Ethnobotanical Pedagogy for Undergraduates: An example from the University of the Virgin Islands

In fall semesters of 2015 and 2016, we designed a course to acquaint students with the blend of botanical and socio-cultural perspectives integral to Ethnobotanical Investigation. Each year we focused on the theory, history and method that sets Ethnobotany apart as a science and then guided students in an Ethobotanical Practicum with the objective of introducing a real world example of ethnobotanical research.  In both years the quality of student research was exemplary and there are plans afoot to publish methods, findings and implication.

To determine the success of our approach we developed assessment tools such as pre-semester and post-semester exams focused on the same set of questions, analysis of responses to essay questions crafted to measure a student’s understanding of ethnobotanical rigor, and evaluation of oral presentation by a student and teams of students.  Herein we explain our approach and results of our assessment metrics in more detail.