1 Introduction

1.1 Theoretical framework

Education is an essential human right facilitating the transmission of knowledge, culture, and values; it allows for the integration and participation of all people in society (United Nations, 1984). Accordingly, science education is essential for the functioning and development of the modern world (Palmer et al., 2017). However, science subjects often provoke unfavorable attitudes in both students and teachers (Borrachero et al., 2013; García-Ruiz & Sánchez-Hern↑ndez, 2006).

Thus, to effectively disseminate experimental sciences it is necessary to design and develop programs that bring students closer to the world of science in an active, dynamic, and playful way (Calderón-Guerrero et al., 2019). There is a need to teach children and young people to “do” science, a discipline characterized by its pedagogic specificity. It is not a question of teaching science in an expository or even narrative way: teaching science should involve doing science with students; the methods used and the techniques that are put into operation will have repercussions on scientific vocations, on the role of future teachers, and on society in general (Francl, 2012).

Achieving meaningful learning of descriptive terminology and concepts that a priori may be difficult to address in the classroom requires educational strategies and designs that take into account a variety of external and internal factors (Montes de Oca & Machado, 2011). Focusing on the specific case of botany, since the late 90s, studies have been published on plant blindless, i.e., a student bias in the perception of living beings (Torres-Porras & Alc↑ntara-Manzanares, 2019). This term expresses the tendency not to consider plants as living beings which produces a bias in environmental interpretations. This tendency has been intensified with ongoing urbanization. Plant blindness has important socio-environmental repercussions, limiting, for example, interest in conservation of or learning about plant biodiversity.

Materials and instructional methods are determining factors in attempts to improve learning processes; this is also true of intrinsic processes that are triggered within individuals, such as motivation (Garrote et al., 2016). The key question is how to promote such intrinsic processes? As a result of the widespread interest in fostering meaningful learning, recent publications have revealed the concept of integral sustainability (IS) either explicitly (Zamora-Polo & S↑nchez-Martín, 2019) or implicitly (Dávila et al., 2021a; Gutiérrez-García et al., 2020a; Hernández-Barco et al., 2020). This concept broadens the vision of sustainability from the fields of environmental education and conservation to science education itself. In so doing, it answers the question of what factors make this teaching sustainable in terms of its dual responsibility towards (a) the preservation of nature and (b) the individual’s learning process. Regarding the former, it is evident that the teaching of natural sciences must include the dimension of environmental sustainability. Meanwhile, the latter should enhance the cognitive, cultural, and emotional dimensions in order to achieve meaningful learning in the constructivist sense of the term: long-lasting and active competence (Potvin et al., 2012).

The concept and practice of emotional education has been gaining strength in recent years. In the new Spanish educational law, it appears as a priority (España, 2020). However, there is still a long way to go before its incorporation into formal education is normalized (Billy & Medina, 2021). Emotional education is not only about teaching students to control and manage their emotions, but also involves teaching with emotion (Rabal et al., 2020; Bisquerra, 2016). Thus, in order for teaching and learning to take place, it is essential to promote emotional development (Trujillo et al., 2020; Mora, 2013).

Numerous studies have found that, regardless of the content to be covered, a lack of emotional predisposition on the part of the learner makes teaching much more difficult (Bravo et al., 2019; Dávila et al., 2021b). Emotions generate motivational states, and motivation is the force that drives students to achieve various goals; motivation depends on both individuals themselves and the surrounding environment and context (Legault, 2020; Reeve, 2009). When extrinsic motivations are stimulated in the classroom, there is an increase in the intrinsic motivation of students; this establishes conditions that are conducive to learning (Corredor & Bailey, 2020).

The use of active methodologies in teaching has been shown to have a positive impact on student learning and motivation (Sánchez-Martín et al., 2020). One of the most widely used active methodologies in recent years is game-based learning (GBL), involving the use of games designed and developed in relation to the educational objective pursued. In this regard, authors such as Zainuddin et al. (2020) argue that the use of “play” in the classroom promotes not only extrinsic motivation (motivation to obtain an external reward) and intrinsic motivation (satisfaction from gaining new knowledge and skills), but engagement, social connectedness, and academic performance; this is because play involves students more and lets them apply their knowledge in real experiences (Fotaris & Mastoras, 2019).

The development of experiential learning activities based on play is very useful for teaching scientific concepts and skills (Peiró-Signes et al., 2017). In addition, combining these methodologies with others such as flipped classrooms (Jeong et al., 2018) and inquiry can be an effective strategy, especially in the field of non-formal education. Furthermore, if an active teaching methodology incorporates contents relating to students’ local, everyday environment, their concept of environment will include everything that surrounds them and their most immediate world (Palacios, 2019). In this way, participation and learning will be encouraged even more, since we start from viewing the culture in which students’ evolve and mature as an inseparable social process (Palacios & Ramiro, 2017).

The choice of content according to context (i.e., the specific characteristics of the classroom, the school, and even the locality) responds better to the interests and needs of students (Bedmar, 2009); it is a sustainable construction in terms of the cultural dimension of learning (Gutiérrez-García et al., 2020a). Following the pedagogical principle of proximity (Nérici, 1985), when teaching starts from what is known, close, and concrete, understanding is facilitated. Furthermore, it is more likely that the student possesses relevant previous knowledge, even if scarce or erroneous, that increases their interest in and predisposition to learning. Thus, in the classroom, it is necessary to take into consideration students’ diverse histories and conceptions that influence, condition, and form part of their learning (Filgueira-Pereira et al., 2021).

Traditional knowledge related with plant culture and heritage is the foundation of “ethnobotany”, a branch of botany focused in human interactions with plant biodiversity (Pardo et al., 2014; Morales et al., 2011). Ethnobotany is an effective tool for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the UN’s Agenda 2030, because it revalues the forms of cultural heritage associated with nature. It constitutes an intangible asset that is disappearing as a result of globalization and industrialization, but continues to be present, especially in rural populations (Weckmüller et al., 2019). Ethnobotany has numerous applications in the field of sustainable rural development (Gutiérrez-García et al., 2020b; Kothari, 2007), and its potential in experimental science education has begun to be systematized (Gutiérrez-García et al., 2020a; Aurrecoechea-Lacarta, 2016). For these reasons, work based on ethnobotany can be a fertile seed for IS, as it integrates cultural, emotional, cognitive, and environmental sustainability in an educational learning process centered on scientific content.

1.2 Objectives

Against this background, the present study aims to analyze whether the use of active methodologies and ethnobotanical traditional knowledge, that is, scientific contents based on what is close to us, in this case knowledge associated with aromatic plants, produces a better attitude towards botany and consequent improvements in conceptual learning and sustainable awareness. The findings will inform similar pedagogical research programs aiming to use traditional ethnobotanical knowledge in different contexts, and aims to promote meaningful learning under the primary goal of IS.

Accordingly, the following research objectives are established:

  1. 1.

    To evaluate the impact of active methodologies on students’ attitudes towards learning botany.

  2. 2.

    To evaluate the impact of using local aromatic and traditional plants as part of a pedagogical program to stimulate scientific botanical knowledge.

  3. 3.

    To assess, from a holistic point of view, the sustainable awareness of the young participants.

2 Materials and methods

Given the need for educational proposals that promote an integrative vision of the human being and natural environment (De Oliveira & Dal-Farra, 2018), we propose the use of active methodologies combined with knowledge related to the students’ close environment as mechanisms that may improve motivation and therefore cognitive development.

2.1 Essential oils for learning botany: syllabus contents

The proposed pedagogic program has essential oils and aromatic plants as its main thread (Dronda et al., 2018); it comprises various practical activities and brief explanations, focused on introducing contents about the nature of science and botany. The cognitive contents are included in the Spanish biology and geology syllabus for the first year of compulsory secondary education, equivalent to K-9 in the American system. Specifically, the Spanish legislation establishes the following general contents: “Scientific methodology. Its basic characteristics: observation, problem posing, discussion, hypothesis formulation, contrasting, experimentation, drawing conclusions, etc.” and “Plants: Mosses, ferns, angiosperms and gymnosperms. Root, stem and leaves. Main characteristics, nutrition, relationship and reproduction” (Junta de Extremadura, 2016). Based on these contents, we established the following learning objectives for our pedagogical program:

  • To know what science is.

  • Understanding the scientific method.

  • Recognizing aromatic plant species typical of the environment.

  • Understanding the chemical properties and traditional uses of some of the aromatic plants of the environment.

  • Associating the uses given to essential oils with the species they come from.

2.2 Context and participating students

The pedagogical program was developed in a public, rural school in Hornachos (Badajoz, Spain; reference removed for revision) with less than 400 students. This area has particular characteristics; it borders a protected area included in the European Natura, 2000 Network (Evans, 2012) which falls under several categories of protection due to its great floristic and faunistic biodiversity (Junta de Extremadura, 2019). In addition to this environmental richness, the area is characterized by cultural richness, of which one example is the extensive local traditional knowledge associated with plants (reference removed for revision).

In close collaboration with the teaching staff of the school, especially the Department of Biology and Geology, all students enrolled in the first year of compulsory secondary education (n = 68) were invited to participate, among whom a total of 26 girls and 30 boys (n = 56) aged between 11 and 14 years (the majority, 75%, were 12 years old) completed all phases of the project. It is, therefore, a sample for convenience, since this group of students was accessible and the one that best suited the objectives set out in this work. All the activities were carried out in the science laboratory at the school. Each one was organized for several smaller groups for space reasons.

Data protection ethics were followed for the collection of information: the students were informed of the objectives and contents of the educational research in advance and were told their data would be kept private; students gave informed consent for their answers to be used as part of this research (AMM, 2014).

2.3 The educational intervention

The intervention was designed as a two-hour workshop, consisting of five activities (Activities 1–5). Time was also dedicated to student evaluations of the proposal (pre-test and post-test). The whole intervention was implemented in the classroom following a predesigned, logically structured sequence (Introduction-Development-Consolidation-Extension); this was developed according to the pedagogic purpose, the proposed interactions, the complexity of the contents, and the demands of each one of the planned activities (Blasco & Mengual, 2008). The design also encouraged the active involvement of the students who had to collect and interpret some information.

2.3.1 Activity 1: Becoming scientists

The first activity was an introductory presentation which explained the structure of the workshop, its objectives, and the concepts forming a common thread throughout the program: “aromatic plants,” “essential oils,” “the importance of science,” “the scientific method,” and “the role of scientists.” For this, a short video was projected where the key ideas were raised and afterwards the relevant doubts about the workshop were resolved.

2.3.2 Activity 2: Morisck Holmes, the botanical detective

Activity 2 comprised a board game in which groups of three to five people participate, consisting of 40 “clue cards” with the name and image of five species of aromatic plants presented in the natural environment (Rosmarinus officinalis, Foeniculum vulgare, Thymus mastichina, Origanum vulgare, and Citrus sinensis), five “board cards” and five “use cards,” one for each species included in the clue cards (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Materials from the “Morisck Holmes” game. Source Own elaboration

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The game was formulated as a scientific investigation in which each stage of the game was associated with one of the phases of the scientific method, i.e., observation, questioning, hypothesis, experiment, analysis and conclusions, and communicating the results.

  • Observation. The game begins when the first player (Player 1), who already has the Player 1 own “board card” and a “hidden clue card” (whose contents are unaware of the rest of participants), draws a new “clue card” from the central deck and shows it to the participants, including himself.

  • Questions. Next, Player 1 shows his “hidden clue card” to the other players without being able to see it themselves; Player 1 asks the other players if there is a match to the “clue card” he has just drawn, noting the result. He then repeats the whole process by drawing a second card from the deck.

  • Hypothesis. Once the player has drawn two cards and has heard their teammates’ answers, they must try to identify their “hidden clue card”.

The described methodology is followed by each player until a round is completed, after which all the cards put into play are collected except those that were guessed correctly by individual players, new cards are dealt, and the game starts again. The game ends when one of the players accumulates 3 “correctly guessed cards”.

  • Experimentation. At this point, the teacher provides a three-digit code that is used to continue “the investigation.” Now, the whole group works together. With the code obtained, they open a locked chest containing a plant sample of each plant species that appears on the “clue cards” as well as a card with traditional uses of these plants numbered from one to eight, which again corresponds to the informationn on the cards in the deck. Now, the pupils in the same group combine their “correctly guessed cards” and take from the chest only the card and the samples corresponding to the plants on their cards, thus obtaining some “results.”

  • Analysis and conclusions. Having collected the samples and cards for each plant, the pupils now note down the information on traditional uses that appears in the description accompanying the number of their correctly guessed cards.

  • Communicate the results. Finally, the members of each group share their findings with the rest of the class, indicating the name of the species, their actual appearance and some of their traditional uses.

The aim of this game is to familiarize students with the concept of “aromatic plants” and with the name and appearance of some of the most common species in their environment. In addition, the main phases of the scientific method are experienced and traditional uses associated with each of the plants are brought to light, contributing to the dissemination of popular knowledge and the enhancement of plant biodiversity.

2.3.3 Activity 3: Discovering steam distillation

In this activity, the phases of preparing plant material for obtaining essential oils, as well as their composition and properties, are explained, with the help of cards placed on the worktable. Then, the steam distillation technique is visualized in situ, analyzing the materials, how to assemble them, and how to start the process, as well as the chemical processes that are required for extraction and separation of the oils (Fig. 2). In addition, “smell tastings” of various fragrances are carried out, which encourage students to recognize the smells in everyday things.

Fig. 2
figure 2

Distiller (left) and essential oil extracted by distillation (right). Source Own elaboration

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This activity has a broad scope. On the one hand, it informs students about the techniques and nomenclature of laboratory work, and on the other hand, it gets them to reflect on the presence of essential oils and therefore, of aromatic plants, in our daily lives.

2.3.4 Activity 4: Where are the essential oils?

In this activity, more than 40 samples of aromatic plant species are presented and handled by participants; they are classified according to the part of the plant (root, stem [bark], leaves, flowers, fruits…) in which the highest concentration of essential oils is found (Fig. 3). In this way, students are expected to consolidate previous concepts and learn where essential oils are extracted from, recognizing the different parts of a model vascular plant and associating these to real examples through manipulation and direct observation.

Fig. 3
figure 3

Some aromatic plant species with essential oils in their fruits. Source Own elaboration

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2.3.5 Activity 5: Identifying different plants.

In order to broaden knowledge and ensure that at the end of the workshop the participants are able to recognize certain species of aromatic plants present in the environment, both by their morphology and by their vernacular and/or scientific name, seven significant species at the natural site in question are presented (Lavandula stoechas, Lavandula hybrida, Melissa officinalis, Origanum vulgare, Thymus mastichina, Mentha pulegium, and Helicrysum stoechas). On this occasion, the plants are complete (except for the root), and are placed on a tray to facilitate their handling, together with an identification, in which the vernacular and scientific names of each species are given, accompanied by general explanations of the scientific nomenclature given by the teacher (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4
figure 4

Sample of aromatic plants identified by scientific nomenclature. Source Own elaboration

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2.4 Evaluation: survey design and data collection

In order to analyze the educational impact of the intervention, two questionnaire models were designed and given to the students just before and after the intervention (pre-test and post-test). Although the pre-test and post-test questionnaires have a common structure, there are some differences. Equivalences were established between them to facilitate subsequent data processing, as shown in Table 1. The questionnaires are self-designed but based on those published by Hernández-Barco et al. (2021a, b) and therefore have previously been statistically validated. Table 1 shows the wording of the questions and answer options, indicating the test to which they belong.

Table 1 Questions and answers for pre- and post-test questionnaires. Source Own elaboration
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In Table 1’s response column, the options that are considered “desirable” or “positive” in terms of enhancing the academic, emotional, and vocational performance of students are highlighted in bold. This assignment of categories is based on previous studies by Dávila et al. (2015, 2017), Hernández del Barco et al. (2021c, 2021d), and Del Rosal et al. (2019).

2.5 Data analysis

The raw questionnaire data were input into several spreadsheets, including information relating to group (as mentioned above, for organizational and space reasons the activities had been carried out in several smaller groups), qualitative answers obtained and additional data. The raw data were sorted according to group, date, and test (pre-test vs. post-test). Responses considered “desirable” were grouped according to Table 1.

Data processing was carried out with JASP software version 0.16.1. The normality of the data and equality of variances were checked in order to choose the appropriate statistical test to apply. Accordingly, non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U) were employed. We then calculated descriptive statistics to compare whether there was a difference in the number of “desirable” answers in the pre-test and post-test questionnaires.

As the workshops and tests (i.e., data collection) were carried out in groups rather than at the same time with the whole sample, to ensure the rigorousness of the results, we first needed to determine whether there were any significant inter-group differences; i.e., did the group selection influence the students’ responses? By means of the \(\chi\)2 independence test, the total number of “desirable” answers given for the comparable questions (questions 1-2b, 7a-15) in the pre-test were analyzed in relation to the groups. The result obtained was p = 0.925; thus, the null hypothesis, i.e., that the students’ answers were not associated with the group in which they conducted the activities, could be accepted, allowing us to continue with data analysis on the whole sample.

3 Results

Table 2 shows the percentage of student respondents (n = 56) who answered the “desirable” category to the questions in Table 1.

Table 2 Percentage of “desirable” answers obtained for each proposed question in pre-test and post-test
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3.1 Impact of active methodologies on students’ attitudes towards botany Learning

Previous studies have revealed that active methodologies generate high motivation in students and that stimulates the predisposition to learn scientific concepts (Hernández-Barco, 2021c). In our study, this dimension can be analyzed from responses to pre-test questions 1, 2a, and 2b (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5
figure 5

Percentage of “desirable” responses, relative to the total number of students, for questions 1, 2a, and 2b pre-test (blue raster fill) and 1–2 post-test (grey solid fill). Question 2b only appears in the pre-test

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It is also discussed the degree of satisfaction in relation to each of the three practical activities carried out (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6
figure 6

Percentage of “desirable” responses, in relation to the total number of students, for questions 3–5 of the post-test

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In order to observe if there are changes in relation to the emotions experienced (Question 6: Mark with an “X” the emotions that the following contents suggest to you [it can be more than one]), the total number of answers is taken into account (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7
figure 7

Number of responses given for each emotion in pre-test (blue raster fill) and post-test (grey solid fill)

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On the other hand, if we break down the results of Fig. 7, with respect to each of the sections of question 6 (6a–6e), we obtain the values summarized in Table 3, where we have represented the trend of variation in each case. Note that these are descriptive, not inferential, variations (these will be discussed below).

Table 3 Trend of response options obtained in the pre-test and post-test for questions 6a–6e with respect to aroused emotions (↑: Increases,↓: Decreases, =: No change)
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Figure 8, shows the average number of answers given for each of the emotions in each of the questionnaires, grouping the data based on the topics nature of the science (“What is science” and “What is the scientific method”) and botanical content (“Aromatic plants”, “Essential oils” and “Recognizing plants by their smell and appearance”), in order to observe and compare graphically, possible variations or preferences for some content or others.

If we compare the total results for the first items (those related to the nature of science) between both tests, we find a significant increase in “Fun” (p = 0.028) and a decrease in “Boredom” (p = 0.018).However, the total means of the three remaining themes do not undergo significant changes.

Fig. 8
figure 8

Average responses given for each emotion for the subdivisions nature of science (solid fill) and botanical content (raster fill), in pre-test (blue) and post-test (grey)

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3.2 Local aromatic plants as an educational tool to stimulate scientific botanical knowledge from a local perspective

Determining whether there has been an improvement in botanical knowledge involves analyzing whether the learning objectives proposed for this educational intervention have been achieved. In a similar way to question 6, where the first two contents (“what is science” and “what is the scientific method”) are related to contents related to the nature of science; while the remaining three (“Aromatic plants”, “Essential oils” and “Recognizing plants by their smell and appearance”), deal strictly with botanical contents, we make the same differentiation in the questions that evaluate the improvement of botanical knowledge (i.e., questions 7a-9 pre-test and 7–9 post-test [nature of science], and 10–13 pre-test and post-test [botanical content]).

3.2.1 Knowledge about the nature of science

In relation to knowledge about the scientific method, participants claimed to understand what it was (94.64%). However, when a more concrete question was asked, a more realistic value was shown (76.79% identified “observing” as a phase of the scientific method). In turn, the data reveal that, despite the fact that only 53.57% claimed to be able to explain what science is before the workshop, after the intervention, recognition of scientific procedures, i.e., the phases of the scientific method, exceeded 75% (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9
figure 9

Percentage of “desirable” responses for pre-test questions 7a and 7b (blue raster fill) and post-test 7 (grey solid fill)

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Subsequent to the intervention, almost 70% of the students recognized “oil” as the end product of steam distillation of aromatic plants, which contrasts with the low percentage of “desirable” responses when asked in the pre-test “Have you heard of essential oils?” (8a) and “Do you know what distilling is?” (8b) (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10
figure 10

Percentage of “desirable” responses for questions 8a and 8b of the pre-test and 8 of the post-test

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As for the figure of the scientist (question 9, “Mark a trait that you think should be present in a scientist”), there is an increase of 10.71% in the number of students who consider rigorousness as the defining trait, reaching a total of 85.71%.

3.2.2 Knowledge about botany

For questions 10–13, the p values were calculated, first, taking the sum of “desirable” responses as the dependent variable (p < 0.001) and, second, with the data obtained for each question, independently (Table 3). The comparison of these responses was carried out using non-parametric analysis (Mann-Whitney U) since the normality of the data could not be confirmed. The difference between the sum of the answers considered “desirable” in the questionnaire focusing on the botanical block (questions 10 to 13) in the pre-test and post-test was considered significant (p < 0.05; alpha > 95%). As shown in Table 4, this significance level is reached in questions 10, 11 and 13.

Table 4 Analysis of differences in the “desirable” answers obtained in questions 10–13 between pre-test and post-test
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3.3 Sustainable awareness of the Young participants

Data obtained before and after the intervention are compared for the following questions 14 (“How important do you think it is to know the plants in the countryside and what are they for?“), and 15 (“Do you think that the plants, animals and landscape that surrounds your town can help your town to grow and prosper?”) getting p = 0.04 and p = 1, respectively. In addition, the number of answers obtained in each test is graphically represented for the items of question 16 (“Imagine that you have grown up and you still live in your village, what do you think could happen? Mark all the options you consider”), in order to analyse the participants’ vision of living in a rural environment.

Fig. 11
figure 11

Total number of options marked for each of the response items to question 16 (pre-test: blue raster fill and post-test: grey solid fill)

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4 Discussion

4.1 Impact of active methodologies on students’ attitudes towards Botany Learning

A very positive attitude towards the workshop was observed and it was maintained after the workshop (Fig. 5); “desirable” answers exceed 90% on average in the pre-test and this level does not drop significantly in the post-test. It should be noted that question 2 in the post-test was formulated in a negative sense (in order to avoid formulating the same question in the pre-test and post-test), so it is important to analyze the complementary percentage (75%).

In addition, the answers to questions 1 and 2 in the post-test indicate that a high degree of acceptance and predisposition towards botany-related content were maintained, which we relate to their motivation for other tasks that involve their direct participation. Namely, these findings may be because students have already perceived primary school education methodologies that involve more participation as more motivating, and this is maintained in secondary school (Del Rosal et al., 2019; Borrachero, 2015).

As for the degree of satisfaction in relation to each of the three practical activities carried out, all of them were evaluated highly, which reaffirms the predisposition towards these activities and therefore the high acceptance of the botanical contents (Fig. 6).

It is interesting, in this sense, to see that the distillation process (strictly speaking a laboratory practice) is the activity those scored the highest in evaluations of enjoyment. This confirms the formative nature of the intervention and shows that students do not lose sight of the fact that it is an academic activity, where one of the objectives is learning (Holstermann et al., 2010; Demirhan & Sahin, 2021).

In relation to the specific emotions aroused in the students (Fig. 7) no significant changes are detected, but we can see that positive emotions are experienced to a greater degree than negative ones, both before and after the intervention.

Table 3 reveals that “Recognizing plants by their smell and appearance” is the content that aroused the least motivation. When representing the average number of answers given for each of the emotions in each of the questionnaires (Fig. 8), the topics related to the nature of science (“What is science” and “What is the scientific method”), reach higher levels of “Curiosity” than those with botanical content (“Aromatic plants”, “Essential oils” and “Recognizing plants by their smell and appearance”), which produce higher levels of “Confidence” and “Fun.“

Boredom shows a significant increase in relation to content related to the nature of science. It is an emotion that, in research conducted among primary school students, seems to be a prelude to other negative emotions (Del Rosal et al., 2019). However, in this case, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

4.2 Local aromatic plants as an educational tool to stimulate scientific botanical knowledge from a local perspective

The didactic approach to botany from the well-known and close contents seems to demonstrate efficacy in terms of emotional performance, as seen above. Moreover, it does not seem unreasonable to suggest that knowledge about the nature of science also rises in terms of emotional performance (Table 3, questions 6a and 6b). Although this work has not delved into these topics, it is nevertheless promising that, just as the usefulness of the subject and the active methodology for the teaching of specific botany has been demonstrated, results have been obtained that encourage, in future works, to investigate the establishment of contents and competencies related to the nature of science (Figs. 9 and 10).

It is interesting that the questions that imply concrete knowledge of the immediate environment (10, 11 and 13), are the ones that report a significant increase in the number of desirable answers. Even for question 12, “Could you name a species of aromatic plant?” there was an increase of 10.71% over the 75% achieved in the pre-test (though the increase was not significant). Therefore, as a consequence of the linking of pedagogical work with the immediate cultural context (Benejam, 1998), the results seem to indicate that there has been an effective activation of learning that has facilitated the incorporation of new information about the nature of science and botany, its interpretation, and the consequent production of knowledge. Moreover, these data are in agreement with those obtained by Dos Santos and Cardoso (2014), who also use aromatic plants as a local resource for teaching chemistry and biology and who observe an improvement in the meaningful and critical learning of their students. These results provide support to the idea that starting from local concepts allows students to more easily apply what they have learned in the classroom and in diverse situations in their socio-cultural contexts.

4.3 Sustainable awareness of the young participants

One of the conditioning factors of the current generation’s concern for environmental problems is education. Limited knowledge of the environment and its natural and cultural richness generates low levels of understanding of the environment (Leitão et al., 2022). In this research, the students considered that the natural wealth surrounding their town could be a determining factor in local development; there were no variations in the results before and after the intervention (p = 1) for question 15, “Do you think that the plants, animals and landscape that surrounds your town can help your town to grow and prosper?” However, in relation to question 14, “How important do you think it is to know the plants in the countryside and what are they for?“, the values ascribed to knowing about biodiversity and its cultural associations grew significantly (p = 0.04). Thus, bringing this knowledge to the classroom significantly impacted students’ interest and therefore has the potential to promote sustainable awareness.

For the development of environmental responsibility among human beings, a practical approach is needed in all educational settings, with curriculums based on local problems (Yadav et al., 2021). Nature is directly intertwined with science and everyday life, so it is imperative that the relationships among individuals, the environment, and society are present in education in a way that promotes awareness of sustainable development (Köseoğlu & Kavak, 2001; Köseoğlu, 2021). Studies such as that of Filgueira-Pereira and de Ribeiro (2021) propose the use of medicinal plants as a transversal resource for environmental awareness and the construction of knowledge. In this sense, our study provides positive data regarding the environmental awareness of the young people involved (Fig. 11).

In general, after the intervention, the perception of living in a rural environment improved in all aspects. In question 16, “Imagine that you have grown up and you still live in your village, what do you think could happen? Mark all the options you consider,” there is a decrease in the choice of response items with negative connotations (unemployment, poverty, no opportunities, boredom, and worse quality of life), while positive options are maintained or increased (work, wealth, new opportunities, entertainment, and better quality of life).

We believe that our participatory pedagogic program, focused on traditional knowledge and the immediate environment, achieved students’ emotional involvement, contributing to an improvement in their opinion of living in a rural environment. Thus, the study has reinforced the idea that educational proposals for teaching science based on a positive approach to environmental problems, active learning, and the integration in the nearest territory can help develop cognitive and affective aspects of learning that lead to pro-environmental behavior (Littledyke, 2008).

5 Conclusions and further studies

This study proposed the use of local knowledge, specifically knowledge associated with plants, as a tool to promote student motivation, sustainable awareness, and improvements in the learning of scientific concepts. Considering the results obtained, we conclude that the use of ethnobotany combined with active teaching methodologies increases students’ interest in concepts that a priori may be difficult or unmotivating to learn.

Although the active teaching method is fundamental, it is not the only factor that determines motivation and learning. Learning content and the way it is handled are also influential. In this sense, the data seem to indicate that traditional knowledge should be strongly connected to science education and that encouraging the learning of botanical knowledge from the immediate environment translates into greater interest, increased meaningful learning, and promotion of cultural and plant heritage; all of this develops environmental sensitivity. Thus, we propose that teaching strategies based on ethnobotany, combined with active teaching methodologies, can help to solve problems in the teaching of botany and inculcation of sustainability. This research lays the foundations of a model that highlights the importance of traditional knowledge as a resource that can be extrapolated to the teaching of other experimental sciences, as it lays the foundations for the design of methodological tools for teachers, easy to design and apply in the classroom and that could lead to an improvement in science learning, while promoting the conservation of popular knowledge and the knowledge and enhancement of the natural environment of the place where it is applied.

In future lines of research, it would be interesting to analyze the impact of ethnobotany as a didactic tool in formal education, seeking to answer questions such as “Does the transversal use of ethnobotany increase the learning of botanical concepts established in the curriculum?” and “Does the use of local knowledge increase motivation even if more traditional methodologies are used?”.

The experience acquired with this work lays the foundations for a simple and practical design of didactic proposals in which close knowledge is used as an educational tool. For data collection, it is recommended to use simple questionnaires, easy to interpret and complete and that, in the case of a comparative analysis of the situation before and after the educational intervention, do not present variation in the questions asked, since, as has happened in this work, it makes the subsequent analysis of the results difficult.

This work has also demonstrated the importance of teaching science (usually understood as “hard” and “difficult” subjects) in agreement with the local and really near environment. This should be a clear recommendation for the instruction materials design and as a good teaching practice. Although in our country this has been already implemented in several textbooks, not so immediate environment is included when teaching sciences and the power of using traditional knowledge is usually not taken into account. Educational policies should bear in mind this considerations in order to enhance the significativity of teaching methodologies.