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Didactics of teaching the use of medicinal
plants in the school medicinal garden.
Didáctica de la enseñanza sobre el uso de plantas
medicinales en la huerta medicinal escolar
Bertha Hilda Bravo Mena
*
Claudia Patricia Noscue Zapata
*
María Gloria del Rosario Cuaran Chapid
*
Abstract
The objective of this project is to implement a school medicinal
garden where students carry out practical activities that lead to the
cultural strengthening of the Cofán people. For this purpose, a
participatory action research is carried out using the instruments that
lead to collect the necessary information. Among them, interviews
and surveys were applied to a group of people from the community
to identify the level of knowledge about the use of medicinal plants,
the categories and population were defined taking into account the
identified problem. The result obtained was the articulation of
practical activities from the school medicinal garden where students
are facilitated to manipulate and observe directly the plants to
facilitate their learning in a meaningful way in the use and care of
them. In such a way that the school is able to demonstrate the sense
of belonging and love for their culture from their worldview, respect
for the rules, valuing and caring for plants as they have always been
of great benefit for millennia for humanity, especially for indigenous
peoples. In addition, the participation of the community and the
medicinal garden to continue practicing in the academic work of the
students. In conclusion, there is a collection of information from the
educational community as connoisseurs of the culture, which allows
*
Master's Degree in Education from Corporación
Universitaria Iberoamericana, taberbravo@gmail.com,
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7780-4889
*
Master's Degree in Education from Corporación
Universitaria Iberoamericana,
Patyc1423@hotmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-
6911-6210
*
Master's Degree in Education from Corporación
Universitaria Iberoamericana, https://orcid.org/0000-
0002-0706-1004
Article
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to have as a contribution to the institution information according to
the needs of the community.
Keywords: Medicinal plants, cultural strengthening, Cofán
indigenous people, pedagogical didactics.
.
Resumen
El objetivo de este proyecto es implementar una huerta medicinal
escolar en donde los estudiantes realicen actividades prácticas que
conlleven al fortalecimiento cultural del pueblo Cofán. Para ello, se
realiza una investigación acción participativa haciendo uso de los
instrumentos que conlleven a recolectar la información necesaria.
Entre ellas se tiene en cuenta las entrevistas y encuestas que se
aplicaron a un grupo de personas de la comunidad para identificar el
nivel de conocimiento sobre el uso de plantas medicinales, las
categorías y población se definen teniendo en cuenta el problema
identificado. Como resultado obtenido fue la articulación de
actividades practicas desde la huerta medicinal escolar en donde los
estudiantes se les facilita manipular y observar de manera directa las
plantas para facilitar su aprendizaje de manera significativa en el uso
y cuidado de las mismas. De tal manera que desde la escuela se logra
evidenciar el sentido de pertenencia y amor por su cultura desde su
cosmovisión, el respeto por las normas, valorar y cuidar de las
plantas ya que siempre han sido de gran beneficio por épocas
milenarias para la humanidad en especial para los pueblos indígenas.
Además, la participación de la comunidad y la huerta medicinal para
seguir practicando en el quehacer académico de los estudiantes. En
conclusión, se cuenta con la recopilación de información de la
comunidad educativa como conocedores de la cultura lo que permite
tener como aporte a la institución una información acorde a la
necesidad de dicha comunidad.
Palabras clave: Plantas medicinales, fortalecimiento cultural,
pueblo indígena Cofán, didácticas pedagógicas.
Introduction
The objective of this article is to present a strategy aimed at the
cultural strengthening of the Cofán people through the use of
medicinal plants with fourth grade students. This work is
characterized for being a fundamental element in the cultural identity
according to their cosmovision, since the knowledge could be
identified as botanical knowledge that gathers an extensive
knowledge about diverse plants that through specific preparation
recipes can alleviate and cure physical and spiritual illnesses. From
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this perspective, it is said that cultural knowledge about medicinal
plants is traditionally transmitted by grandparents and parents to
children in the home or other community spaces. For this culture it
is said that when medicinal plants are cultivated, cultural practices
are taught, but also community work is practiced, which is a very
important value for the culture.
In addition, it strengthens the learning of the mother tongue, that is,
A'ingae, to name their world in their mother tongue. In other words,
it seeks to awaken their interest and appropriation of their culture by
putting into practice the use and care of medicinal plants to cure the
most common diseases in their context. To do this, a group of
students, teachers and parents of the institution is taken into account,
knowing that they are the right people to provide the necessary
information.
Regarding the concept of cultural strengthening, (RUIZ, 2007). For
its part, traditional and popular culture was defined by UNESCO in
the Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and
Folklore (1989) as: The set of creations emanating from a cultural
community based on tradition, expressed by a group or individuals
and recognized as responding to the expectations of the community
as an expression of its cultural and social identity; norms and values
are transmitted orally, by imitation or in other ways. Their forms
include, among others, language, literature, music, dance, games,
mythology, rituals, customs, handicrafts, architecture and other arts.
The preamble to the above-mentioned UNESCO Recommendation
states that traditional or popular culture "forms part of the universal
heritage of humanity and is a powerful means of bringing peoples
and existing social groups closer together and of affirming their
cultural identity. The two aforementioned concepts (culture and
traditional and popular culture) state that there is not a single culture
but a multiplicity of cultures that share or do not share a certain time
and space. "This diversity is manifested in the originality and
plurality of the identities that characterize the groups and societies
that make up humanity".4 (196).
This work is relevant for the indigenous communities of the Cofán
people because it is aimed at creating a sense of belonging to their
culture, strengthening cultural identity as a legacy of the elders who
have left us to transmit to each generation according to the law of
origin. Based on the above, a series of activities are presented which
will be appropriate to their cultural context where they can develop
purely cultural knowledge, in such a way that cultural values are
given relevance and the survival of the native peoples is guaranteed,
where the school as a promoter of critical knowledge and colonial
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thinking is the means by which this valuable knowledge is shared
with future generations. It is a resource of great importance since it
has a direct connection with Mother Nature.
Materials and methods
The author (Cavaría, 2006). In qualitative research, knowledge of
reality is constructed and reconstructed through the interactions that
take place between different actors. Negotiation refers to the
consensus reached before, during and after fieldwork to establish
certain conditions and ethical principles in which data production,
analysis, discussion and socialization take place. It is ensured that
all the people participating in the research accept the research as an
act that produces knowledge and therefore has a potential to improve
educational or social practices. It is guaranteed that the information
that may involve some risk will be confidential.
Access to the field also requires other negotiations, although
research problems can be studied in different particular contexts, we
seek some criteria to choose the field where the research will be
developed, which does not depend only on us but on other factors
such as access to institutions and personal and documentary sources
among others , (PP,46).
This research takes into account participant observation, survey and
interview. Participant observation consists of the systematic
observation of situations, behaviors, perceptions, which are
visualized in the students during the development of the proposed
activities, which allows an analysis of the impact on the community
during the development of the proposal. For this, one of them will
be the participant observation, the interview and the survey. Based
on the above, this concept is strengthened by the contribution made
by, (Badilla Cavaría, 2006)(Badilla Cavaría, 2006), in his journal
where: for this, research is supported by methods and techniques that
allow analyzing, explaining and interpreting thoughts that make
sense to the people who participate in the research (PP. 46).
On the other hand, (Godinez, 2010 (5),). Speaking of the technique,
this is explained as the way to go through the path outlined in the
method; they are the strategies used to collect the required
information and thus build the knowledge of what is being
investigated, while the procedure refers to the conditions for the
execution of the technique. The technique proposes the rules for
ordering the stages of the research process, likewise, it provides
instruments for collecting, classifying, measuring, correlating and
analyzing data, and provides science with the means to apply the
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method. Techniques allow the collection of information and help the
method to exist.
In this way, as research instruments for the collection of information,
the research group has selected the survey and interview to carry out
a diagnostic information to identify the level of knowledge in the use
of medicinal plants, in the staff of the educational community of the
Santa Rosa del Guamuez Ethnoeducational Institution. It is mainly
carried out in a group of people that have been focused to develop
the project through surveys to parents, students, teachers and wise
men and women or grandparents. The interview to the traditional
doctors since they are the ones who have all their knowledge of
traditional medicine from their wisdom and cosmovision.
Among the instruments used was the field diary, which helped us to
keep more detailed information on each of the activities, allowing us
to record the interests, strengths, weaknesses, and difficulties of the
students. The camera to record the photographs and to have as
evidence during the implementation of the project, the recorder
allowed us to obtain the necessary information narrated by the
traditional doctors from their ancestral wisdom and thus be able to
record in the necessary documentaries to then capture in the research
project. It should be clarified that each one is essential to record the
observed facts.
The Santa Rosa del Guamuez Rural Ethnoeducational Institution
was created by resolution No. 00365 of March 11, 2003. It is located
in the Santa Rosa del Guamuez reservation, municipality of Valle
del Guamuez, department of Putumayo, its municipal seat is known
as La Hormiga and is located 150 km from Mocoa. It is the fourth
most populated municipality in the department, with a population of
51,842 according to the census. The municipality has a land area of
871 km and borders the municipalities of Orito, Puerto Asis, Ipiales
and San Miguel on the border with neighboring Ecuador. Most of
the municipality's inhabitants make a living from agriculture, fish
farming, poultry farming, livestock, and raising small livestock. The
people are friendly and supportive; unfortunately, they have had to
live through times of conflict due to the coca bonanza, the presence
of illegal armed groups, and oil exploitation, which has caused an
imbalance in Putumayo's territory. Within the population served, it
is detected that most of the families are heads of households, there is
also family disintegration due to the same conflict, most fathers and
mothers have not completed higher education, some went to primary
school and others to high school, 80% of students belong to the
socioeconomic stratum zero (0) and 20% extract one (1), the
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livelihood is based on planting and sales of agricultural products,
others in small vendors in the municipal capital.
Regarding the context in which the research is carried out, we rely
on a concept of
(Cavaría, 2006)Reality is constructed and reconstructed, therefore it
is necessary to know the phenomena that occur in it, to explain them,
to understand them in order to interpret them. The context is
important. It is not interesting to reach generic conclusions, but what
is interesting is to know in depth each situation, each particularity,
(p. 44).
The population of the institution is mostly of Cofán culture and to
apply this project a group of 16 fourth grade students was selected,
who are between the ages of 9 and 14 years old. The schooling level
of the parents is between second and fifth grade of elementary
school, although very few have up to sixth grade, the education
provided is intercultural bilingual. In view of the fact that the
institution has nine widely dispersed sites with different cultures
Cofán, Embera Chamí, Pastos, Nasas, settlers, Venezuelans and
Afro-descendants, it was necessary to implement a boarding school
strategy to better serve indigenous students. In addition, the majority
population is served, thus allowing inclusion in this ethno-
educational institution. Taking into account that the institution is
located in Cofán territory, a group of students from the Cofán
population has been selected for the implementation of the project
and to strengthen the culture of this people according to their
worldview.
According to the concepts found regarding the variables, (Freire1,
2018). The elaboration of the theoretical design, which requires the
determination of the problem, the object of research, the field of
action, the objective, the hypothesis and its variables, or scientific
questions or ideas to defend, the tasks and the schedule. The
hypothesis is a conjecture, supposition or previous answer to the
scientific problem under investigation, it is expressed in the form of
an affirmative statement, generally linking two elements or aspects,
which are called variables.
The variables intervene as cause or effect in the research process.
The variables to be investigated are identified from the moment the
problem is defined.
The hypothesis, the scientific questions, or the idea to be defended,
establishes that aspect that characterizes the relationship between the
object and the problem.
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Variables are factors that intervene either as a cause or as a result
within the process or phenomenon of reality, forming an essential
part of the structure of the experiment.
When studying the hypothesis we express the term variable which
we define as the quality or property of an object that is changeable
or improvable in some way and summarizes what we want to know
about the object of research, (PP, 40).
We sought to observe how medicinal plants in the space of a school
medicinal garden have a positive or negative impact on the process
of cultural strengthening and revitalization of the Cofán people. For
this purpose, two categories were defined that support this project
and lead to cultural strengthening. Each category is strengthened in
a theoretical way at international, national and local level in order to
collect contributions to the proposed project, thus achieving the
objective by unifying the contributions of authors who share their
experience and thoughts through technological means and are
valuable for society.
The procedures for this research are carried out taking into account
the order of the objectives and the instruments that are taken into
account are in accordance with the research, which allows collecting
the necessary information and thus obtaining good results after the
application of the project.
Among the information techniques are: participant observation,
survey and interview. Participant observation consists of the
systematic observation of situations, behaviors, perceptions,
situations and behaviors experienced by the students during the
development of the proposed activities, which will allow detecting
the difficulties or shortcomings presented by the students during the
implementation and development of the research on the use and
recognition of medicinal plants in the environment.
About the author's field diary, (Carbó, 2007)Field diaries are written
texts in which the scientist and/or professional (or student in
training) records those events that occur in the day to day of his/her
professional or academic experience and that are particularly
significant to him/her (PP 14).
Regarding the survey, a contribution was found from:(Licea3, 2020)
On the other hand, Acosta (2016) states that the questionnaire
constitutes a series of questions, in order to apply them within a
survey or an interview. In this same sense, in Difference between
survey and interview (2018), the same is assumed as the structural
component of the former, which allows the collection of
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information. This epistemological position exposed in the paragraph
is the one functionally shared by the authors of this paper: the
questionnaire as the structural component of both methods.
Each of these techniques was supported by instruments such as
participant observation and field diaries, as a means to collect
detailed information and its respective decoding, which will be
decoded and concepts will be elaborated from the real perspective.
Results
The result of this research is directed in the detailed description of
the findings of the general objective (Strengthen the cultural
knowledge on identification, care and use of medicinal plants
through the implementation of the school medicinal garden with
children of fourth grade of the IER Santa Rosa del Guamuéz -
municipality of Valle del Guamuéz) using the instruments selected
for each activity.
As the first objective (To identify with the elders the medicinal plants of
the Cofán people existing in the Cofán reservation of Santa Rosa del
Guamuéz where the central headquarters of IERSRG is located), the
application of surveys is taken into account in order to obtain a
diagnosis on the level of cultural knowledge based on the knowledge
and use of medicinal plants of the Cofán culture in the educational
community. For this purpose, the support of traditional doctors and
traditional medicine experts who provided the corresponding
information was taken into account.
In the application of surveys to the selected people, it was found that
their level of knowledge and use of medicinal plants is very low.
They state that they know medicinal plants in general but not in their
Cofán culture. In addition, they express that in the family they make
little use of medicinal plants because they go more to pharmacies or
the hospital. In other words, it is evident that most of them know
about the importance of medicinal plants, but they do not put them
into practice in their homes.
As for the parents, it can be said that they make little use of medicinal
plants due to lack of knowledge and another reason is because they
turn to external medicine because they believe it is easier, others
think that both medicines are important, practicing their own first,
since sometimes they are diseases caused by nature and that only
spiritual doctors can cure. On the other hand, very few people make
use of them and mention that they are important because of their
effectiveness in curing the most common diseases in their family.
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They also propose that it is necessary to teach the children at home
and in the community to give talks to exchange knowledge, in order
to strengthen the cultural identity of the Cofán people.
Next, it was found that the knowledge and use of medicinal plants
among teachers is very low because, according to the results, they
mention that nowadays they give more value to medicines from
pharmacies because they think that they heal faster. In other words,
the creation of diverse EPS has allowed to forget the own thing since
each one goes to a treatment with specialists and to withdraw their
medicines. On the other hand, it is said that from the institution this
value and use of medicinal plants is not practiced, that is why it is
believed necessary to do research and create a medicinal garden from
the institution to direct the students from there in the cultural
strengthening.
During the interview with the traditional doctors of the Cofán
people, it is evident that there is a lot of knowledge from which we
were able to collect much of the information because they handle
medicinal plants. They also stated that they make use of them to cure
different diseases, but the youth no longer value them and rarely use
them. In addition, they see the need to strengthen this important
knowledge in the children of the institution so that this value is not
lost and is transmitted to other generations. In this way the plants are
strengthened because they are also ending and there are no plants
that existed in the past, among several plants of which they make use
the most essential is the yagé plant with which the Cofán people are
identified to cure many diseases for several centuries since its origin.
However, there are people in the community, especially the elderly,
who still make use of medicinal plants to treat illnesses, so it is
necessary for children and young people to learn from school by
organizing a medicinal garden to collect plants and thus be able to
preserve them, as well as to practice their knowledge.
On the other hand, it was found that parents and community no
longer value traditional medicine because they prefer other
medicine, parents do not let their children know the use of medicinal
plants because they accept other customs forgetting their own. In
other words, it is unfortunate but the knowledge leaves a vacuum in
each village, because the grandparents and traditional doctors are
leaving.
The implementation of the school medicinal garden is carried out in
compliance with the second objective after having collected
information through surveys, interviews, field diary, photographic
records and then proceeding to planting under the guidance of
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traditional doctors, and taking into account the rules in the use, care
and planting of the same. For this purpose, fourth grade students
were targeted and each of the activities were carried out with them.
Then, we talked with the rector for the destination of the place where
the garden will be installed, which is a space of 7m wide X 20 m
long; once the land was located, we proceeded to the adequacy or
preparation of the same.
Next, we continued with the visit to some grandmothers and wise
men of the community to collect the plants that will be planted in the
institution's vegetable garden. The plants that were collected were
named in their own language by the grandmothers and doctors of the
culture, through this visit the grandparents or wise men stated that
the language can also be taught through the manipulation of the
plants. Therefore, the students are motivated to pronounce the name
of each plant in their own language and in Spanish, achieving an
intercultural learning to comply with the profile that the
communities always dream of. On the other hand, the active
participation of the majority of students is evident as a result, of 16
students focused only three show disinterest in going to work in the
garden, expressing phrases asking the time of departure from work,
and gestures of laziness. But the others participate and ask questions
related to the learning and use of medicinal plants, they show
gestures of encouragement, attention, concentration when the doctor
is narrating the orientations.
When the students arrived at the respective garden, the doctor
oriented them to sow by eras to make it more orderly, then each
student was given a plant to sow and take care of it, the students were
again highly motivated in sowing and a minimum amount showed
disinterest. As they sow, the doctor motivates them in the
pronunciation of the name of the plant in the language to facilitate
their learning.
the structure of the name of each one in the Cofán language was
implemented. To do this, each student was given a 10 cm wide and
25 cm long tablet on which to place the name in both the Cofán and
Spanish languages. Then, place on each plant its respective name. It
should be noted that, through manipulation, interaction and
continuous dialogue, the knowledge imparted is better assimilated;
as the work was being done, the doctor oriented from his
cosmovision the importance of the plants within the indigenous
cultures, especially for the Cofán people, as well as the cultural
norms to be taken into account in planting. He also reminds them to
keep in mind that each plant must be planted facing the sun and to
be aware that during the first days of planting, water must be poured
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every day so that it does not dry out. Then, a visit is made once a
week or when necessary to verify the growth of each plant, as well
as the replanting of those that have not germinated. Thus, the
planting was done and this work was a great contribution to the
student population, especially for the Cofán people. It also gave them
the opportunity to visualize and manipulate the plants and to make
good use of them when they need to cure a disease. According to the
version of the educational community, the medicinal garden is a
great contribution to the institution as a strategy for meaningful
learning from the cultural part for the student population, so that they
appropriate this knowledge and are the ones who impart it to other
generations.
To allow them to take care of the territory as a sacred space that the
creator left to take care of them since it is there where the diversity
of medicinal plants and all the cultural identity of indigenous peoples
are found, to love nature as the cultural environment that produces
all kinds of living beings for the survival of humanity, including
spirituality.
Fulfilling the third objective which deals with the elaboration of a
didactic recipe book to cure the most common diseases that occur in
the school population of the institution. This activity takes into
account the results of interviews with traditional and wise doctors
who make use of medicinal plants and know the rules from their
worldview. After having the information and having implemented
the sowing of the school medicinal garden, a recipe booklet was
elaborated as a didactic material for the population of the institution
where they have the opportunity to acquire better knowledge in a
theoretical and practical way. The recipe book contains the plant
with its respective name in their own language for cultural
strengthening of the Cofán people; in order to make learning more
meaningful from the cultural part that leads to be students defenders
of the culture, guardians of the territory, who love and value their
culture. In this way the institution has children and young people
competent in intercultural knowledge, and they will be the bearers
of knowledge to other generations, transcend their knowledge
through the practice and use of medicinal plants.
Discussion
Relating the research project, what was observed during the application
of activities and the analysis of the target population, it has been
identified that there are positive similarities from the theoretical
framework. With regard to the contributions on traditional medicine, it
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was found that in a documentary film (online, 2021)on Cultural
Empowerment in Indigenous Peoples. From the vision of the
community where the project was applied, it is a community of
Cofán nationality where there is an idea created by a group of elders
of this culture, which originated in a ceremony of yagé, here they
analyzed the problems that were being experienced which has to do
with the loss of cultural identity and that the people were becoming
extinct for various reasons that are currently being experienced; the
elders are concerned because other external cultures have invaded
their own, not only the culture but also the minds of the youth.
They express that the youth no longer think and act as indigenous
people because they give value to the external and forget their
culture, they are ashamed of their own. For this reason, they have
created their own integrated and intercultural model that involves not
only the Cofán people but also other indigenous and external cultures
that make up today's society. For this reason, they organized
themselves to create a proposal to strengthen the cultural identity
through the practice of customs and traditions, an education
according to their needs and context so that the Cofán people
continue to survive along with other cultures with which they share
the territory.
For this reason, we found that the arguments from the theoretical
framework for the research group are one more contribution that
enriches the process of self-education that the institution is applying.
In other words, it has been identified that there are organizations
from different parts of the world that make their contributions in
favor of the cultural strengthening of the diverse indigenous peoples.
Likewise, there are cultural policies, institutions and even legal
frameworks that have advanced in processes of recognition of the
diversity of indigenous peoples and safeguarding their heritage, their
own languages that still exist despite the various causes and invasion
that they have faced for several decades. In addition, we consider
that the application of this project is a great contribution to motivate
the educational community, generating another evidence within the
educational process that is being developed in each of the cultures of
which our institution is made up.
Next, another of the findings that lead to the strengthening of the
cultural identity of our indigenous communities was the contribution
made by (Maritza Gallegos-Zurita1, 2016). Where she gives us a
great argument about medicinal plants which for each of the peoples
are a great element that guides towards cultural identity, it is life,
health, welfare and survival many years of existence. It is one of the
contributions with a similar vision to the one that is carried, since
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our elders from their cosmovision, wisdom and own experience
yearn that the youth from the family and school context put into
practice the use of medicinal plants. That is why the contribution of
this article is in accordance with the objective that was raised and
related to the project, where it is about the importance of plants and
the healing power they have in the cure of diseases called spiritual
because they occur in nature caused by spirits and that only healers
or taitas with their wisdom treat them, other diseases of the body are
also cured with medicinal plants whether serious or mild.
Another contribution that was found within the theoretical
framework was the recognition of the constitutional and legal rights
that indigenous peoples have for their survival. (Botero, los pueblos
indigeas en colombia , derechos politicos ydesafios, 2003) in his
article gives us guarantees to continue existing as cultures or original
peoples under the recognition of constitutional rights that protect us.
That is why from this project as a research group we leave a seed in
the targeted children to continue germinating towards the cultural
strengthening from the appropriate use of medicinal plants, which
are the bearers of cultural knowledge and can share with others to
continue surviving in the defense of their rights.
Therefore, it also directs us in the way of putting into practice the
beliefs as another fundamental element for the strengthening of the
cultural identity, their ways of life, the practice of their native
language, among a whole set of uses and customs from the law of
origin of each people. That is why it was necessary to provide their
own education in which they can be oriented from preschool to tenth
grade, teaching from different spaces such as the medicinal garden,
the chagra, the ceremonial house and other spaces provided by
nature. Taking as a methodological strategy the games, stories, use
of medicinal plants from the family and school context, crafts,
spiritual ceremonies, songs and others. All this knowledge is based
on their own education as expressed by the elders in their own
intercultural educational model.
Also (TATTAY, 2012)in his article gives us a great contribution on
the origin of the own education through the creation of an own
educational model of the Nasas indigenous brothers of the
department of Cauca, in the finding we can say they have the same
vision in the defense of an own education that guides students in the
cultural strengthening, defense of their rights, caretakers of the
territory, who love their culture and if they keep their culture alive
so that the peoples do not end.
From the background, we contrast the theories found in each of the
two categories, from the international to the local part. In the first
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category that refers to the school medicinal garden, one of the
authors at the international level manifests in his article in front of
contraindications and precautions of the use of medicinal plants.
(QUINTERO, 2018). From our point of view we believe that the
author has a little insecurity in front of the use of medicinal plants,
since according to his concept medicinal plants should have a record
of indications so that people can use and thus not have
inconveniences. On the other hand, from his point of view he adds
that there should be a registry of plants registered by INVIMA for
such purposes, otherwise these can have negative consequences in
people who use medicinal plants.
Faced with this concept and the versions that we have made to
traditional doctors who many years carry their experience and
wisdom that Mother Nature has given them, we believe that the
author is right when he says that it must be a risk, but this happens
when the plants are used and oriented by people who do not know
well. Because if we go to a traditional doctor or taita as it is called
according to the cosmovision to which he belongs, he knows the
necessary quantities for the treatment according to the disease and
the age of the person. From our concept we would say that it is
advisable to go to a real wise man as the elders say in case we are
going to be treated by a traditional doctor depending on the disease,
because there are also diseases that western doctors do not have the
ability to cure and a traditional doctor does, or it may be the opposite.
In other words, it should be clarified that for us as indigenous people
we have learned to value our own medicine and the external one, in
the same way the doctors because both are important for society,
from the knowledge acquired during this process of the master's
degree it is said that there should not be exclusion, but there should
be inclusion in different spaces or contexts, in this case the
knowledge in health, both are important.
On the other hand, there are other concepts that continue to be
contributions to the proper and intercultural education that our
institution imparts in order to comply with the mandate of the elders.
Because they are similar theories to what our wise men have thought
that if knowledge is not practiced, cultures disappear. Therefore, it
is necessary to implement the school medicinal garden and even in
the curricula of natural sciences as a teaching strategy from the
school as well contributes an author at national level in his article.
Reasons that justify the inclusion of ethnobotany teaching in natural
science curricula. (EMIRA., 2019). Now, given the usefulness of
medicinal plants for the manufacture of medicines and the cure of
many pathologies; Bermúdez A, Oliveira M and Velázquez D;
(2005) justify the inclusion of ethnobotany teaching in natural
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science curricula, as a way to rescue ancestral knowledge and to have
documented information on useful species for the development of
new medicines. Other authors who highlight the importance of
including the teaching of ethnobotany in the curriculum are: Berrio
A & Panare V;(2017), who present an intercultural curricular
proposal for the teaching of ancestral knowledge, in such a way that
it integrates the teaching of scientific school knowledge and
ancestral knowledge; Gómez, A, (2011 p 522) says that the teaching
of biology should contain elements that are not necessarily in the
curricula and that students of science, in general and biology in
particular, are expected to acquire a scientific literacy that goes far
beyond the knowledge of content.
This is how our institution has been projected in providing education
according to the needs of the communities where the concepts
contributed by the authors in this research are consistent with what
is lived and practiced in the institution, therefore, there are already
some area plans articulated in the own and western themes taking
into account the inclusion. It is very satisfying for the research group
to have found the contributions known and with the same thought in
favor of the defense of our rights, to watch over the cultural
strengthening of the different cultures that still exist in the whole
Colombian territory.
At the local level it was also found that Jajoy Jajoy, cruz Evelin;
Jajoy Jajoy, Segundo Basilio (2020), La chagra inga como escenario
de aprendizaje de las ciencias naturales. As can be seen it is a
contribution of our indigenous brothers on the importance of the
orchard in the institution, that is, there is an opportunity to share
knowledge to students in a practical way, sharing knowledge in the
chagra allows another way of teaching, it is a space of significant
cultural knowledge that makes a difference to other educational
institutions.
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ARE
