About
The Hollister Herbarium (HTTU) at Tennessee Tech University has created an educational program called “Rooting Students in their Botanical History.” Comprised of 10 educational modules, each activity is designed to help high school biology students learn about plants and the importance of herbaria. With funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Shawn Krosnick and Kelly Moore worked with Tennessee high school biology teachers, Peter Erb (videographer) and graduate assistants Brittany McGuire, and Rachel May to design interactive and meaningful learning experiences. This program addresses plant awareness disparity (PAD; formerly termed plant blindness), a phenomenon defined as the failure of humans to notice or appreciate plants. Our project has two main goals: (1) to increase student knowledge, awareness, and appreciation of plants, and (2) to introduce students to herbarium specimens as an essential resource for information about the natural world.
The core concept underlying the program is that everyone has a connection to plants – their own botanical history – and this is fundamentally connected to their family history. Students will connect to their botanical history, where they identify which plants are significant to them or their family. They will work with these plants in the field and in the herbarium, learning how to collect plants, prepare archival specimens, and finally digitize them. They will work with digitized data available on the Internet and explore career options in natural history collections. In years 1 and 2 (2020-2022), the project team created content for the module’s 10 unique components, including videos, student worksheets, and teacher plans. Each component was tested in teacher classrooms and formative evaluations were be used to improve module components. In year 3 (2022-2023), the complete modules were piloted in local area schools, with a summative evaluation informing any final revisions.
We hope that these modules will serve the following audiences nation-wide: (1) high school students in grades 9-12; (2) secondary education biology teachers; and (3) herbarium staff utilizing the modules to engage with schools. Most importantly, these modules will facilitate the inclusion of more plant-based activities in classrooms, which in turn will lead to an increased awareness of plants in young people.
Team
Publications
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Module 4: What Kind of Data Goes in a Field Notebook? v.1.0 - published 16 Apr 2024 in Teaching Materials
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Module 3: What on Earth is a Herbarium? v.1.0 - published 08 Apr 2024 in Teaching Materials
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Module 1: Discovering Your Family's “Botanical History.” v.1.0 - published 02 Apr 2024 in Teaching Materials
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Module 2: Opening Your Eyes to the Diversity of Plants v.1.0 - published 02 Apr 2024 in Teaching Materials