What is the Point of Ethnobiology in Pedagogical Practice of Biology?

Geilsa C. S. Baptista

Department of Education, State University of Feira de Santana (UEFS).

Av. Transnordestina S/N, CEP: 44036-900, Feira de Santana City, Bahia State, Brazil.

E-mail: geilsabaptista@gmail.com

What is the Point of Ethnobiology in Pedagogical Practice of Biology?

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to identify the conceptions of biology’s teachers about

ethnobiology and which are its purposes for science teaching. The research was developed in

2009 by conducting semi-structured interviews with six teachers of biology from public

schools of Bahia State (Brazil), before and after a continuing training course dealing with

ethnobiology and its contributions to science teaching. The analyses happened inductively

and revealed that teachers expanded their views about ethnobiology after participating on the

training course and conceived the importance to investigate students’ traditional knowledge

for teaching practice. It is concluded that ethnobiology heps on teaching, learning and

continuing training of science teachers, enabling them epistemological reflections. However,

it is necessary to listen to the opinions and expectations of these professionals in this sense.

KEY WORDS: Ethnobiological research, science teacher’s training, cultural diversity,

traditional knowledge, intercultural dialogue.

1. INTRODUCTION

In the science teaching practice, it is important for teachers the research of students’

traditional knowledge. This research will promote intercultural dialogue between the culture

of science being taught trow scholar content and the culture that students bring with them to

classrooms. With the dialogue, reasons that lead individuals to think as they think are

exposed, heard and considered. In addition, reasons are assessed by criteria of validity and

legitimacy of their own origin’s contexts (Lopes, 1999). In dialogic relation, teacher will be

careful of students' argumentation in classroom, as a way to understand the senses that

students assign to teaching content. The dialogue is a pedagogical practice culturally

appropriate; in the way it can help students to realize that science is not the only way to

access knowledge. It may contribute with students to think and reflect critically about

different knowledge and ways of knowledge, and the similarities and differences between

them (Baptista, 2007).

There was developed important researches with ethnobiology regarding people’s

different ways of knowledge within their sociocultural contexts, resulting of its countless

relationships with nature around them, especially within traditional communities (Diegues,

2004; Nascimento et al., 2009; Duran et al., 2010). According to the International Society of

Ethnobiology (ISE, 2012); ethnobiology is the study of the complex relationships that exist

between living beings and cultural systems, both in past and current societies. The

ethnobiology is the science that studies the knowledge and concepts of biology developed

within certain communities that lives in direct contact with nature (Righetti, 2004). In other

words, ethnobiology studies traditional knowledge and practice that results from uncountless

relations established between human socieities and other living bens. Traditional knowledge

– also cited as ethnobiological knowledge, traditional ecological knowledge or local

knowledge – are defined by Berkes & Folke (1998) as a cumulative body of knowledge,

practices and beliefs about the relationship of living beings (including humans) with one

another and with the environment.

To El-Hani (2001), ethnobiology is an important tool that allows the comprehension

of how people are related with the world around them, physically, symbolically, cognitively

and affectively. In these sense, ethnobiological research contributes to find solutions to

ecological problems in vast regions of the world – as example, the destruction of forest in

tropical areas and the extinction of animal and vegetal species – revealing knowledge of

people who survive in a sustainable way with nature around them. Bandeira (2001) adds that

ethnobiological studies can contribute with elaboration of environmental public politics that

includes cultural diversity, and not only the biologic, as the fundamental elemento of these

politics. Also with preservation of local knowledge, that constitutes heritage of humanity

(Posey, 1997).

In science education, according to Baptista & El-Hani (2009), ethnobiology fulfills

the important role of assisting teachers through its methodological researching procedures, on

research and understanding of students’ cultural knowledge. As a result, can be created

conditions for teachers to develop and implement teaching strategies in which these

knowledge are included and considered in a cultural dialogue with schoolar’s science.

However, according to these authors, to ensure a cultural dialogue in science’s classrooms is

needed the awareness among teachers about the presence of cultural diversity in these spaces

(Baptista & El-Hani, 2009). A sensitive science's teaching to cultural diversity occurs when

the diversity of students’ traditional knowledge is investigated, understood and considered in

order to promote intercultural dialogue in classrooms (Baptista & El-Hani, 2009).

This work presents the results of a qualitative research that aimed to identify through

interviews the teachers’ conceptions about ethnobiology and its contribution to biology

teaching, before and after their participation in a continuing training course for science

teachers involving ethnobiology. The question that originated this objective was: What is the

point of ethnobiology in the pedagogical practice of teachers according to conceptions of

these professionals? This question arise from the author’s observations as teacher and

researcher during her undergraduate and master’s studies in science teaching and teacher

training for cultural diversity. From those studies it was possible to reflect the importance to

hear teachers during their process of professional development; especially training that

involves their own pedagogical practice in schools and/or continuing training courses.

The training course had support on the idea that the teacher who becomes investigator

of his own pedagogical practice ceases to be a task executor, or the mere transmitter of

content to become a researcher in the classroom (Nóvoa, 1992). Teachers’ research

contributes to their reflection, and vice versa, as well as for building a personal way of

knowing and progression of their pedagogical knowledge (Schön, 1992). To Schön (1992),

reflexion is deeply linked to action. Instead of trying to apply theories and scientific concepts

in practical situations, professionals must learn to associate those theories to problems that

are confronted on their scholar realities, researching them on a reflexive way to try to modify

actions and find solutions to these problems. In the specific case of science education and

cultural diversity, it is understood that research constitutes of inquiries made by teachers

about students’ cultural knowledge with the specific purpose of contributing to a pedagogical

practice based on the dialogue between different knowledge systems.

It is assumed that teachers, just like any human being, are the actors of their

development, in all respects, and, therefore, are reflective and able to make decisions that

consider the best to solve the problems that arise in educational circumstances in which they

are entered as professionals of education. This way, it is understood that academic

assumptions and teacher training courses must give moments to reflection about different

tematics between teachers and academic. Reflections would give opportunities to hear

teacher’s conceptions and wishes referring to the proposition of alternatives to improve the

quality of science teaching and learning and the relations to other cultures, as the present

study that involves ethnobiology and its importance to science teaching that considers and

respect cultural diversity.

2. METODOLOGY

The study was developed in 2009, in Feira de Santana City (Figure 1), located in the

semiarid region of Bahia State, 110 km west of Salvador City (the State capital), into the

Brazilian northeast (IBGE, 2009).

Figure 1. Geografic localization of Feira de Santana City, (Bahia State), Brazil. Source:

Adapted from Google Maps®, 2015.

The research methodology was qualitative, based on semi structured interview

(Martins, 2004). According to Bogdan & Biklen (2003), one of the basic characteristics of

qualitative research is that based on the collections of descriptive data, it tries to understand

meanings that people give to things from the contexts where they are. In qualitative research

investigators are more interested into the process than into results, and data analysis tends to

be inductively (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003). There is no data collection or proof with aim to

confirm or deny hypotheses previously constructed; instead of this, abstractions are

constructed when particular data are grouped. To Alasuutari (2010), data analysys in

qualitative research tend to be inductive from raw data, when detailed lectures results on

concepts, subjects or models.

A semi-structured interview is a research technique in which the researcher starts from

partially formulated questions, and adds further questions according to the statements of

respondents (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003). The following questions formed the protocol applied

during interviews with participating teachers.: (1) What is traditional knowledge?; (2) Do you

investigate which traditional knowledge the students bring with them in classroom?; (3) In

case you investigate, what methodology do you adopt for this purpose?; (4) Does your

teaching practice approach the traditional knowledge of students?; (5) What is dialogue

between knowledge?; (6) What importance for science teaching has the investigation of

students’ traditional knowledge?; (7) What is ethnobiology and what is its research

methodology?; (8) What is science?; (9) What is the meaning of biological science? It is

important to mention that not all of these questions were used for construction of this paper

(see in Results).

The interviews where developed with nine biology’s teachers of public schools. They

answered the same questions before and after their participation in a training course for

science’s teachers dealing with ethnobiology and its contributions for a science teaching

sensitive to cultural diversity. The training course was designed and instructed by the same

researcher of the study.

During enrollment period, fourteen (14) teachers filled in the request to participate.

But only nine (9) teachers completed the training course. The dropout teachers, 2 males and 3

females, claimed that they had no permission of schools’ authorities to leave classrooms and

participate in the training course.

All of the nine participant teachers were female, with ages between 28 and 41 years

old. They were teaching in schools from rural communities, especially farmers, in towns of

the region: Salvador, Euclides da Cunha, Feira de Santana and Serra Preta. Regarding to the

teaching level, four teachers instructed only middle school (biology) and five teachers in

both, middle and high school (natural science and biology).

All the participant teachers had undergraduate in biological science teaching, finished

between 1995 and 2007. They also had graduate courses from public or private universities of

Brazil, in different areas, as botany, environmental education, public health and civil

engineering.

To participate on the training course, the teachers signed in a “Term of Consent form”

as required by Resolution 196/96 of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, which deals with

ethical issues of research involving humans (Brazil, 2003). The training course developed in

2009, at the campus of State University of Feira de Santana, consisted on strategies of

theoretical and practical character, namely: - dialogic exposure, texts reading and discussion;

- strategies of ethnobiology’s methodological procedures to investigate students’ cultural

knowledge in schools; - design of teaching resources and teaching strategies focused on

intercultural dialogue. The refered course had an extension of 132 hours.

To ensure confidentiality, each interviewed teacher receibed a code to identification.

This code were used during the data analysis and to report the results, namely: IT1

(interviewed teacher 1); IT2 (interviewed teacher 2), and so on. The answers were

documented with a digital recorder and later transcribed to a text editor.

Once the interviews were transcribed, it was generated categories according to the

questions and teachers’ answers. The information was organized in tables for each category,

and answers set side by side. This way, answers given before and after the training course

could be compared, distiguishing: - Teachers who have never had contact with the

ethnobiology, and - Teachers who have had contact with the ethnobiology.

They were considered as teachers who already have had contact with ethnobiology

those that attended this science as curriculum component during undergraduation or attended

training courses; contrary to teachers who never attended the ethnobiology. The objective

was to compare answers, before and after the course, and to identify changes in conceptions.

The interest was to know, through the conceptions identified on teachers’ speeching, whether

or not the course has contributed to the understanding of the ethnobiology meaning, and its

contributions to science education as a way to raise awareness of cultural diversity and the

need for its consideration to be possible an intercultural dialogue in classrooms.

3. RESULTS

Among the questions formulated during the interviews, two in particular have generated data

used for writing the present paper, namely: (6) What is the importance for science teaching

the investigation of students’ traditional knowledge?; (7) What is ethnobiology and what is its

research methodology?.Next are presented the two cathegories (Table 1 and 2) from

teachers’ answers.

3.1 Concept of ethnobiology: before and after the training course

Table 1. Sample of answers about the concept of ethnobiology given by teachers.

a) Teachers who already have had contact with the ethnobiology

Before the course After the course

The ethnobiology would be precisely related

to bring… these knowledge of the forms of

culture... (IT1).

It would be a kind of knowledge, a science

that try to understand the relations between

human beings and some cultural traditions

and what is made with nature. The relation

of human beings and their culture with the

nature... (IT1).

The study of biological relationships... the

human being in the social context, what he

has as knowledge... within the place he

lives, related to the question of how science

really is, as a scientific knowledge (IT4).

... is the study, is… of cultural relations, the

culture of specific population, a specific

community… the ethnobiology works with

communities, this way, with cultural issues,

the nature understanding, from generations

to generations. It studies the knowledge that

is passed from parents to children. (IT5)

b) Teachers who have never had contact with the ethnobiology

Before the course After the course

... ethnobiology, from what I have read

about, is the study of the relationship

between nature, man’s adaptation and their

beliefs ... (IT3).

... it is a discipline, an area that combines

biology and anthropology to study how

traditional societies relate to the natural

world around them... the ethnobiology is

this: it is a discipline where it is studied

these interactions of living beings and

cultural systems...that was clear for me... the

interactions of cultures with the natural

world... (IT3).

We hear about ethnobiology, but I never got

to read the definition of what ethnobiology

is. Ethnobiology... ethno comes from what

word? (IT6).

Now, I can talk a little bit about

ethnobiology in the sense that it studies a

social group... their relationship with nature,

with the environment that surrounds... not

only here or now, but it seeks the past of

that group… within a historical, social and

cultural approach... (IT6).

3.2 Importance of ethnobiological research to science teaching: before and after the

training course

Table 2. Sample of answers about the importance of ethnobiological research in science

teaching.

a) Teachers who already have had contact with the ethnobiology

Before the course After the course

…it would be a way to get information

about something and add it with the

scientific knowledge that we have, even as

content of the discipline... specific, specific

of school... (IT1).

Oh, sure, now I am already trying to

appretiate as much as possible... the

students’ culture and tradition, what they

already bring with them into the classroom...

within certain teaching contents. That is

important (IT1).

...taking into account the cultural issue, I

think, that related from one region to

another where they live, to incorporate their

knowledge to scientific knowledge… with

regards to their knowledge about the content

that is lectioned (IT4).

Yes, I have already worked with the

perspective of their knowledge… but, for

sure it was not the vision as open as I have

now (from ethnobiology)… We know things

from academy, but students make some

questions: teacher, do you know? I don’t…

Then, I also need to search, to ask them

what it is. Because, in dialogue, I cannot

manage a subject that I don’t know in that

moment... students are going to school

unmotivated, because they don’t understand

why there are so many content that don’t

have meaning on their quotidian live. For

example, why I need to know the scientific

name of mosquitoes… if I know that a

mosquito is the little insect that bites people

and led a red point on skin, would not be

enough? I think school must growth

individuals... Schools won’t eliminate their

traditional knowledge, but you can

increment them with academic knowledge,

incrementing their world view (IT5).

b) Teachers who have never had contact with the ethnobiology

Before the course After the course

There was no answer. I think it’s important... to see the student’s

reality... their knowledge... it’s very

interesting, because it makes lessons more

interesting for them (IT6).

…for sure, but I think it’s not easy... within

the current teaching approach, where we

have a curricular component... classrooms

organized to meet the workload demand, to

take care of this is an aditional

requirement… control of students, discipline

control... It doesn’t mean that I don’t want

to break that, but the school structure, it is

the proper curriculum organization. The

teacher in a public school... he is not yet in

full autonomy to research such knowledge,

to investigate this knowledge. Many

obstacles, one of them... the teacher’s

situation against number of students,

amount of groups, hours of class time…

You can see, that is not impossible, it’s

difficult, and should even be adapted and

gradually inserted. It is necessary to

understand that changes don’t happen from

an hour to another... to plan is an activity

that is addressed on those times, but a plan

that considers traditional knowledge after

investigating them, this requires time...

(IT8).

4. DISCUSSION

4.1 Concept of etnobiology: before and after training course

Before the training course, answers given by teachers who already have had contact with

ethnobiology converged to the following understandings: 1. Ethnobiology as the study of

cultural knowledge (Ex. IT1, Table 1); 2. Ethnobiology as the study of biological knowledge

of certain social groups and their relations with science, in order to try to recover the

traditional knowledge (Ex. IT4, Table 1).

The answers given by the teachers who have never had contact with the ethnobiology

showed that, for them, this science is a study that reveals the human adaptation and their

beliefs about the nature (Ex. IT3, Table 1). Some teachers have failed to provide a definition,

for example, IT6 (Table 1). In regard to ethnobiology’s concept, it is important to understand

that do not exist a unified concept in the literature. However, the consensus for most

etnobiologists is that this field of research aims to study, in the broadest sense possible, the

complex set of relationships of plants and animals with past and present human societies

(Berlin, 1992). Thus, it is possible to claim that teachers who already had contact with

ethnobiology approached more understanding of what this science is than those who do not

attended it before.

Teachers who already have had contact with the ethnobiology showed in some cases,

inadequacies in their responses, for example, IT4 in Table 1. For IT4, the ethnobiology, after

investigating the popular knowledge, seeks a scientific explanation. In other words, IT4’s

answer suggests the conception that ethnobiology’s ultimate goal is the validation of

traditional knowledge based on Modern western science. This conception is not adequate

because ethnobiological studies – while conducting classifications, interpretations and ways

of nature’s handling of the traditional communities – primarily seek a dialogue between the

local/traditional knowledge and the academic scientific knowledge, in order to mutual

assistance, not validation of the first by the latter (Diegues & Arruda, 2001; Pérez-Ramírez et

al., 2004).

After the training course, the teachers’ answers were unanimous identifying

ethnobiology as the science that studies the interactions established between the human being

as a cultural being, and the nature around. This explanation is consistent with the sense of

conjunction of ethnobiology with science’s teaching in schools as a way to investigate and

understand the traditional knowledge of students related to the nature (Baptista, 2007;

Baptista & El-Hani, 2009). The speechs of IT3, IT5 and IT6 indicates teacher’s

understandings about the meaning of ethnobiology (see Table 1).

4.2 Importance of investigation the students’ traditional knowledge and its relation with

ethnobiology: before and after the training course

Before the training course, teachers answered that it is important the investigation of

traditional knowledge of their students because it allows to understands student’s

conceptions, and to establish relationships between daily situations and teaching content. It

can be analysed as example, IT1 and IT4’s speeches in Table 2. Certainly ethnobiological

research can enable to the teacher to elucidate the cultural knowledge of students, especially

traditional knowledge, which are produced within traditional communities, for which

ethnobiology has dedicated most of their studies’ attention (Diegues & Arruda, 2001). With

those knowledge, the teacher will lead the establishment of relationships with schoolar

scientific knowledge, whether in terms of their similarities and/or their differences (Baptista

& El-Hani, 2009), that may contribute to expand students’ knowledge with scientific

knowledge (Cobern & Loving, 2001).

The teachers who have never had contact with ethnobiology didn’t know how to

answer about the importance of investigate students’ traditional knowledge. This could be

due to the fact that they were unable to give a clear definition of ethnobiology, since some

teachers gave nonsensical answers to specific literature and others not provided an answer.

Already after the course the answers were unanimous on the importance for science

education the investigation of students’ traditional knowledge, because contributes to changes

in pedagogical practice to make classrooms more interesting with respect to the content of

teaching, as example, IT1 and IT6’s speech (see Table 2). About IT1’s answer, it is

interesting to note how she emphasizes the term “teaching contents”, without considering the

arguments given by students with respect to these contents. For Osborne et al. (2001), it is not

enough for students to talk about scientific content presented into the clasrooms, it is

necessary to discuss the reasons that support their ideas. In this sense, the teacher must create

opportunities through questioning (Osborne et al., 2001). Those questions will generate

opportunities to establish a dialogue where students will present their arguments – that being

cultural, could have a support or not on science, depending on the social context in which

these students are part – and, on the same way, teachers would give scientific explanations.

To Sasseron & Carvalho (2014) argumentation contributes to science learning, because it is a

strategy for reasoning where data, evidence, beliefs and knowledge are mobilized to the

construction of scientific knowledge.

All teachers recognize the investigation of students’ traditional knowledge as

important to support teaching practice. They also revealed their desires of changes in their

pedagogical practices to this end, one of them, IT8 (see Table 2), pointed out some obstacles.

She argued that the curriculum structure, time, number of students per class, teacher’s

responsibilities in school and the lack of autonomy, prevent changes in pedagogical practices,

including research and consideration of cultural knowledge of students. The speech of IT8

brings interesting arguments about issues that are common into the social environment of

teachers within schools, particularly public schools, which was the focus of this research.

There is no doubt that the working conditions of teachers interfere with their knowledge and

pedagogical practices (Tardif, 2002), often difficulting changes, such as the inclusion of

research and consideration of students’ traditional knowledge.

However, it is important to recognize these problems as well as for critical reflections

on the working conditions, so as to generate, within limits, actions that can transform them,

or at least, offering them new significance. In this sense, IT8 also seemed to consider some

solutions to the problems identified by her, assuming a hopeful stance on the possibility of

changes into her pedagogical practice, regarding to the investigation of students’ cultural

knowledge, so the ideas learned during the course may give time to actions. This was clear

when she argued that changes in their pedagogical practice regarding to the investigation and

consideration of cultural knowledge of students would not be impossible and could be

adapted gradually, with the passage of time and her teaching experience.

5. CONCLUSIONS

Teachers’ answers after their participation in the training course involving ethnobiology

revealed that they expanded their conceptions identifying this science as the study of complex

relationships that are established between human and the rest of living beings. From this

conception, teachers conceived the importance to investigate students’ traditional knowledge.

Ethnobiology was also identified as a tool to support this process of investigation, because it

allows to the establishment of relationships between scientific biological knowledge given in

classrooms and the cultural knowledge from social environments of the students.

It is possible to conclude that ethnobiology is useful to science teaching because

contributes to the learning process and, consequently, to the science teacher training, giving

the opportunity of epistemological reflections involving the nature of both, science that is

being teached and students’ cultural knowledge.

It is important to provide continuing training courses to science teachers who are

already exercising their activities within schools because it will allow them opportunities for

reflection and questions about their pedagogical practices. These teachers routinely would not

have time to reflect, individually and collectively, with their peers, about the problems,

successes and prospects of the teaching practice. Courses involving ethnobiology give

conditions to biology’s teachers to understand its concepts and methodological procedures

and thus, to reflect on their importance to teaching science practice that is sensitive to cultural

diversity, considering the students’ cultural knowledge.

However, it is always necessary to understand the realities and aspirations of these

teachers, as this may open spaces for new ideas and finding solutions to the problems faced in

their activities, for example, the working conditions identified by the teachers involved in this

study as an obstacle for the association between research and teaching practice.As stated by

Brownlee et al. (2003), to know teachers’ views on teaching may mean assistance for

effective learning to the preparation of these professionals into the teachers training

programs.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thanks the the support of the teachers who participated on the

training course and to the Department of Education of the State University of Feira de

Santana.

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