Plantas medicinais: uma sondagem sobre a percepção de alunos de uma escola de Ensino Médio em Caucaia/CE.

Abstract

Over the years, the school curriculum of Basic Education High School students, with regard to the discipline of Biology, incorporates themes from the Classification of living beings, cytology, reproduction, genetics to the teaching of Botany and Zoology. Botany, characterized as the study of morphological characteristics with a focus on their structures, shapes and functionality, is one of the subjects of extreme importance since it adds value to the various industrial sectors dispersed in our society, for the survival of species and for the daily life of population. Given this fact, its educational value and need for study is undeniable since students often do not like the subject, do not have background on the subject or do not have a legitimate interest in learning. From this perspective, the objective of this work is to identify the perception of students from a public school about what medicinal plants are, the most used ones and the reason for their use. This is an ethnobotany study, in which a descriptive research of knowledge, perception and teaching about the study of biology with regard to medicinal plants was carried out. The research was carried out with students in the 2nd year of high school at a state school in the municipality of Caucaia, Ceará. A questionnaire containing 14 questions was applied, where the students had 40 minutes to answer it, without the help of the internet. Descriptive statistics of the data were performed, as well as content analysis. It could be observed that 66% of the students had satisfactory knowledge about the concept of medicinal plants, where females had greater knowledge; 41% of students grow medicinal plants at home; half of the students considered that all parts of the plant should be used in the preparation of medicinal teas. Grandmothers were the people who taught the most about the use of medicinal plants. A total of 15 medicinal plants were reported, where the most used were: chamomile, boldo, lemon balm and fennel. The main reasons cited for the use of medicinal herbs were: soothing, to treat sore throat and for pain in the body, belly and stomach. The study shows the importance of the female role in passing on knowledge about medicinal plants (cultural transmission) and in caring for the family's health. The number of students who know what medicinal plants are and are interested in the subject is worrying and it is feared that over the years it will disappear. Teaching about medicinal plants urgently needs to be reinforced in the school curriculum, with a view to forming citizens who know how to take care of their health in a way that is less dependent on the pharmaceutical industry.