Revista Brasileira de Educação do Campo
Brazilian Journal of Rural Education
ARTIGO/ARTICLE/ARTÍCULO
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20873/uft.rbec.e9760
Tocantinópolis/Brasil
v. 6
e9760
10.20873/uft.rbec.e9760
2021
ISSN: 2525-4863
1
Este conteúdo utiliza a Licença Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Open Access. This content is licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-type BY
Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a
riverside school in the Southwest Amazonas
Paula Regina Humbelino de Melo
1
, Eliane Regina Martins Batista
2
, Tatiana de Souza Camargo
3
1, 2
Universidade Federal do Amazonas - UFAM. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ensino de Ciências e Humanidades. Rua 29
de Agosto, n. 786, Centro. Humaitá - AM. Brasil.
3
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS.
Author for correspondence: paulinharhmelo@gmail.com
ABSTRACT. This work is the result of a research developed in
the academic master's degree in Science and Humanities
Teaching at the Federal University of Amazonas - Campus Vale
do Rio Madeira. It aimed to discuss the extent to which the
integration of traditional/popular knowledge about plants
contributes to the development of scientific education for
students at a riverside school in the Southern Amazonas state. It
is a qualitative and descriptive field research, which was
developed with 15 students of the 7th, 8th and 9th grades of a
riverside school located in a traditional community in a
municipality of the Amazonas state. The investigation was based
on participatory activities, such as: questions, practical classes
and drawings. Based on the development of activities, we have
found out that there is a lot of knowledge about plants in the life
of these students, in addition to the importance of articulating
their knowledge with scientific concepts in the teaching of
Natural Sciences. In general, we highlight how important it is to
discuss the integration of knowledge in rural education, with
methodologies that prioritize multidimensional methods,
considering social, cultural and environmental knowledge.
Keywords: rural education, science education, science
education.
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
Tocantinópolis/Brasil
v. 6
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2021
ISSN: 2525-4863
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Educação do Campo e o Ensino de Ciências: Experiências
em uma escola ribeirinha no Sul do Estado do Amazonas
RESUMO. Este trabalho é resultado de uma pesquisa
desenvolvida no mestrado acadêmico em Ensino de Ciências e
Humanidades na Universidade Federal do Amazonas - Campus
Vale do Rio Madeira. Teve como objetivo discutir em que
medida a integração dos saberes tradicionais/populares sobre
plantas contribuem para o desenvolvimento da educação
científica de estudantes em uma escola ribeirinha na região sul
do Estado do Amazonas. É uma pesquisa de campo, qualitativa
e descritiva, desenvolvida com 15 estudantes de 7º, 8º e 9º anos
de uma escola do campo, situada em uma comunidade
tradicional em um município do Amazonas. A investigação se
deu a partir de atividades participativas, como: perguntas, aulas
práticas e desenhos. Com base no desenvolvimento das
atividades, constatou-se uma riqueza de saberes sobre plantas na
vida dos referidos estudantes, além da importância da
articulação de conhecimentos vividos com conceitos científicos
no ensino de Ciências da Natureza. De uma forma geral,
destaca-se quão importante discutir a integração de saberes na
educação do campo, com metodologias que priorizem
abordagens multidimensionais, considerando saberes sociais,
culturais e ambientais.
Palavras-chave: educação do campo, ensino de ciências,
educação científica.
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
Tocantinópolis/Brasil
v. 6
e9760
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2021
ISSN: 2525-4863
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Educación rural y enseñanza de las ciencias: experiencias
en una escuela ribereña en la región sur del Amazonas
RESUMEN. Este trabajo es el resultado de una investigación
desarrollada en la maestría académica en Docencia en Ciencias
y Humanidades de la Universidad Federal del Amazonas -
Campus Vale do Rio Madeira. Su objetivo era discutir en qué
medida la integración del conocimiento tradicional / popular
sobre las plantas contribuye al desarrollo de la educación
científica de los estudiantes de una escuela ribereña de la región
sur del estado del Amazonas. Se trata de una investigación de
campo, cualitativa y descriptiva, desarrollada con 15 alumnos de
7º, 8º y 9º años de una escuela en el campo, ubicada en una
comunidad tradicional de un municipio del Amazonas. La
investigación se basó en actividades participativas, tales como:
preguntas, clases prácticas y dibujos. A partir del desarrollo de
actividades, se constató una gran riqueza de conocimientos
sobre las plantas en la vida de estos estudiantes, además de la
importancia de articular conocimientos vividos con conceptos
científicos en la enseñanza de las Ciencias Naturales. En
general, se destaca la importancia de discutir la integración del
conocimiento en la educación rural, con metodologías que
prioricen enfoques multidimensionales, considerando el
conocimiento social, cultural y ambiental.
Palabras clave: educación rural, educación científica,
educación científica.
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
Tocantinópolis/Brasil
v. 6
e9760
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2021
ISSN: 2525-4863
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Introduction
The Law of Bases and Guidelines of
National Education (LDB) No. 9.394/1996
defines the objectives and duties of school
education in the Brazilian territory, based
on the principles expressed in the Federal
Constitution of 1988 that ensures the right
to education for all citizens, which must be
guaranteed regardless of the localities in
which they reside, such as family farmers,
extractivists, artisanal fishermen, riverside
inhabitants, settlers of the agrarian reform,
rural wage earners, remnants of slaves,
indigenous people, peoples of the forests,
caboclos and others, that produce their
material conditions of existence from work
in rural areas, with the perspective of
safeguarding the rights of each citizen.
Rural populations, therefore, have
the right to education in the locality where
they live, with an educational system
adapted and adapted to the peculiarities of
each region. In addition, the contents and
teaching methodologies must be consistent
with the needs of the students, prioritizing
the characteristics of the communities
through calendars adapted to local
production cycles and climatic conditions.
Caldart (2002) reinforces that the priority
of ensuring education is a human right that
seeks to ensure full, social and citizen
development, but this right cannot be
treated as a commodity, a service or a
compensatory policy.
In this sense, the need for rural
education is highlighted, which we will
call Countryside Education in this work,
which complies with the precepts ensured
in the LDB, considering a sensitive look at
the Brazilian populations living in the
countryside, prioritizing heterogeneity,
social, cultural and environmental
diversity. From the perspective of Arroyo
(1999), it is an education that approaches
the man of the countryside, with regional
characteristics and, above all, thought
about the principle of their rights in
education, science, technology and culture
with characteristics guaranteed in the
legislation for the Countryside Education.
In the Amazon Region, the presence
of heterogeneous populations stands out,
especially indigenous and traditional
riverside communities, which reinforces,
according to Hage (2005), the need to
think about public education policies that
present true “lenses” in the context of the
countryside in the Brazilian scenario and,
specifically, in the Amazon Region, which
is heterogeneous in the sense of
production, the environment, and social
and cultural issues in the region.
Considering the peculiarities of the
different contexts of countryside schools,
this work prioritizes an approach to
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
Tocantinópolis/Brasil
v. 6
e9760
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2021
ISSN: 2525-4863
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Countryside Education in a riverside
school in the Southern Amazon state, the
result of an extract from the dissertation
entitled “Traditional Knowledge, Science
Teaching and Ethnobotany: Possibilities
and Challenges for Scientific Education”,
defended in the Postgraduation Program in
Teaching of Sciences and Humanities of
the Federal University of Amazonas -
Campus Vale do Rio Madeira. In
particular, in this work, the objective is to
discuss to what extent the integration of
traditional/popular knowledge about plants
contributes to the development of
Scientific Education for the students of the
São Miguel Municipal School. The
adopted methodology focused on didactic
strategies that prioritize articulations of
lived knowledge with scientific concepts in
the teaching of Natural Sciences, showing
how essential the process of Scientific
Education is based on articulations of
social, cultural and environmental
knowledge in school.
Countryside Education: teaching of
science and its peculiarities
In Brazil, the conquest of the right
for Countryside Education in official
documents was the result of the social
movements of the peasants who fought for
education to reach social groups until then
excluded from the educational context.
The relevance and need for a
differentiated education for Countryside
Education was reaffirmed from the
development of the Curricular Guidelines
for Countryside Education, an important
fact in the Brazilian scenario, since it is a
fundamental step to guarantee education as
a right universal in all forms of education,
ensuring quality public education for the
rural population.
The Operational Guidelines for Basic
Education in Countryside Schools
contemplate the definition of the identity
of the rural school, as a link with the
reality of the students, in the collective
memory they present, in the science and
technology available in society and in the
social movements, in defense of projects
that integrate solutions to issues related to
the social quality of collective life in the
countryside (Brasil, 2002, Art. 2).
These guidelines can contribute to
the pedagogical practice of the teacher
since they present possibilities to
reorganize their educational methodology
and bring it closer to the reality of the
countryside inhabitants (Brasil, 2002). In
this sense, Henriques et al. (2007)
highlight the need for Countryside
Education to be related to sustainability
and diversity, since there is a strong
relationship between human beings and
other existing ecosystems.
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
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Despite the guidelines and other
public policies that establish the conditions
to educate the countryside people, there is
still a long way to go, especially when
observing the reality experienced in
education and in rural schools. Initially, it
is necessary to look at each region, with
public policies that allow the effectiveness
of rights with equity and observing the
local and individual specificities.
For Molina and Azevedo (2004),
Countryside Education must be seen as a
space sensitive to social, cultural and
environmental relationships, with the
constant participation of the subjects who
inhabit these places. It is a heterogeneous
space, where each region has its
peculiarities that differentiate it from the
others, where it is necessary to value the
differences between peoples, wealth,
diversity and its role as a producer of
different cultures.
Although there are educational and
curricular policies for Rural Education
aimed at ensuring quality education,
according to the peculiarity of each region,
there are several difficulties and challenges
to overcome in relation to Countryside
Education. Among them, we can mention
the insufficiency and physical
precariousness of many countryside
schools, access difficulties, high rate of
distortion by age-grade, lack of qualified
teachers, predominance of multigrade
classes and lack of updating of pedagogical
proposals.
When reflecting on the role of the
school in the context of the riverside
communities, it is understood that it is
necessary to interact with the reality of the
communities and build an education model
that is “immersed” in the local cultural
aspects and their multiple aspects, making
it an institution that has characteristics
which include the daily reality (Pinto &
Vitória, 2015).
With the previous notes, there is a
need to assess the countryside itself and its
knowledge in the educational process, so
school subjects need, above all, the
contextualization and connection between
the different knowledge. In this sense, this
work highlights the teaching of Natural
Sciences, which is often presented in a
decontextualized way and with fragmented
knowledge and outside the reality of the
students.
The UNESCO report (2005) portrays
the Sciences developed in schools in our
countryside in the following way:
... in the Brazilian school, Scientific
Education has traditionally been
bookish and decontextualized,
leading students to decorate,
without understanding the
concepts and applicability of what
is studied. Thus, the experimental
sciences have been developed
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
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v. 6
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ISSN: 2525-4863
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unrelated to experiences and, as a
result, few students are attracted to
them. Most get bored, have a hard
time teaching, and lose enthusiasm.
In other words, the school is not
prepared to promote a stimulating
environment for science and
technology education (UNESCO,
2005, p. 03, bold marks are ours).
It is evident, in this UNESCO
document, that one of the greatest
difficulties in science teaching, especially
natural sciences in countryside schools, is
the lack of context that contributes to the
formation of unmotivated children and
adolescents with teaching, since it makes
no sense to learn scientific concepts in a
memorable way without the proper
relationship with everyday events.
The effective teaching of science in
schools is possible when the meaning of
certain contents present in the curriculum
is known, and it is essential to combine the
knowledge of professional, social, cultural
and environmental training in each region,
being necessary, according to Carvalho et
al. (2013, p. 3), “teach real science from
science teaching”. This implies integrating
scientific knowledge with traditional /
popular knowledge in the teaching of
Natural Sciences.
The countryside schools need to
experience the ways of life, the livelihood
of the communities, the culture in the
teaching of Natural Sciences, providing
students with access to different school
knowledge at all levels of education. Based
on contextualized teaching practices and
committed to the student in their real
context, this can make it possible "to
understand the use of life sciences, their
relationship with technology and various
phenomena, the development of scientific
culture" (Krasilchik & Marandino, 2007, p.
30).
This also implies the effective
possibility of constructing scientific
knowledge in the perspective indicated by
Chassot (2002, p. 91) when affirming that
“science is a language; thus, being
scientifically literate means knowing how
to read the language in which nature is
written”, which will allow men to read the
natural and social world. Therefore,
scientific literacy is considered an ally to
promote viable alternatives that
compromise education.
The teaching of Natural Sciences in
the riverside context can contribute to
scientifically literate students, based on a
teaching that integrates different
knowledge, knowledge and practices,
above all, that does not follow the
standards and models of the city.
Countryside schools must allow students to
learn science in accordance with the events
of their life, and not only with the use of
scientific concepts outside the real context,
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
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v. 6
e9760
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in addition to allowing the investigation of
phenomena and their reflection.
According to Enisweler, Kliemann
and Strieder (2015), it is necessary to
consolidate Countryside Education with
practice in the teaching of Natural
Sciences, and one of the ways to do this is
to adapt the methodologies in the teaching
and learning processes in the countryside
schools. For Kovalski and Obara (2010),
the teaching of Natural Sciences in
countryside schools can contribute to the
rescue of traditional knowledge, but for
this reality to be achieved it is necessary to
use strategies and methodologies to link
traditional knowledge with knowledge of
the students from the riverside
communities.
In this context, it is understood that
countryside schools are rich and privileged
spaces for the preservation and rescue of
traditional/popular knowledge that provide
quality Scientific Education to citizens
who are part of this context. In addition, it
is necessary to think about schools with
social quality, with public policies that, in
fact, benefit the countryside people, the
resignification in the curriculum, the
valuation of multiculturalism and, above
all, views that go beyond the barriers of the
isolation.
Research context: study area and
methodological procedure
This field research adopted a
qualitative and descriptive approach, with
the aim of discussing to what extent the
integration of traditional/popular
knowledge about plants contributes for the
development of students. It demands the
effective participation of the researcher in
the riverside, countryside and school
communities to understand the multiple
relationships that were established in the
development of the teaching of Natural
Sciences.
The instruments developed for data
collection were participatory activities,
such as: questions, practical classes and
drawings. For the data and thematic
analyses, we searched support in Minayo
(2001), according to whom, the notion of
themes that arose in the course of the
research should be articulated with the
objective and theoretical framework.
The study area of this research
includes the São Miguel Municipal School,
founded under Decree No. 031/96 of
October 25, 1996, located in a traditional
riverside community at 8 km from the
urban area of the Humaitá-AM
municipality (Figure I).
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
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Figure I - Location of the study area.
Source: Universal Transverse Mercator.
To preserve the anonymity of the
school students, it was decided to identify
them with the name of the medicinal plants
that they mentioned during the activities.
Thus, the target group for the research was
of 15 (fifteen) 7th, 8th and 9th grade
primary school students, aged between 13
(thirteen) and 17 (seventeen) years old,
with the proper authorization of their
parents.
This research was developed within
the scope of the activities of the academic
master's degree in Teaching of Sciences
and Humanities of the Federal University
of Amazonas (UFAM) - Vale do Rio
Madeira Campus and approved by the
Ethics Committee in Research with Human
Beings (CEP) of UFAM, under the CAAE
registry 79982217.2.0000.5020.
Acquiring knowledge about plants in the
teaching of Natural Sciences for riverine
students
In the research process of the
subjects who participated in this study, it
was found that the Nature Sciences classes
focused only on reading the textbook, with
illustrations of vegetables in different
ecosystems, without a contextualization on
the Amazon Region.
We believe that the book is an
important means of communication, but it
should not be the teacher's only resource,
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
Tocantinópolis/Brasil
v. 6
e9760
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2021
ISSN: 2525-4863
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and it is essential to look for new proposals
to teach, since the teacher has autonomy
and training to search and enrich the
teaching contents. For Moura, Silva and
Ales (2014), the biological illustrations
presented by the textbooks are true allies in
the teaching and learning processes of
students, however, what is observed in
many books are illustrations that are far
from the context of the students, such as
pine or araucaria, and other plants that do
not represent the life of the students in the
Amazonian region.
Another important issue to be
presented at this first moment refers to the
training of the teacher who taught the
discipline of Natural Sciences at school,
whose teacher training was in Physical
Education and not in the area of Sciences.
The used methodology in the subject
of Natural Sciences and the training of
teachers are challenges that are part of the
reality of many schools in the countryside.
It should be noted that teachers who work
displaced from their training area generate
difficulties in the teaching and learning
processes, since they do not have
theoretical, methodological and practical
skills in the area in which they work. In
this context, Freire (1996) draws attention
to the need for professional competence.
Therefore, teachers must take their training
seriously and attempt to meet the demands
and coordinate the activities of their class.
Teachers are subjects that face
difficulties in the teaching process, often
limited to their functions. Teaching in
different areas of their education
disqualifies their role, since the teacher
does not have mastery of the area in which
they work. Consequently, in most cases it
ends up making learning simply bookish
and decontextualized.
One of the proposals for teaching,
presented as part of this work, is through
knowledge connections, where curricular
integration is highlighted in all stages of
teaching. We understand that the book, as a
didactic resource, needs to be more open to
the concerns of the students' own lives,
where culture and social aspects are
highlighted, aspects that lead us to coincide
with the thought of Morin (2000) when he
says that there is a triadic relationship
between individuals/society/species, that is
to say, "Culture and society guarantee the
fulfillment of individuals, and it is the
interactions between individuals that allow
the perpetuation of culture and the self-
organization of society" (Morin, 2000, p.
54).
To understand students' conceptions
of plants in the teaching of Natural
Sciences, we start from the following
questions: What are vegetables? What is
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
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the importance of vegetables? What are
vegetables for? Faced with these questions,
the students, at the beginning, were more
reserved, but little by little answers were
emerging that contributed positively to the
proposal to debate about vegetables
according to the knowledge and realities
lived by the inhabitants residing on the
banks of the Madeira River, thus avoiding
a merely passive and repetitive class. For
Luckesi (2008, p. 131), "school knowledge
can only become meaningful and
existential knowledge in the lives of
citizens if it is incorporated through
understanding, exercise and creative use.
The knowledge of the riverside
students of the Municipal School of São
Miguel about plants was highlighted in
several points of the investigation. A
unique moment of the research was when
the students mentioned medicinal plants as
a cure for diseases. According to some
statements:
"At home we use plants when we are
sick" (Chicory).
"Plants serve us as medicine"
(Jambú).
"Teacher, plants are also good to
eat" (Rue).
"They are medicines and are used for
many diseases" (Mast).
"Plants are used to make tea to cure
diseases" (Lemon).
"My grandmother makes tea when we
are sick" (Holy Herb).
"They also heal many diseases; they
even heal bumps and wounds" (Aloe
Vera).
"My family makes tea, herbal
remedies and they are good with
illnesses" (Açaí).
"I think they cure diseases, tummy
aches, they are good for the flu"
(Lemongrass).
In the students' speeches, there are
elements that lead us to the knowledge
derived from the tradition about plants,
especially the knowledge about medicinal
plants. Given the participation of the
students on the proposed topic, it was
possible to see the enthusiasm of the part
of the students about the proposed content,
which required the need to start from what
the students knew from their experiences
on the topic, an aspect noted in the
Curricular Guidelines for the teaching of
Natural Sciences, by reinforcing that the
contextualization of the contents with the
students' knowledge awakens personal,
social and cultural meanings.
Endorsing the above, Freire (1994)
reinforces the need to start from cultural
contexts in school education. For the
author, this “imposes on liberating action,
which is also historical, in a context that
requires that there must be a relationship of
correspondence not only with the
'generative themes', but also with the
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
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perception that men are having from them”
(p. 54).
The articulation of
traditional/popular knowledge in
countryside schools is fundamental and
necessary, since the knowledge of the
students is worked on and approaches
scientific knowledge. Thus, it will be
possible to have a comprehensive
education, valuing the knowledge of the
students.
In this context, Morin (2000)
highlights that the need to teach in the
human condition is one of the knowledge
for future education. It is fundamental, in
teaching, that human beings can
“recognize common humanity and at the
same time recognize the cultural diversity
inherent in everything human” (p. 47),
where all knowledge needs to
contextualize and value their own
knowledge in order to become relevant for
mankind.
Practical and field classes: building ways
of teaching
In our next step, the use of non-
school educational spaces was prioritized,
such as the outdoors of the school and
nearby courtyards, considering that they
are strategies that can enable satisfactory
learning for students. According to
Krasilchik (2011), working outside of the
school area allows collecting data and
information about notes made in class,
which also allows students to get in touch
with the communities in which they live, in
addition to increasing the interaction
between teacher and student.
Education in the countryside has a
true natural laboratory, especially in
regions which are rich in biodiversity and
cultural heterogeneity, such as the riverside
schools of the Amazonian region. Students
can explore their environments, their
peculiarities and articulate with the
scientific knowledge presented in the
classroom. Often, the lack of resources in
schools is pointed out as a prerequisite for
the absence of practical classes, however,
natural ecosystems can serve as support for
practical classes, so the theoretical contents
are presented in a contextualized way in
practical classes (Krasilchik, 2011; Silva &
Cavassan, 2006).
The first practical activity that was
carried out was the collection of botanical
material from around the school to make
the stickers, which is a sort of practical
field class. In the perspective of Silva and
Cavassan (2006), practical field classes
enable the development of skills in
students, allowing attention to the diversity
existing in the nature that surrounds them,
which contributes to the observation and
articulation with Scientific Education.
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
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For the use of the tracing technique
(Figure II), small sheets available in the
external environment of the school were
used, with the presence of limbus and
protruding ribs to apply the technique.
Figure II - Student Artwork Decal.
Source: Melo, 2018.
As indicated in the previous figures,
we highlight the importance given to the
student when carrying out this practical
activity, fulfilling some objectives of the
practical classes proposed by Hofstein and
Lunetta (1982), since these activities
arouse the interest of students, involving
them in the scientific field, in a research
that allows understanding basic concepts
and developing specific content
competencies.
From the perspective of Moura and
Silva (2015), the proposal to teach Science
contents through scientific illustration, in
our case, the sticker allowed students to
learn from the materials available in their
daily lives and, above all, the production of
teaching materials with illustrations and
their own meaning, considering that these
vegetables have meaning in the students'
lives.
For this reason, it is emphasized that
the students' approach to the reality of their
daily lives allows them to awaken their
curiosity to expand their knowledge, guide
the teaching and learning processes and
strengthen the idea that we do not always
need sophisticated resources and materials
to develop activities that allow us to
contribute to the school education of
children and young people in the
countryside.
The vegetal content has been
frequently approached in teaching through
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
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the close connection with human beings
since the dawn of civilization. They are
living beings that are part of the daily life
of students, part of traditional/popular
knowledge and are abundant. For Alves
Silva (2016), it is an approach that can be a
tool to achieve teaching focused on
contextualization and dynamism, where the
student has a direct contact with the object
of study.
In general, the practical classes work
in the teaching of science with paths that
are being built for Scientific Education,
because when interconnected with the
subject contents and mediated in a
contextualized and interdisciplinary way,
they enable the formation of critical and
reflective citizens.
Riverside students and medicinal tea
School transportation is an element
that is part of the life of the riverside
students, being one of the challenges of the
Countryside Education for the students of
the field research school. At the São
Miguel School, students face a long
journey every day to get there, in addition
to the lack of transportation on some
school days, which implies the lack of
classes at school, considering that most
students need this conveyance.
Upon arriving at the school, the
students are welcomed with the "Medicinal
Tea", where we had food to connect the
proposal of teaching from the life
knowledge. The students brought various
medicinal plants from their homes to
continue their activities with the
interconnection of scientific and school
knowledge.
The articulation of
traditional/popular and school knowledge
is essential and necessary for a quality
scientific education, since formal education
often excludes the knowledge of students
because it is considered insufficient in the
process. However, lived knowledge, which
is transmitted from generation to
generation, must be part of the school
context, not only to contribute to learning,
but also to value this intangible heritage
and prevent it from being lost. For Gaspar
(2002), school and non-school education
must be mutual, due to the fact that
traditional, popular and school knowledge
stimulate dialogue for a quality Scientific
Education.
Continuing with the discussion of the
research data, the students drew pictures
that represented their lives as riverbank
residents, as shown in Figure III.
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
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Figure III - Drawing of two students representing their lives.
Source: Melo, 2018.
The above drawings of two students
from the research field school represented
the importance given to the nature of the
environment in which they live. Figure A
represents the São Miguel School, in
summer, where the Madeira River can be
observed as the school boat approaches.
When observing the details of this figure,
the grass around the school and the
coconut tree located next to it stand out,
describing the vegetables as indispensable
components in their riverside life. In figure
B, the student presents his home and, in
this image, there is a rich diversity of
vegetation, the means of transportation for
this student and his family, and the fishing
net that represents one of the residents'
sources of life.
With these two images, we describe
the importance that students give to the
representation of their lives, where the
school is a synonym for a great
representation where plants are not just a
backdrop. It is at the height of the need to
break down barriers of isolation and value
the knowledge that each student has in
their background traditional knowledge.
According to Morin (2000), one of the
knowledge for the education of the future
passes through the need to teach the earthly
identity, being essential to learn to be on
the planet, “to learn to live, to share, to
communicate, to take communion; it is
what is learned only through unique
cultures” (Morin, 2000, p. 76).
When thinking of activities for
students in countryside schools, it is
necessary to think of strategies that
dialogue with the reality of countryside
subjects. Thus, illustration activities that
A
B
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
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represent the lives of students are highly
representative memories of the place and
life, and it is necessary for educators to
provide articulations of the knowledge
experienced in teaching.
Conclusion
The first challenge of the research
was to perceive the lack of integration of
the contents on plants in the discipline of
Natural Sciences at the São Miguel
Countryside School, considering that these
relevant contents were not treated in the
studied series. We do not want to blame
here only the teacher who taught the
discipline in the school, but to alert the
municipal school system about the
seriousness with which countryside
education should be treated in the riverside
communities.
In the research, it was found that the
riverside students have knowledge about
plants and that, by sharing the activities,
they made possible the articulation of
knowledge and a multidimensional look.
The instruments used in the research were
essential to understand how important is a
contextualized teaching, where the subjects
are not in disjunctions with knowledge,
where students understand the concepts
and the applicability of the knowledge that
is taught and experimented.
It is essential to consider the need for
the school to mediate this knowledge to
avoid future losses, in addition to
providing students with learning of
scientific content based on their experience
and knowledge in a contextualized way. In
addition, the Amazon Region has a large
medical collection and a rich cultural
complex that is part of the life of the
riparians and, therefore, cannot be
disconnected or taken out of school.
Research with students from the field
school in the teaching of Natural Sciences
allowed a dialogue on the knowledge about
plants, considering that there is an intimate
relationship between human beings and
plant species, in addition to considering
biodiversity, therefore that it is imperative
that new research be sensitive to the
articulation of traditional/popular
knowledge with Scientific Education.
The most important thing in this
research process was to understand the
relevant space of traditional knowledge in
the constitution of the life of students,
which requires that the school and teachers
work in a multidimensional perspective,
with the reconnection of knowledge as
possibilities for Education Scientific
Integration should be based on
aspects of the students' culture and their
everyday lives. Thus, it will be possible to
build an education that leads to citizenship
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
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training, providing the learning of the
meaning of the science that surrounds
them, of the knowledge they need and that
are present in schools. For this, it is
necessary that the competent bodies and
education professionals see the students
and countryside schools as a priority,
overcoming the barriers of isolation and
transforming education and the future of
children and youth.
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Article Information
Received on April 29th, 2020
Accepted on October 10th, 2020
Published on June, 30th, 2021
Author Contributions: The author were responsible for
the designing, delineating, analyzing and interpreting the
data, production of the manuscript, critical revision of the
content and approval of the final version published.
Conflict of Interest: None reported.
Article Peer Review
Double review.
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. S. (2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas...
Tocantinópolis/Brasil
v. 6
e9760
10.20873/uft.rbec.e9760
2021
ISSN: 2525-4863
19
Funding
No funding.
How to cite this article
APA
Melo, P. R. H., Batista, E. R. M., & Camargo, T. T. S.
(2021). Rural Education and Science Teaching:
Experiences in a riverside school in the Southwest
Amazonas. Rev. Bras. Educ. Camp., 6, e9760.
http://dx.doi.org/10.20873/uft.rbec.e9760
ABNT
MELO, P. R. H.; BATISTA, E. R. M.; CAMARGO, T. S.
Rural Education and Science Teaching: Experiences in a
riverside school in the Southwest Amazonas. Rev. Bras.
Educ. Camp., Tocantinópolis, v. 6, e9760, 2021.
http://dx.doi.org/10.20873/uft.rbec.e9760