A utilização do conhecimento de plantas medicinais como ferramenta para estimular a preservação ambiental

Abstract

This work has the objective of identifying the level of knowledge about medicinal plants in the school community where is inserted the municipal elementary school Aldo Porto dos Santos and it relationship with Environmental Education, turning that information into a tool of introduction to Environmental Education. For that, was covered the origin of phytotherapy, the history of the relationship of the people with the plants since the prehistoric times until the present, the proprieties of the medicinal herbs, ways for better utilize their proprieties and the cares that must be taken during the usage of them. To realize the first stage of this work it was applied a quantitative research through a questionnaire which was answered by one hundred and eleven people. In the second stage of the project it was labored the “clock of medicinal plants” which was attended by the 6th grade class composed of twenty students counting with the collaboration of the scholar community which helped in obtaining the established species of plants. Evaluating the results of the project and comparing with the proposed objective it was possible to note that in the said school community there is a reasonable knowledge of the medicinal plants and that the used plants are cultivated in their own yards of their homes following the local culture. Concludes in this way that there are several methods to achieve the objectives related to the development of the Environmental Education, but this action have better result when it’s supported in the common interests of the group and in the knowledge and cultural experience that already exists.