April 2, 2022

10:04

Bruno Pacheco – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The project “Revitalizing History in the Garden of the Education Institute of Amazonas (IEA): a look at caboclo medicine”, conceived by Biology teacher Márcia de Castro Gomes, was selected to participate in the British program “Women in Science”, of the international organization British Council, from the United Kingdom. The initiative of the educator from Manaus was classified to receive technical and financial support in the second “Call for STEM Girls: Training Future Scientists”.

The program, carried out in partnership with the Carlos Chagas Foundation, encourages projects already developed, for at least two years, in schools, universities, science museums and social organizations that aim to include girls in the areas of exact and natural sciences, engineering and computing. In all, 30 projects, all over Brazil, were selected by the initiative, being Marcia’s the only one from Amazonas.

“I was very happy, because we are the only one from Amazonas. It is an honor and gratifying to see the project bearing fruit and, especially, in this quest for girls, women, to occupy this place that was historically taken away from us, unfortunately. I usually say that it is a historical reparation”, declared Professor Márcia Gomes to the CENARIUM MAGAZINE.

Created in 2019, the state network teacher’s project seeks to revitalize the history of the institute through traditional knowledge with the plantations. The project renovated a medicinal garden at the centenary school in Manaus, as a way to unite science and tradition to avoid forgetting the natural riches of the forest and ensure knowledge of this asset among students. In 2021, the initiative was one of the winners in the Amazonas State Research Support Foundation (Fapeam) award.

At the time, Márcia Gomes said that, in two years of project implementation, the goal was achieved: to bring together the present and the past, to value the Amazonian culture, in a time of pandemic and when the world most needed the performance of medicine.

“It is with great joy, gratitude, and honor that, once again, we show that, despite our difficulties, with our dedication and creativity, God has been blessing us and we have achieved this merit for our institution and our work. I am even happier to see my students soaring higher,” celebrated the teacher.

STEM Girls

The STEM Girls (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program aims to stimulate the participation and training of girls for careers in science and technology in Brazil, with financial support of up to R$15,000, which can be requested by each of the selected projects. Besides financial support, the initiatives will receive training in science teaching and its interlocution with gender and race discussions.

According to the institution, the training activities will be provided by the STEM Education Hub – a partnership between King’s College London and the British Council to promote cooperation between Brazil and the UK in research, training and innovation. The funding and implementation of the projects begins this April and ends in December 2022.