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Alondra Alejandra Flores Silva hasn't added a story.
My name is Alondra, I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Universidad de Guadalajara in Mexico and the project leader of "Children as Ethnobotanists: Integrating Local Knowledge for the Intercultural Science Teaching in Southern Jalisco, Mexico" which is carried out in Zapotitlán de Vadillo, Jalisco.
Zapotitlán is located in the buffer zone of the Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve and its inhabitants are descendants of the Nahua Indigenous people. This zone is facing fast environmental changes, due mainly to the deforestation of temperate and dry forests to grow blue agave and avocado. This makes it more difficult for local people to access the native forests which is leading not just to an enormous loss of biodiversity but also associated local traditional knowledge.
This loss of biocultural diversity is also reflected in the ecological local knowledge of the region’s children, who are growing up in a social and environmental setting which can modify the cultural teaching settings and restrict social interactions. Moreover, since children spend a great amount of time in school, they have less time to get involved in subsistence activities like gathering edible and medicinal plants.
Taking the above into consideration, I decided to start “Children as Ethnobotanists", an extracurricular project as part of my postdoctoral research, which is looking to create new strategies that promote education by prioritizing and incorporating local ecological knowledge into teaching natural science by using wild local plants as a model. The goal is for children to recognize themselves and their communities as generators of knowledge as part of contextual learning. With this, I hope to promote the conservation and value of local forests and the continuity of local knowledge in rural communities in southern Jalisco.
This is a collaborative project with three rural schools where children, teachers, parents, grandparents and other community members participate. Through different activities, such as the collecting and recording of useful wild plants, photography, walks in the forest led by local experts, interviews with adults, and experiments and workshops, where children learn about wild local plants and the science behind them, all while promoting the conservation and value of those local resources as well as encouraging social interaction between different generations.
We hope to continue this project in the long-term and create a school herbarium for each school, a digital catalogue of useful wild plants, ongoing science fairs and photo exhibitions, as well as a model for the schools themselves to be able to sustain the workshops.
To reach those goals we need at least 3300 USD (56,000 MXN) to cover costs of:
- 6 digital cameras (2 per school)
- 3 stereo microscopes (1 per school)
- Stationary material
- Photo printing (50 photos for the photo exhibition)
- Supplies for workshops and school herbaria
- Symbolic compensation for six local people who are helping by giving the workshops.
Mi nombre es Alondra, soy investigadora posdoctoral en la Universidad de Guadalajara en México y líder del proyecto “Niñas y niños como etnobotánicos: integrando el conocimiento local para la enseñanza intercultural de ciencias en el sur de Jalisco, México”
Zapotitlán está localizado en la zona de amortiguamiento de la Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra de Manantlán, sus habitantes son descendientes de indígenas Nahuas. Esta zona está enfrentando rápidos cambios ambientales, debidos principalmente a la deforestación de los bosques templados y secos para el cultivo de agave azul y aguacate. Esto dificulta que la gente local tenga acceso a los bosques nativos, lo que está conduciendo no solo una enorme pérdida de biodiversidad, sino también del conocimiento local tradicional.
Esta pérdida de diversidad biocultural también se refleja en el conocimiento ecológico local de los niños de la región, quienes están creciendo en un entorno social y cultural que está modificando los ambientes de aprendizaje local y restringiendo las interacciones sociales. Además, ahora los niños pasan una gran cantidad de tiempo en la escuela por lo que tienen menos tiempo para involucrarse en actividades de subsistencia como la recolecta de plantas comestibles y medicinales.
Por lo anterior, decidí comenzar “Niñas y niños como etnobotánicos”, un proyecto extracurricular parte de mi investigación postdoctoral, el cual busca crear nuevas estrategias que promuevan una educación que priorice e incorpore el conocimiento ecológico local como parte de la enseñanza de las ciencias naturales usando a las plantas silvestres locales como modelo. A través de este proyecto de aprendizaje contextual, se busca que las y los niños se reconozcan a sí mismos y a sus comunidades como generadores de conocimiento. Con esto, esperamos promover la conservación y la revalorización de los bosques locales y la continuidad del conocimiento local en las comunidades rurales del sur de Jalisco.
Este es un Proyecto colaborativo con tres escuelas rurales, con la participación de las y los niños, maestros, padres, abuelos y otros miembros de la comunidad. A través de diferentes actividades tales como la recolecta y registro de las plantas útiles silvestres, fotografía, caminatas en el bosque guiadas por expertos locales, entrevistas a los adultos, experimentos y talleres donde los niños aprenden sobre las plantas silvestres locales y la ciencia detrás de ellas, al mismo tiempo que promovemos la conservación y la valoración de estos recursos locales, así como la interacción social entre las diferentes generaciones.
Esperamos continuar con este proyecto a largo plazo y crear un herbario escolar para cada escuela, un catálogo digital de las plantas silvestres útiles, llevar a cabo ferias de ciencias y exposiciones fotográficas, además de un modelo para que las propias comunidades puedan sostener los talleres.
Para alcanzar estas metas, nosotros necesitamos al menos 56,000 MXN (3300 USD) para cubrir los costos de:
- 6 cámaras digitales (dos para cada escuela)
- Tres microscopios estereoscopios (uno para cada escuela)
- Material de papelería
- Impresiones fotográficas (50 para la exposición fotográfica)
- Materiales para los talleres y los herbarios escolares
- Compensación simbólica para seis personas locales que están ayudando a impartir los talleres.
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