Abstract

The establishment of a learning center at Mahasarakham University demonstration school (secondary) is to enhance knowledge, understanding, and volunteerism about the protection of medicinal plants. The establishment of a learning center for medicinal plants at the school involves organizing activities to cultivate species such as Solanum trilobatum L., Solanum indicum L., and Cissus quadrangularis L. A cohort of 40 students volunteered to engage in these activities, which were promoted through various initiatives, including training sessions on the cultivation of medicinal plants, lectures on their cultivation and applications, and study visits to the Pharmacy Faculty at Mahasarakham University to explore the production of herbal products, extraction of herbal compounds, and the manufacture of medicines and medical supplies derived from medicinal plants. The instruments employed for data collection included the knowledge assessment of medicinal plants test, the awareness and valuation of medicinal plants questionnaire, and the volunteer measurement test. The findings indicated that students exhibited the highest overall knowledge of the establishment of herbal plant learning centers in schools following their participation in the activity. The mean awareness score post-activity was significantly greater than pre-activity, with a statistical significance at the .05 level. The comparison study revealed that students’ average knowledge scores post-activity significantly exceeded their pre-activity scores, with statistical significance at the .05 level. The comparative analysis of average volunteerism in organic agriculture and environmental conservation revealed that students exhibited a statistically significant increase in their volunteerism scores after participating in the activity, compared to their scores prior to participation, at the .05 level.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.