2018 ASHS Annual Conference

For the past five years more than 100 students in Herbaceous Ornamentals (Hort 330) at Iowa State University have practiced several different strategies to learn how to identify plants. Students were asked to summarize and reflect on their efforts and the effectiveness of at least six strategies in an “effort portfolio” at the end of the semester. At least ten strategies were presented to students as options every year. Each strategy was selected to engage students in meaningful and mindful effort while learning about herbaceous plants. Some of the strategies used each year included; perennial poetry, perennial pictionary, perennial garden selfies, practice quizzes, flash-cards, comparison matrix, repetitive writing, perennial designs, and annual videos. Students were asked to reflect on the effectiveness of each strategy on their learning and why (or why not) it was effective. While the effectiveness of each strategy varies with each student, almost all students (>90%) ranked flash cards, perennial designs, and annual videos as highly effective strategies. All the strategies that students regarded as effective required students to actively engage in meaningful or mindful effort to learn plant identification.