Impact of an educational hands-on project on the antimicrobial, antitumor and anti-inflammatory properties of plants on Portuguese students' awareness, knowledge, and competences

Understanding old herbal secrets: The renaissance of traditional medicinal plants beyond the twenty classic species?

The use of traditional medicinal plants plays an important role especially in remote rural and marginalized landscapes at different latitudes. In the development of nature conservation strategies based on local knowledge and sustainable resource management, medicinal herbs have been hypothesized to be cultural key stone species. Environmental education is a crucial driver for fostering environmental literacy and preserving local knowledge across generations. We conducted semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the Autonomous Province of Bozen-South Tyrol (N Italy) to gain insights into, and reflections on, the cultural value of traditional medicinal plants and their interplay within the local landscape, nature conservation and their role in environmental education and knowledge transfer across generations. We also used a combination of purposive and snowball sampling to identify relevant actors. The different voices collected in the study clearly highlight the role of medicinal herbs in healthcare, for cultural identity of local communities and demonstrate a growing commercial market niche that maintains the local economy and services, including widespread offers related to environmental education, that have not, unfortunately, been used yet in the formal curricula of local schools. The latter is crucial for a holistic approach taking medicinal plants as an ideal vehicle to connect especially children with nature and history of South Tyrol, strengthening health education and overall environmental literacy, including species knowledge. However, the revival of herbal medicine and related knowledge do not prevent the continuous loss of local traditional knowledge regarding medicinal plants, recipes and use. More species and their uses are being forgotten due to superficialisation of knowledge and of mainstreaming and homogenization of the global market of herbal medicine. Safeguarding the natural and cultural treasures of South Tyrol for future generations is in the hands of the local communities.

Knowledge and perception of middle school students regarding COVID-19 disease at the start of the pandemic

Facing recent threats of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an educational strategy was designed and applied to middle school students in order to reinforce related knowledge and behaviors. A group of 65 middle school students (14-18 years old) developed several designed online curricular activities. After the intervention, students answered a questionnaire to assess if they: (a) were familiar with the terms COVID 19 and SARS-CoV-2; (b) were conscious about the importance of preventive measures to stop the spread of this disease; (c) were engaged in these activities; (d) were motivated to research on health-related issues. This study was a first to attempt to evaluate student's perceptions about SARS-CoV-2 infection and support education regarding COVID-19, mainly on the reinforcement of preventive measures.

Assessing the impact of Medical Microbiology classes using active strategies on short- and long-term retention on medical students: an innovative study

One of teachers' concerns, with students in general and medical students in particular, is to ensure as much as possible that information goes from students' short-term memories to their long-term memories. The present study focuses on knowledge retention in Medical Microbiology and assesses the effectiveness of some strategies implemented for short- and long-term retention. A pre- and post-test was used to assess student's learning. This study involved students of Porto University (test group). Test group participants were all attending the third year of the Medicine Degree Program. The results of post-test 1 were considered very positive and support the importance of these applied active activities and/or methodologies in Medical Microbiology for short-term retention. However, the results obtained in post-test 2 showed that knowledge retention after 9 months, despite substantial, decreases.

Continuous Enhancement of Science Teachers' Knowledge and Skills through Scientific Lecturing

Introduction

Due to their importance in transmitting knowledge, teachers can play a crucial role in students' scientific literacy acquisition and motivation to respond to ongoing and future economic and societal challenges. However, to conduct this task effectively, teachers need to continuously improve their knowledge, and for that, a periodic update is mandatory for actualization of scientific knowledge and skills. This work is based on the outcomes of an educational study implemented with science teachers from Portuguese Basic and Secondary schools. We evaluated the effectiveness of a training activity consisting of lectures covering environmental and health sciences conducted by scientists/academic teachers.

Material and methods

The outcomes of this educational study were evaluated using a survey with several questions about environmental and health scientific topics. Responses to the survey were analyzed before and after the implementation of the scientific lectures.

Results

Our results showed that Basic and Secondary schools teachers' knowledge was greatly improved after the lectures. The teachers under training felt that these scientific lectures have positively impacted their current knowledge and awareness on several up-to-date scientific topics, as well as their teaching methods.

Learning outcomes

This study emphasizes the importance of continuing teacher education concerning knowledge and awareness about health and environmental education.