Abstract Detail

Recent Topics Posters

Haberle, Rosemarie [1], Senn, Holly [2].

Seeing the world we live in: Plants of PLU Exhibit, Pacific Lutheran University Library, May - September 2014.

Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a small private liberal arts university in Tacoma WA with 3500 undergraduate students, located on a campus that includes a Douglas Fir-Garry Oak riparian corridor and adjacent remnant South Puget Sound Prairie.  These natural areas, in various states of maintenance and restoration, provide considerable opportunities for on-site outdoor learning experiences. Faculty from natural sciences, humanities and social sciences support incorporating the natural campus landscape in curricula to create a truly regional sense of place.   PLU has approximately 150 Biology majors, of which 3/4 self identify as pre-health or pre-medical. Many of these students are "plant blind," not seeing the diversity or value of plants, despite their major.   We describe here a campus-wide outreach project involving two botany classes: a plant systematics class and an economic botany class.  In addition to meeting individual course learning goals, our objective was to increase University-wide awareness of native plants on campus and promote use of the campus landscape in the overall curriculum. Student pairs generated a herbarium voucher and produced displays for an exhibition at the Library about campus native plants, describing their taxonomy and ecology, location on campus, and ethnobotanical uses.   The student projects complemented a display of taxonomic tools, ephemera, and photos honoring the emeritus botanist who founded PLU's Herbarium. The project received favorable responses from student participants and generated considerable interest from Library visitors. The exhibit will find a permanent home in our science building, and is part of the student-centered Plants of PLU floristics project.

1 - Pacific Lutheran University, Biology Department, Tacoma, WA, 98407, USA
2 - Pacific Lutheran University, Mortveldt Library, Tacoma, WA, 98447, USA

Keywords:
cooperative learning
Outreach
Floristics
plant blindness.

Presentation Type: Recent Topics Poster
Session: P
Location: /
Date: Monday, July 28th, 2014
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PRT027
Abstract ID:1265
Candidate for Awards:None