Cultural Sustainability in Ethnobotanical Research with Students Up to K-12

• Published in: Sustainability Vol. 12; no. 14; p. 5664
• Main Authors: Gutiérrez-García, Lorena, Blanco-Salas, José, Sánchez-Martín, Jesús, Ruiz-Téllez, Trinidad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.07.2020
• Subjects: Attitudes; Biodiversity; Botany; Collaboration; Consumption; Education; Environmental education; Globalization; Informal education; Knowledge acquisition; Learning; Motivation; Natural resources; Preservation; Researchers; Rural areas; Rural development; Science education; Society; Students; Sustainability; Sustainable development; Teachers; Teaching methods; Workshops; Young adults
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su12145664

In the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), education plays a fundamental role. However, traditional methodologies do not favor the enrichment and personal development essential to promote global awareness. The use of active methodologies based on experiences improve the quality of learning. This work describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of the acquired knowledge of a didactic proposal for non-formal education as a support for regulated education based on botany content. Firstly, a workshop was held, where young people participated directly in developing field work with a real scientific methodology. Subsequently, a group of students was chosen to be interviewed to obtain a global vision of the learning they obtained. The motivation of the students was quite positive, which allowed us to obtain voluntary participation in the field work and also gave the students a participative attitude throughout the development of the workshops. Four months later, this positive attitude remained during their direct involvement in various activities, and the students still remembered the fundamental content discussed. Relating the didactic proposal to its immediate environment was shown to increase interest in learning and value in its own context. The results of this educational experience have been very positive, as knowledge was acquired, and interest in the preservation of the environment and the profession of a researcher was promoted.