DOI: 10.17720/2409-5834.v4.3.2017.06f
Isilda T. Rodrigues1,2,
Andreia M. Carneiro de Carvalho2
1University of Porto
Praça de Gomes Teixeira, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
2University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro
Apartado 1013, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal
The addition of the history of medicine to teaching aims to develop scientific education and instill in students the understanding that scientific knowledge is not immutable but dynamic, being infl uenced by social, economic and political factors. However, the history of medicine is rarely used by teachers, and one of the main problems is the scarcity of materials. In this article, we present some didactic resources, appropriate for the classroom, about two recognized Portuguese doctors of the sixteenth century, Amato Lusitano (1511–1568) and Garcia de Orta (1501–1568). For the elaboration of these materials we used only primary sources – that is, the original texts. Amato Lusitano was the author of internationally recognized works, such as Index Dioscoridis and Curationum Medicinalium Centuriae Septem (the Centuries), while Garcia de Orta published the Coloquios, which today occupies a prominent place among works about the medical matters of the Renaissance. The application of the History of Medicine in Science Teaching can be a valuable tool for improving the teaching-learning process of the students and consequently can help to increase their scientific literacy.
Keywords: history of medicine, didactic resources, Amato Lusitano, Garcia de Orta, scientific literacy
