O uso de plantas medicinais para uma aprendizagem significativa em botânica nas aulas de biologia do ensino médio

Abstract

Botany is one of the major areas of biology that are taught in basic education. However, there is a gap in the teaching about plants in high school, which many people attribute to the complexity of the topic, generating a lack of interest among students and even teachers in approaching botanical topics. In order to reduce this gap, and give new meaning to the knowledge that we have about plants, it was proposed the use of a didactic sequence with the theme of medicinal plants to develop significant learning in botany in a 2nd level high school class at Escola Estadual São Pedro, located in the municipality of Piau, Minas Gerais. The didactic sequence was divided in six stages with twelve classes with fifty minutes each, seeking in a contextualized way within the theme of medicinal plants to approach the contents of plant morphology, physiology and systematics. It was observed that the use of the medicinal plants theme with the participation of the family made learning more meaningful, as the students presented advances in the construction of botanical knowledge. This finding was evidenced by the creation of conceptual maps made by the students. The same maps also pointed out aspects to be revisited, highlighting how complex and challenging the teaching of botany in basic education is.