SECTION 5 - Impacts Seeing Plants,P2 ACTIVITIES: RESEARCH (10 MINUTES) • Ask learners to research the subject of plant blindness and the subject of botanical capacity using articles below. DISCUSS (10 MINUTES) • Discuss what the phrase plant blindness is describing. • Discuss what the phrase botanical capacity is describing. • People do not need to go to a botanical garden or a national park to see plants. There are plants in home vegetable gardens, parking lots, and along sidewalks. How does knowing how to grow and care for these plants impact the health and wellness of communities? How does it strengthen a community’s managed response to a changing climate? IDENTIFY (10 MINUTES) • Identify available plants specimens on your school ground. • Identify the structures on plant specimens and describe their function. Use resources below to reference. DRAW (15 MINUTES) • Draw the stem, leaves, and 昀氀owers of available plant specimens in enough detail that a classmate would be able to tell you from which plant it came. This includes descriptions about shapes, textures, and color. Use Botany references below. RESEARCH (10 MINUTES) • Research how botanists and illustrators work with each other and what illustrators do that helps botanists and scientists explain their work to others. DISCUSS (5 MINUTES) • How did drawing plants help you see them di昀昀erently? • Why is it important to see plants and understand the role they play in our lives? T RESOURCES: • The Carbon Almanac - Impacts: Food Production and Availability, p.116/ 598 • The Carbon Almanac - Impacts: Agricultural Pests and Diseases, p.118/ 596 • The Carbon Almanac - Impacts: Food Insecurity, p.119/ 067 • The Carbon Almanac - Impacts: Land and Soil Degradation, p.119/ 069 • Art Supplies • Plant specimens BACKGROUND INFORMATION: • Assessing botanical capacity to address grand challenges in the United States • Plant Awareness Disparity: A Case for Renaming Plant Blindness, Plants, People, Planet • Plant Awareness Disparity: Looking to the Past to Inform the Future. Plant Science Bulletin • Preventing Plant Blindness. The American Biology Teacher BOTANY AND BOTANICAL ART: • Parts of a plant. DK Find Out! • Guild of Natural Science Illustrators • Merian and Daughters (Getty Center Exhibitions) • What Is Botanical Art?, Royal Botanic Gardens • Botany and Art and Their Roles in Conservation, Smithsonian Learning Lab 32