TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE: HOW STUDENT FAMILIES USE MEDICINAL PLANTS IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC PERIOD

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants are important because they are part of the history of humanity. And from this man-nature relationship, traditional knowledge and knowledge were born, from which culture and experiences in the use of medicinal plants are based. In this context, this study aimed to analyze how ethnobotanical knowledge, specifically medicinal plants, has contributed to the health care of some students' families in divergent realities, during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, a comparative analysis was carried out between two schools, one school located in the "field", rural area of Madalena, Ceara, Brazil, the EEM Joao dos Santos de Oliveira school and the other school located in the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, in Pacajus, Ceara, Brazil, named EEM Dione Maria Bezerra Pessoa. As for the methodological procedures, the research started with a semi-structured questionnaire with the purpose of collecting and producing data, using quantitative and qualitative approaches. The research subjects were 60 students, 30 from each school. The study revealed that the location and ethnosabers acquired by rural students and in the metropolitan region do not present significant differences, considering the variation in social and cultural interaction.