I am a long-time advocate for historically grounded botany education and inclusive learning communities. I incorporate high impact practices in the classroom such as undergraduate seminars as well as service and experiential learning experiences.
My pedagogy articles center historically contextualized botany curriculum: most recently I published an article with Savvina Chowdhury titled “Plant Humanities Pedagogy: Teaching at the Intersection of Feminist Economics and Economic Botany.” See also “Creation of a Field Guide to Camas Prairie Plants with Undergraduate Researchers: Project-Based Learning Combined with Epistemological Decolonization” and with Tamara Caulkins, “Co-teaching Botany and History: An Interdisciplinary Model for a More Inclusive Curriculum“. I also contributed an invited book chapter titled “Title IX Compliant Botany” to the anthology Developing Culturally Responsive Curriculum in Higher Education, edited by Rick Rantz and LeeAnne McNulty.
I’ve reviewed botany textbooks for publishers. And with my citizen science students, I’ve produced useful tools for botany education and ecological restoration efforts like the Salish Sea Prairie Flora Project wiki and a field guide titled Vascular Plants of the South Sound Prairies.
In 2020, Vanderbilt University hired me to consult on the integration of interdisciplinary approaches to teaching science that promote inclusivity and equity in American society as a part of an NEH grant. In 2021, I was invited to participate in the Cultural Heritage 360 Knowledge Exchange Talks which was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK to discuss integrating botany and history in education.
More recently, I was invited to collaborate with Indigenous educator Melodie George Moore (Hupa, WhiyŁq’it, Karuk) to generate Tanoak curriculum for sixth graders as part of the Native American Studies model curriculum project. This statewide initiative funded by the California Department of Education is designed so that “California Native peoples determine how their cultures are taught”. At the heart of this initiative is teaching factual history that catalyzes a love for learning, cultivating critical thinking skills, and inspiring tolerance for diverse perspectives all while being supported by community.