Exploring the local vegetation: botanical inquiry trail, an interactive journey of learning

ABSTRACT

This study explores the importance of botany education and how local vegetation becomes a valuable tool for learning. It introduces a hands-on learning approach through a botanical inquiry trail, which engages prospective teachers in various activities, including plant identification, information retrieval, and understanding the practical applications of local plants. It highlights the potential of hands-on, experiential learning activities in promoting effective botany education and motivating future educators. The study involved the administration of pre- and post-activity questionnaires to assess the impact of the trail on participants’ knowledge, teaching methodology preferences, and perceptions of its educational value. Our findings indicate that prospective teachers perceived botanical inquiry trails as active teaching strategies that can improve the learning of botany among primary school students. Prospective teachers expressed a strong preference for nature field trips as a teaching methodology and the activity’s potential to promote social and emotional learning. Moreover, the participants recognised the educational value of the trail in improving learner protagonism, active learning, and investigation tasks. Finally, the results show that this activity can be a valuable resource for educators to engage their students in hands-on learning experiences that promote curiosity, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of the natural world.

KEYWORDS:

• Botany
• inquiry trail
• science teaching
• prospective teachers
• outdoor learning

Acknowledgments

We want to thank prospective teachers who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, grant number PID2020-115214RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011 033.