Seeing the green cucumber: Reflections on variation theory and teaching plant identification

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement Overcoming ‘plant blindness’ is a critical goal for society and especially for education. In this article, we suggest variation theory can be a useful approach to plant identification training and evaluation in higher education contexts. We discuss an example from Swedish higher education in which we reflect on our teaching. We propose that the conscious use of variation theory may be useful in developing pedagogical tools and processes in the teaching of plant identification. Summary Given the importance of the ecological functions of plants and current extinction rates, overcoming ‘plant blindness’, the inability to notice plants in our environment, is a critical goal for society as a whole, and for education in particular. In response to this social challenge, we suggest that a theoretical approach to learning can be a useful lens through which plant identification training and evaluation in higher education contexts can be understood on a deeper level, informed by theoretical tools from the learning sciences. In this article, we discuss an example from Swedish higher education in which we reflect upon our teaching using the principles of the variation theory of learning, which emphasises the ability to discern different features or aspects of what is being learned. We also propose that a deliberate use of learning theories, especially variation theory, may be useful in developing pedagogical tools and processes in botanical education.

Perception and appreciation of plant biodiversity among experts and laypeople

“…This points to a possible 'plant biodiversity blindness' that has only been overcome for species richness due to the prominence of the term and the resulting attention to the variation it implies (Sanders et al, 2021).…”

“…However, accuracy in the perception of plant species along with their abundances, core to the biodiversity dimensions of evenness and turnover, was low. This points to a possible ‘plant biodiversity blindness’ that has only been overcome for species richness due to the prominence of the term and the resulting attention to the variation it implies (Sanders et al, 2021).…”

“…The bullet points indicate our findings. * refer to cited articles that investigate the indicated connection: *1 Balding and Wiliams (2016) *2 Colléony et al (2017) *3 Saunders et al (2006) *4 Stagg and Dillion (2022) *5 Sanders et al (2021) *6 Ford et al (2012) *7 Ives and Kendal (2014).…”

“…Recently, plant blindness was found to be lower in rural communities, especially for people who collect wild plants for subsistence (Stagg & Dillon, 2022). It was also found to decline with early learning and exposure to plants (Jose et al, 2019) and in higher botany education with teaching methods based on variation theory (Sanders et al, 2021). These findings are of importance, as the engagement of society for conservation critically depends on the awareness and the value people assign to organisms (Bonnet et al, 2002; Colléony et al, 2017) and their diversity (Saunders et al, 2006).…”

Plant blindness represents the loss of generational knowledge and cultural identity

“…Since the term plant blindness was coined by Wandersee and Schussler (1999), awareness has increased, and it is more commonly discussed in scientific literature (Amprazis et al., 2021; Colon et al., 2020; Jose et al., 2019; Pedrera et al., 2021; Stagg, 2020; Sanders et al., 2021). However, the impacts and ways to combat plant blindness are more obscure.…”