Horta escolar como estratégia para o estudo das plantas no ensino médio

Abstract

Brazil boasts the world's greatest biodiversity, yet its rich plant diversity remainslargely unexplored and underutilized, particularly in terms of food. Botany, the branchof Biology that focuses on plants, is often considered one of the most challengingsubjects for both students and educators. Among the proposed solutions to addressthe challenges and lack of interest in Botany education, the school garden emergesas a multifaceted approach that provides an engaging and context-rich resource forstudying plants, involving the entire school community. This study aimed to develop ateaching sequence grounded in an investigative approach with an Ethnobotanicalperspective, utilizing a school garden to teach Botany-related concepts. The projecttook place from May to December 2023 at the Emília Cabral Mota State School,located in the Vale Verde district of Ipaba, MG, involving a class of 34 third-year highschool students. It unfolded in five stages, with ongoing student engagement,documentation through photos and notes, and community involvement. The initialstage involved assessing prior knowledge and raising questions. This was followedby research into plant morphology, then the planting and maintenance of the schoolgarden, a workshop on identifying Unconventional Food Plants (UFPs), and finally,sharing results with the school community through the creation of a digital bookletfeaturing student-collected data. The harvested vegetables were utilized to bake acake for the participating class and additional treats for a tasting event held duringthe project's culmination, which included a fair at the school. The school gardenemerged as a dynamic learning environment, fostering interdisciplinary collaborationand hands-on investigative activities. This teaching approach empowered students to take ownership of their learning,bridging classroom knowledge with real-world applications. Despite constraints suchas limited instructional hours and the marginalization of Botany within Biologycurricula, the project demonstrated the value of engaging strategies to cultivatestudents' active participation in the learning process. In conclusion, this study affirms the significance of school gardens as catalysts for meaningful learning experiences,offering diverse avenues for knowledge construction and community engagement.