We all know that understanding family history is important to understanding our place in the world. To help students learn to appreciate plants, this activity will connect family memories to specific plants that were important to them or to their ancestors. This is referred to as “botanical history.” Students will interview family members to identify a specific plant they will use for the remaining nine modules. The plant the students choose is ideally one that holds historical significance to their family (e.g., an apple tree that has provided fruits for many generations, or a houseplant that has been divided or shared on special occasions). The students will then share their stories with the class and compare the plants they have chosen with their classmates.

This activity picks up from Module 1 where students chose the plant they wanted to represent their botanical history. In that module, they each identified their plant’s family and were given its scientific name. Module 2 provides students with an overview of the four major groups of land plants (bryophytes, ferns and allies, gymnosperms, and angiosperms), as well as familiarizing students with organisms that are often mistaken for plants (e.g., fungi, lichens, algae). Students will also be introduced to the Linnaean hierarchy as applied to major plant groups. Once students become familiar with plant characteristics and distinguishing features for major groups, they will be able to identify the group their own plant belongs to.

The goal of this activity is to introduce students to herbarium specimens and why they are an important source of information. The emphasis of this activity is on examining the types of data that specimens provide and how this data can be used to answer questions in biology (e.g., species distributions, ecological interactions, genetics) and anthropology (ethnobotany). Students will explore these data by following the life of Ynés Mexía, an important botanical collector working at the turn of the 20th century. Students will study her specimens to identify the various types of data they contain.

The goal of this activity is to introduce students to biological field notebooks and how they are used by scientists during field work. Specifically, students will learn what a botanist collecting plants in the field will record in their notebook, and how this information is then used to produce a formal herbarium specimen with detailed record label. This activity will prepare students for collecting their own herbarium specimens with regard to the types of data they need to record.

This activity will guide students through the process of collecting fresh plant material that will be transformed into a permanent herbarium specimen. Students will make a specimen for the plant they chose to represent their family’s botanical history. Each student will use a field press to preserve the plant they collect and record field notes about the plant. This information will be used to prepare a permanent record label that will appear on the herbarium specimen.

This lesson plan aims to provide students with an interactive experience with nature, focusing on maple trees' diversity and ecological importance in urban forests. Maple trees, belonging to the genus Acer in the family Sapindaceae, are significant in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Autumn. Students engage with nature through an interactive scavenger hunt using identification cards and the iNaturalist app to document and analyze leaf characteristics. This lesson plan focuses on five common species found on the East Coast: Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum), Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Norway Maple (Acer platanoides), and Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum). The goal is to enhance students' understanding of tree diversity, leaf identification, evolutionary relationships, and ecological roles. This lesson plan results from the collaboration between Chestnut Hill College and Our Mother of Consolation School in Philadelphia, PA, funded by the Connelly Foundation.

In this lesson, students interpret graphs demonstrating synergy between antibiotics. Then, students view and reflect on an interview with biologist Dr. Cassandra Quave, whose research includes the map that they interpreted.