“The Hunger Games, A Game to Introduce Ethnobotanical Diversity” . Using Popular Culture in the Teaching and Learning of Ethnobotany for Liberal Arts Students.

The use of popular culture as a teaching tool is commonly integrated in K-12 and introductory college courses to motivate and engage students. This is especially evident with general education students who represent a demographic group challenging to engage because of their level of disinterest with traditional biology teaching and learning methods. At SCCC, we address this problem by integrating popular culture into the curriculum of an Ethnobotany course. In an effort to engage students, we designed a semester long game-activity based on the popular book series “The Hunger Games." During this activity, students revisit concepts of basic botany and taxonomy and learn about cultural biodiversity. While playing a competitive, engaging and entertaining classroom game/activity, the students develop communication and collaborative skills and gain an understanding of the implications of Ethnobotany for today’s society. Such context provides a foundation upon which further learning can be facilitated and achieved.