Plantas medicinais na escola: do conhecimento popular à promoção do conhecimento científico por meio de projetos investigativos

Abstract

This research is based on the researcher's pedagogical practice as a teacher, seeking in her classes to contextualize the importance of building scientific knowledge recommended in the National Curricular Parameters and the Common National Curricular Base, connecting it to the process of teaching and learning Science. It was based on the premise that active teaching methodologies arouse the interest and participation of students as protagonists, using their experiences for investigations aimed at promoting scientific knowledge. In this sense, the proposal was to take the topic generating medicinal plants to school, the objective of which was to seek results from the use of investigative projects to bring common sense and scientific knowledge about medicinal plants closer together. They were carried out through qualitative research, of the collaborative action type, in a case study format. The research participants were 24 students from a 4th year class at Escola Municipal José Augusto de Paiva in Varginha-MG, research volunteers and duly agreed, framed and protected in the ethical aspects of research. The stages developed were structured based on the specific objectives that fulfilled the general ones, namely: identification of medicinal plants used in the family context of research participants; list of medicinal plants most cited by students in this class, to be distributed in research groups to propose investigative projects (to build scientific knowledge); development of the steps of an investigative project for each of the medicinal plants listed, together with the research groups formed; recognition of the importance of bringing popular knowledge closer to scientific knowledge regarding identified medicinal plants. The data constituted as results through the research stages had their contents analyzed descriptively, with interpretations provided by the researcher's participant observation, considering her pedagogical practice at that school, based on a field diary. The plants inventoried were: aloe vera (Aloe vera), chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), boldo (Peumus boldus), mint (Mentha piperita), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis). They gave rise to six groups of investigative projects to work with strategic and appropriate pedagogical activities with the intention of leading students' action in favor of building their knowledge, based on research carried out in books, on the internet and the National List of Medicinal Plants of Interest to the Unified Health System (RENISUS). After completing all steps of the investigation, wellfounded explanations were found regarding the rational use of the highlighted medicinal plants. The results and observations of the research indicate that the practice through investigative projects promoted an approximation between common sense and scientific knowledge about medicinal plants, suggesting that the students participating in the research were benefited by scientific literacy.