Find the Plant—An Educational Game Fosters Plant Species Literacy
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Sustainable Development Goals and Lack of Plant Awareness
1.2. Conveying Knowledge in Higher Education
1.3. Educational Games
1.4. Focus of the Study and Research Questions
- (Q1)
- How interested were participants in plants and how competent did they feel in plant identification at the start of the investigation?
- (Q2)
- Does the educational game increase participants’ interest in plants and perceived competence to identify plants, and are possible changes related to the frequency of play?
- (Q3)
- Do participants enjoy playing the game, how do they evaluate the suitability of the game for acquiring plant species literacy, and are participants’ assessments related to the frequency of play?
- (Q4)
- Does the game increase participants’ actual plant species literacy, and is plant identification related to lecture attendance and the prior use of the game?
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Overview of Participants and Study Design
2.2. Design and Rules of the ‘Find the Plant’ Game
2.3. Questionnaires
2.4. Species Identification Test
2.5. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Interest in Plants and Perceived Competence in Identifying Plants before Playing (Q1)
3.2. Interest in Plants and Perceived Competence in Identifying Plants after Playing (Q2)
3.3. Evaluation of the ‘Find the Plant’ Game after Playing it (Q3)
3.4. Effect of the Game on Knowledge of Tree Species (Q4)
4. Discussion
Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Objective | Item | Mean ± 1 SE | Verbal Interpretation |
---|---|---|---|
Q1 | My interest in plants is … | 3.6 ± 0.13 | Rather large |
Q1 | I am interested to increase my knowledge of plants | 4.5 ± 0.07 | Agree |
Q1 | When identifying plants I feel … | 2.5 ± 0.11 | Rather incompetent |
Objective | Item | Mean ± 1 SE | Verbal Interpretation |
---|---|---|---|
Q2 | Through the game, my interest in plants is … | 3.8 ± 0.15 | Larger |
Q2 | In identifying plants, I feel after playing the game … | 4.0 ± 0.13 | More competent |
Q3 | The game is suitable for practicing plant characteristics | 4.3 ± 0.10 | Agree |
Q3 | The game is suitable to gain species knowledge | 4.3 ± 0.12 | Agree |
Q3 | The game is a good addition to the lecture | 4.6 ± 0.10 | Strongly agree |
Q3 | The game ‘Find the Plant’ is … | 4.3 ± 0.14 | Fun |
Category | Frequency | Examples |
---|---|---|
Clear representations and easily recognizable features support learning | 12 | Great illustrations, easy to recognize features, often with several pictures of a plant or just detailed pictures (23, f). Attention is paid to small details and specific features; cards are very well structured (23, f). A pictorial representation in combination with a species name helps me a lot with learning (23, f) |
Compact information; symbols support memorization | 10 | Compact information on the cards, which is also good for comparisons (26, f). The symbols make it easy to memorize the plants (23, f). The additional information that a plant is, e.g., protected is very helpful (25, f). |
Communication, repetition and open design result in learning success | 8 | Communicative game, you talk about the plants, which helps with learning (22, f). Repeatedly pronouncing the characteristics of plants [during the game] and memorizing the exact species names is very effective for learning; you are free to ask questions and repeat names (25, f). That the plants are repeated often; without getting bored names and features are easily memorized (22, f). There is real learning success (37, m). The open design, where you can come up with your own questions and decide how many cards you want to play with, promotes knowledge of plants (24, f). |
Playful learning | 6 | It is a fun way to get to know plants (23, f). Playful learning is a good way to memorize features of plants (23, f). It is fun to play even without plenty of prior knowledge (23, f). |
Practical format; small cards to take along | 5 | The cards are small and handy, so you can take them with you wherever you go (23, f). Practical format, good to take along (25, f). |
Great idea | 7 | Thanks, the game is a great idea (23, f). |
Category | Frequency | Examples |
---|---|---|
Missing technical terms | 6 | Features are difficult to ask about and to remember if you do not know the technical terms (22, f). A list of technical terms for typical plant characteristics would be good (23, f). Sometimes it was difficult to ask for features during the game (29, f). |
Rules | 3 | It would be nice to play the game with more than two players (23, f). The addition of a fun fact would be nice (26, f). It would be valuable if also the plant families could be practiced (25, f). |
Cost and time factor | 2 | Printing out the cards after the lecture costs money and time (29, f). |
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Lindemann-Matthies, P.; Heber, E.; Remmele, M. Find the Plant—An Educational Game Fosters Plant Species Literacy. Sustainability 2024, 16, 4702. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114702
Lindemann-Matthies P, Heber E, Remmele M. Find the Plant—An Educational Game Fosters Plant Species Literacy. Sustainability. 2024; 16(11):4702. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114702
Chicago/Turabian StyleLindemann-Matthies, Petra, Eve Heber, and Martin Remmele. 2024. "Find the Plant—An Educational Game Fosters Plant Species Literacy" Sustainability 16, no. 11: 4702. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114702
APA StyleLindemann-Matthies, P., Heber, E., & Remmele, M. (2024). Find the Plant—An Educational Game Fosters Plant Species Literacy. Sustainability, 16(11), 4702. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114702