, that the theme was considered interesting, and was a part of daily life. After the development of the practical classes using medicinal plants, there was an increase in the number of complete and correct answers based on the post-test questionnaire given to the students. It was verified that the students participated actively in the teachings, learned the process of the contents that were approached, and that the study of botany using medicinal plants became more stimulating. This increased the value of the popular knowledge and made possible the association between theory and practice.