Curriculum: Project Botany: Exploring Native Plants of the United States

Nature is not something found in a faraway place. Wildness is not limited to exotic locales featured on nature documentaries. Nature is all around us. Place-based environmental education is crucial to fostering an appreciation of the natural world. This curriculum is intended to serve as a guide to study the native plants that define our local landscapes with the intention that your students will gain a better understanding and appreciation of the place that they call home.

Our guiding principles of this curriculum revolve around place-based, inquiry-based and hands-on learning that foster community partnerships and service-learning. Lessons progress from basic plant identification into more advanced topics in botany, ethnobotany, ecology, and restoration. We understand that many teachers are unable to commit to the entire unit of study in their school-year planning, so lessons can be used individually.