Useful Plants as Potential Flagship Species to Counteract Plant Blindness

Self Cite

Societal Impact Statement The phenomenon known as “plant blindness” leads to a restricted view on nature, which may in turn result in people and society having less understanding of important environmental and conservation issues. Biology educators must tackle this problem directly. By exploring students’ interests in useful plants (spice plants and stimulant herbal drugs), we present a route by which educators could counteract plant blindness by taking students’ plant‐related interests into account when preparing a teaching unit. We reveal that educators must carefully select the plant materials used as examples in the classroom to effectively encourage plant vision in students. Summary The term “plant blindness” describes the phenomenon that many people tend to overlook plants in their everyday life. Therefore, they often do not understand key biological concepts to their full extent and may develop a more restricted view of nature. Here, we provide a possible method of counteracting plant blindness in schools by capitalizing on students’ interest in useful plants to impart botanical content in biology lessons. We investigated 172 students aged 10–18 years old in order to explore the links between students’ individual interests in spice plants and stimulant herbal drugs and their situational interest during an inquiry‐based botany teaching unit by using a questionnaire and additional semi‐structured interviews. Data analysis shows that, for students with low and medium individual interest, stimulant herbal drugs and spice plants can be used to generate higher situational interest. Furthermore, students with initially high individual interest should get the opportunity to follow their own questions concerning a plant group before working on a structured learning task. Using study objects from different subgroups of useful plants for introducing botanical content in biology lessons, and giving highly interested students time and space to follow their own interests, seems to be a promising way to counteract plant blindness and, thus, to help enable students to develop a more comprehensive view of nature.

Section: Interestmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using students’ interest in useful plants to encourage plant vision in the classroom

Pany

Lörnitzo

Auleitner

et al. 2019

Self Cite

“…Various aesthetic plant characteristics, such as color, shape/size and smell, drew elementary students' attention in botanic garden studies conducted by Tunnicliffe () and Sanders () respectively. Moreover, special characteristics, such as survival‐relevant knowledge about the plants have also been demonstrated to be important to plant‐based education (Pany, ; Prokop & Fančovičová, , ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plants to the fore: Noticing plants in designed environments

Nyberg

Hipkiss

Sanders

2019

Societal Impact Statement Educational experiences where the ecological and social significance of plants is the main focus are crucial tools to help us to overcome “plant blindness” and challenge “zoocentric” views. By examining how student teachers respond to two different educational environments; one where animals are in the foreground, and another where plants take center stage, we conclude that for plants to be noticed in animal‐rich environments, they need to be prominent in the design of spaces with information about them displayed clearly. This work will help inform the design and creation of tools that will enhance and develop plant science education. Summary Plants are not only essential for human health and well‐being, but are fundamental to life on Earth. Despite their central importance in sustaining life on this planet, many humans do not notice plants to the same extent as they do animals, a phenomenon described as “plant blindness”. Research indicates that multimodal and sensoric experiences might be significant tools for bringing about a shift away from plant blindness toward recognizing plants and their importance for life on Earth. This study seeks to explore the affordances of sensory‐rich indoor environments in two different settings; one where living animals are in the foreground (a science center), and one where living plants are in the fore (a greenhouse in a botanical garden). The participants in this study were elementary school student teachers. Data were collected through individual questionnaires that examined the student teachers' experiences visiting the two sites. The student teachers' answers are rich in aesthetic expressions, both regarding the animals and plants mentioned and regarding the environments studied. There is a dominance of animal references at the science center and a dominance of plant references from the botanical garden. In order for plants to be noticed in animal‐rich environments, they need to be foregrounded in the design of spaces and information about them clearly exposed to human view.

“…The term plant blindness was introduced by Wandersee and Schussler in 1998, and since then numerous studies have reported on its negative consequences with regard to plant conservation (Balding & Williams, 2016) and have outlined methods to address it (Balding & Williams, 2016;Frisch, Unwin, & Saunders, 2010;Krosnick, Baker, & Moore, 2018;Pany, 2014;Pany & Heidinger, 2017;Strgar, 2007;Wandersee & Schussler, 1999,2001. Plant blindness has led to the devaluation of plants with regard to their impact on the economy and culture, environmental sustainability, and public health (Krosnick et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resetting the table for people and plants: Botanic gardens and research organizations collaborate to address food and agricultural plant blindness

Krishnan

Moreau

Kuehny

et al. 2019

Societal Impact Statement Food and agricultural plants are integral to human well‐being. Due to their universal importance, such plants would appear to represent an ideal entryway by which to address plant blindness. However, with limited opportunities for direct contact with agriculture, many people cannot appreciate the flora that feed us every day. We provide examples of informal education initiatives aimed at increasing public awareness and appreciation of food and agricultural plants, made possible through collaborations between botanic gardens, academic institutions, nonprofits, and agricultural research organizations. We hope these examples encourage and inspire organizations to further utilize food and agricultural plants to tackle plant blindness. Summary Of the myriad gifts plants provide to humanity, food is among the most visible, as everyone needs to eat, every single day. Due to their universal importance, food and agricultural plants would appear to represent ideal entryways to address plant blindness. Yet increasing urbanization worldwide and decreasing proportions of the global workforce in agriculture are limiting opportunities for people to have direct, hands‐on experiences with food and agricultural plants outside of retail purchasing, meal preparation, and food consumption. This disconnect is troubling, especially as the challenges to the sustainability of our future food supply necessitate that society, and certainly elected decision‐makers, have the capacity to understand the potential benefits, risks, and tradeoffs inherent to agriculture and its advancing technologies. We outline opportunities to address agricultural plant blindness with emphasis on current complex issues within the food and agriculture sector. We provide examples of fruitful collaborations between botanic gardens, academic institutions, nonprofits, and agricultural research organizations that engage people around these issues.