Program learning outcomes for course
Specific student learning outcomes for course and assessment or evidence of accomplishment
| Botanic | |
|---|---|
| Outcomes | Assessment |
| Identify local plants by local and scientific names. |
Hikes (fall 09)
[sp 09,
fall 08,
sp 08,
fall 07]
include question and answer sessions using plants in the field.
These field experiences are documented primarily by photographs.
Theoretically these oral field experiences would be best documented as videos,
but storage and sharing of the documentation is considered to be problematic.
Generating web pages with static images appears to be a reasonable compromise.
Ultimately the only way to assess the assessment would be for an assessor to take
students back into the field and query the students on the plant names. In fall 2009
this was done during the final examination.
Presentations of healing, food, and material culture plants also includes local names and scientific names. This material is then assessed on tests t1 (fall 09), t3 (fall 09), [sp 09, fall 08, sp 08, fall 06, fall 07] and the midterm (sp 09) [fall 08, sp 08, fall 06, sp 07, fall 07]. |
| Compare and contrast the distinguishing reproductive characteristics of different phyla of plants including mosses, seedless vascular plants, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. | The seedless vascular plant (monilophyte) presentations (fall 09) [fall 07, sp 06] material was assessed in part by questions on test one (fall 09) [sp 08, fall 06]. Student groups also presented (fall 09) [fall 06] material on gymnosperm, angiosperm life cycles and gymnosperm leaf types. Assessment of gymnosperms included material on the midterm (sp 09) [fall 08, sp 08, fall 06, sp 07, fall 07]. A visit to the Pwunso botanic garden includes specific coverage of gymnosperms. [ 1998, 1999, 2000, sp 04, fall 04, sp 05, fall 05, sp 06, fall 06, sp 07, fall 07, sp 08, fall 08, sp 09, fall 09 ] |
| Label the key morphological features of the different phyla of plants including mosses, seedless vascular plants (monilophytes), gymnosperms, and angiosperms including the morphology of the reproductive structures. | The students produced labeled diagrams and performed presentations for seedless vascular plants (fall 09) [fall 07, sp 07, fall 06, fall 05 ], gymnosperms (fall 09) [ sp 09, fall 07, fall 06 ] , and angiosperms [fall 06]. Walks were taken during which vegetative morphology (fall 09) [ fall 07, sp 07, fall 06] and floral morphology (fall 07) [sp 07] were discussed. Although these walks occur every term, images are not always posted for every term. During these walks oral questions are asked to check for understanding. Fruit morphology was covered in a "bring a fruit to class" day, |
| Ethnographic | |
| Outcomes | Assessment |
| Communicate and describe the healing uses of local plants and the cultural contexts in which that healing occurs. | The students each brought a plant and gave a presentation (fall 09) [ fall 07 ] to the class on the healing use of that plant [Notes from prior terms]. As a part of this unit students tour a traditional plant garden (fall 09) [ sp 09, fall 08, sp 08, fall 07] containing over a hundred local healing plants. |
| Contribute, participate in, and experience eating local food made from plants and describe the production process. | Students brought in foods, described the production process, and experienced eating those foods in a set of food presentations (fall 09) [ sp 09, fall 05, sp 06, fall 06, sp 07, fall 07, sp 08, fa 08 ]. |
| Communicate and describe the use of plants for transportation, for shelter, and in other material culture applications. |
lecture-discussion was engaged in on the ways in which plants provide housing,
shelter, furnishing, tools, transportation,
clothing, decoration, adornment,
traditional cosmetic compounds, tattoos, and handicrafts.
The class visited
[fall 06, fall 07]
a virgin coconut oil processing plant to observe an economically productive
use of plants in the realm of material culture.
Fall 2008,
spring 2009, and
fall 2009
students learned to make traditional thatch.
Students gave
presentations (fall 09)
[
sp 08,
fall 07,
fall 06,
Sp 04,
Sp 03
]
on the material cultural uses of plants in their cultures. |
| Describe and observe the use, role, and importance of psychoactive plants within their traditional ceremonial cultural contexts. | Images from a traditional cultural ceremony (fall 09) [ sp 09 blog, sp09, fall 08, sp 08, fall 07, sp 07, fall 06, sp 06, fall 05, sp 05, sp 04, sp 03 ]. |
| [optional] Participate in the development and maintenance of an ethnobotanical garden. | Students started the term by cleaning up (fall 09) [ sp 09 blog, sp 09, fall 08, sp 08, fall 07 ] the ethnobotanical garden and getting to know the plants in the garden. At midterm the students revisited (fall 09) [ sp 09, fall 07 ] the garden, again cleaning up and identifying the plants in the garden. At term's end the students performed a final cleaning of the garden (fall 09). This final cleaning of the garden was also used as a review for the final examination (fall 09). [fall 07] for the addition of their own culturally significant plants. Students planted plants in spring 2008 and fall 2008. Bananas were planted fall 2008. Over the course of the next nine months some of the bananas died, some simply disappeared. A proposal to fence the garden area was submitted fall 2009 to better secure the site. Spring and fall 2009 the garden was mature enough to be used for a final practical examination. [ fall 06, sp 07b, sp 07c, fall 07 ] Diagram of garden. • Ethnobotanical garden map as Scalable Vector Graphic in xhtml |
Not all activities are photographed each and every term. The absence of a term from a list above does not mean that the activity did not occur.
Ethnobotany • Botanical herbarium • Ethnobotanical herbarium • Courses • COMFSM
