Episode 70: Plant Awareness Disparity, Kathryn Parsley and Dr. Elisabeth Schussler
Students in the United States like studying animals more than plants.
People tend not to pay attention to the plants in their surroundings.
These are only two factors contributing to a condition described as "plant blindness" in the botany and science education literature. In this episode, I speak with Dr. Elisabeth Schussler, one of the two botanists who coined the phrase in 1999. I also speak with Kathryn Parsley, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Memphis, whose specialty is botanical literacy. In a paper written for the journal Plants People Planet, Kathryn makes a case for replacing the phrase "plant blindness" with Plant Awareness Disparity. Find out why formal and informal educators should consider doing the same.
LINKS
Links to Kathryn Parsley's websites and projects
Dr. Elisabeth Schussler, University of Tennessee
Plant Awareness Disparity: A Case for Renaming Plant Blindness (Article)
Preventing Plant Blindness (Article)
American Society of Plant Biologists
Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary (Harris & Harris)
Episode 47: Kathryn Parsley, Plant Blindness
Transcript: Ep70, Plant Awareness Disparity, Kathryn Parsley and Dr. Elisabeth Schussler