Hunting for answers: Linking lectures with the real world using a mobile treasure hunt app

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement Plants underpin our society providing food, fuel, medicines, clean air and water, positive mental health, and are central to biodiversity conservation. Despite this importance and an increasing need for people with plant‐identification skills, many societies are becoming increasingly ignorant to the species with which they interact. To benefit both our undergraduates and the society they will enter, we applied mobile technology to improve plant identification and appreciation, while providing opportunities to practice transferable team work and verbal communication skills. Encouraging 'plant vision' will improve conservation efforts while increasing personal connections with green spaces, leading to mental health improvements for society. Summary Despite the importance of plants to human civilization, many societies are becoming increasingly ignorant to the plants that inhabit their surrounding environment. A phenomenon known as ‘plant blindness’. To address plant blindness in undergraduate students we designed an outdoor activity using a mobile phone app. Our aims were to identify the level of ‘plant blindness’ in our students; investigate engagement with the app and activity; determine if we can raise awareness of links between lecture content and real world scenarios; and assess the student experience as a result of the activity in large classes. The app chosen was ActionBound. Students were asked to find and photograph local examples of four plant families, along with identifying physiological benefits of features covered in lectures. Two different first year classes were exposed to this activity – Plant Science and Life on Earth. The Plant Science students (60% success rate for three families; 55 students) were less plant blind than Life on Earth students (less than 44% success rate in any of the four families; 200 students). Students engaged well with the activity with all groups submitting sensible attempts at the responses. Most students reported that the activity increased links to lecture material and all but one student reported positive experiences. Our students found the treasure hunt learning environment is a fun way to engage with the plant topics covered in lectures. In future iterations, we will more explicitly explain the links to potential careers and will address some of the logistical challenges faced in this first cohort.

Plants to the fore: Noticing plants in designed environments

“…Multimodal approaches to teaching and learning science have been shown to be effective in engaging students (Ainsworth, Prain, & Tytler, 2011;Hartman, Lydon, & Rasmussen, 2019;Jewitt, Kress, Ogborn, & Tsatsarelis, 2001). Furthermore, science teaching appears to benefit from varied language practices through the use of metaphors and analogies, stories and models (e.g., Jewitt et al, 2001;Matruglio, Maton, & Martin, 2013;Wilson & Mant, 2011).…”

Media habits and attitudes of students about the possibilities of applying mobile learning in foreign language teaching

“…There is then the Actionbound application, with examples based on a virtual walk through the city while solving set tasks at certain stations (bounds), which was researched by Parsons et al (2019) who have concluded that the mentioned application can be used by new students for better spatial orientation in school or another environment as well as a rich source for cultural discussion. Hartman et al (2019) emphasize that with the Actionbound app, almost all students enjoyed every moment, especially outdoor classes outside the classroom.…”

Standing in the shadows of plants

“…In this issue, Hartman et al and Lampert et al demonstrate the effectiveness of testing ideas concerning how we bring plants to student attention, whether these ideas and activities involve higher education biology students (Hartman, Lydon, & Rasmussen, ; in this issue, pp. 233) or science education secondary students (Lampert, Scheuch, Pany, Müllner, & Kiehn, ; in this issue, pp.…”

“…Furthermore, in our human engagement with this difference it is important that we do not seek to subject plants to "terms of resemblance", anchored by "the human" Houle (2011, p. 95) but rather to engage with their "plantiness" (Fleming, 2017). student attention, whether these ideas and activities involve higher education biology students (Hartman, Lydon, & Rasmussen, 2019; in this issue, pp. 233) or science education secondary students (Lampert, Scheuch, Pany, Müllner, & Kiehn, 2019; in this issue, pp.…”