Valuing the folklore that students have on medicinal plants empowers their interest in scientific knowledge that can be worked into themes. Current research identifies the notions, contents, didactic strategies and methodologies used by primary schools teachers of a school in the rural area of Maringá PR Brazil in the development of a scientific project on the study of medicinal plants. The following strategies were employed for data collection: participant observations, speech recordings and questionnaires. Data analysis was performed by document and content analyses. Results show that the main problem was the fact that teachers lacked the scientific knowledge on the theme. On the other hand, several of the methodologies and didactic strategies used by the teachers show that it is possible to depart from traditional teaching and make possible participation and questioning.
Science teaching; Pedagogic strategy; Ethno knowledge; Participant research; Methodological pluralism
