Education, Plants and Sustainability: Rethinking the teaching of botany
This special collection focuses on fostering understanding of the role of plants in environmental regulation. Zangoori and Koontz describe an undergraduate course that used a systems-focused ecological framework which was effective for reducing anthropocentric ideas about plants. Pedrera et al. show how students’ systemic understanding of biodiversity increased with age and was related to plant knowledge. Benno et al. report that students exhibited a simplistic understanding about plants’ ecosystem services.
Several studies examine how encounters with wild plants develop ecological understanding. Villarroel et al. show how young children in rural areas included more plant diversity and ecological interactions in drawings than urban children. Pedrera et al. found that students knew more cultivated plant species than native ones and identification skills were related to direct encounters. Benno et al. find that students had positive attitudes about plants, due to their aesthetic qualities, but were not interested in observing them.
Wyner and Dohery show how a curriculum centred on street trees increased ecological awareness. Supporting intergenerational learning and designing educational opportunities in public greenspace also show promise for fostering direct encounters, according to Laffitte et al. Ozturk-Akar et al., Bobo-Pinilla et al., and Nyberg et al. all suggest ways to address pre-service teachers’ identification skills and ecological understanding.
Kissi and Dreesmann show how an interactive treasure hunt using mobile devices increased motivation and environmental awareness. Lampert et al. describe how a role-play about insect pollination, based on 3D-printed flower models, increased motivation and awareness about plant diversity and ecological functioning. Bacon reports that a virtual botanical fieldtrip with simulated vegetation sampling received positive feedback from undergraduate biologists. Stagg and Dillon discuss how enquiry-based learning, in the context of school gardens and citizen science, can promote pro-conservation behaviours that support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Edited by
Dr Bethan Stagg(School of Education, University of Exeter)
Professor Justin Dillon(IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education & Society)
Sponsored by