{"id":962,"date":"2025-06-16T15:48:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T15:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/?page_id=962"},"modified":"2025-06-16T16:50:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T16:50:16","slug":"rooting-students-in-their-botanical-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/rooting-students-in-their-botanical-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Rooting Students in Their Botanical History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-143a14c4e279ee9d35cde517d98a1778\" style=\"color:#55926d\">Rooting Students in their Botanical History is a curriculum-based outreach project developed by Dr. Shawn Krosnick (Biology, Tennessee Tech University) and Dr. Kelly Moore (Curriculum &amp; Instruction, Tennessee Tech University). The program directly engages high school and college students in botany, herbarium curation, and citizen science by connecting plant biology to students\u2019 own family histories.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:auto 35%\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>This set of activities directly addresses <strong>plant awareness disparity<\/strong>, sometimes called &#8220;plant blindness,&#8221; by helping students recognize the importance of plants in both global and personal contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Outcomes &amp; Impacts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The project successfully reached a diverse range of student backgrounds, learning styles, and academic levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Significant <strong>increases in plant awareness<\/strong> were documented across all participating classrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students demonstrated <strong>improved recognition of plant diversity<\/strong>, major plant groups, and herbarium functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many students identified strong <strong>personal and cultural connections<\/strong> to plants used in their family traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Teacher interviews emphasized that students experienced authentic scientific work, gained confidence in handling botanical material, and developed a sense of ownership in scientific inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Assessment Highlights<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Students\u2019 ability to describe and recognize plants improved by over <strong>300%<\/strong> after completing the modules.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>76% of students<\/strong> demonstrated a high or intermediate personal connection to their selected plant species.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Post-module surveys showed significant increases in students\u2019 confidence, enjoyment, and self-identification as scientists.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Broader Significance<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This work demonstrates how herbaria can serve as powerful tools for public engagement, education, and outreach\u2014especially for underrepresented age groups like high school students. By empowering students to explore plant science through personal and cultural narratives, the project  deeper appreciation for plant diversity, conservation, and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"370\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/06\/Figure-1-Botanical-History-11-9-24-370x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-970 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/06\/Figure-1-Botanical-History-11-9-24-370x1024.jpg 370w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/06\/Figure-1-Botanical-History-11-9-24-108x300.jpg 108w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/06\/Figure-1-Botanical-History-11-9-24-768x2125.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/06\/Figure-1-Botanical-History-11-9-24-555x1536.jpg 555w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/06\/Figure-1-Botanical-History-11-9-24-740x2048.jpg 740w, https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2025\/06\/Figure-1-Botanical-History-11-9-24-scaled.jpg 925w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:17px\"><strong><em>All educational modules are available for open access download at:<\/em><br><a href=\"https:\/\/qubeshub.org\/community\/projects\/studentsbotanicalhistory\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/qubeshub.org\/community\/projects\/studentsbotanicalhistory\">https:\/\/qubeshub.org\/community\/projects\/studentsbotanicalhistory<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Citation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Krosnick, S., &amp; Moore, K. (2024). Rooting students in their botanical history: A method to engage students in botany and herbaria. <em>Plants, People, Planet<\/em>, 1\u201312.<br><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/ppp3.10595\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/ppp3.10595<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rooting Students in their Botanical History is a curriculum-based outreach project developed by Dr. Shawn Krosnick (Biology, Tennessee Tech University) and Dr. Kelly Moore (Curriculum &amp; Instruction, Tennessee Tech University). &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-962","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":982,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/962\/revisions\/982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/skrosnick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}