Using Collaboration and Competition to Help Students Learn to Identify Plants.

At the University of Tennessee at Martin, plant science courses such as weed science and forage crops require students to learn to identify weeds and forages. Teaching students techniques for identification can include a variety of methods such as studying pressed plant specimens and photos, weed/forage walks outside, and identification quizzes/exams. To help students learn plant identification, I started using scavenger hunts as a technique to encourage collaboration among students while also adding an element of competition. Students work together in teams to find and identify the plants on their list, but all students on a team must be able to correctly identify each plant that they find. Grades for each member of the team are assigned based on the overall team grade; while grading, I randomly select team members to identify plants from those collected. This requires that they work together to ensure that all team members know which plant is which. Teams are assigned to include students from different concentrations so that teams have equal numbers of plant science students. To encourage a little friendly competition, added incentive is given to the first team to correctly gather and identify all of the plants on the list. Many students find that they learn plant identification better when they have to explain to others how to tell them apart. In addition, students do not want to let the team down so they pay more attention when trying to learn the names of the plants.