Welcome to the Pet Plant Project!

There is a phenomenon known as “plant awareness disparity” (PAD; Parsley 2020) that affects our ability to appreciate plants and their importance. Wandersee & Schussler (1999) originally described this as “plant blindness” and noted that symptoms include the following:

(1) failure to notice plants in one’s daily environment

(2) failure to recognize the importance of plants in human affairs

(3) lack of appreciation for the aesthetic and unique qualities of plants.

To address this in the classroom, I created the “Pet Plant Project.” Students in my university-level General Botany course grow a plant from seed and maintain this plant throughout the semester, making observations on growth and development and performing background research on their plant. The project is meant to be reminiscent of high-school health class projects where students have to keep an egg or bowling ball alive for a week while they learn about the challenges of parenting. It’s a fun and effective way to increase student interest in plants by making their pet plant a part of their daily life. I worked with Kelly Moore and Julie Baker to publish our results in the American Biology Teacher in 2018. Since then, this project has been used by teachers at both the K-12 and university level. I have received emails from teachers implementing it in Florida, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Please contact me and let us know if you are using it, too!

On this page you will find the documents we use in the classroom in their most current form. Instead of paper journal entries, I use a Google form and automatically create PDF journal entries using the Google add-in Autocrat. Entries are then emailed to the students each time they submit.

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