TRADITIONAL COSMETICS AS A TEACHING RESOURCE: THE SECONDARY EDUCATION STUDENT LEARNING CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY THROUGH ETHNOSCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

One of the great educational challenges at the present time is focused on teaching competences. This educational approach is enhanced if we bring science into the student’s daily life. Undoubtedly, it is not a new idea that students work in the laboratory making soaps and bleaching agents, making extractions or preparing cleansing lotions. So, there are experiments in the Teaching of Sciences based on the chemistry or biology of domestic cleaning, cooking, food or natural cosmetics. Less frequently we find that students develop the role of ethnoscientists and find out how many natural products have been used on a chemical or biological basis by our elders for generations. To this effect, students from a school in Badajoz carried out research in which they identified the use of traditional cosmetics in the region of Extremadura (Spain). The main objective of this work was to get students to research tasks through a scientific protocol and to learn science through popular culture. The experiment enabled us to learn how in various localities in Extremadura 22 plant species and 7 products of animal origin were used in cosmetics recipes together with other substances such as iodised salt, lime or alcohol. Students compiled traditional recipes for the treatment of skin conditions such as adolescent acne, hair loss, dandruff, cellulite or "saddlebags", fluid retention, care and hydration of the skin and hands, treating cracked and blemished skin and combating foot odour and sweating in general, or removing calluses. The data obtained allow us to appreciate the heritage amassed through popular culture, at the same time as allowing us to develop scientific content to differentiate chemical or physical processes such as mixtures, solutions or saponification, and to acquire knowledge about different plant and animal species for use in cosmetics.