Why should children be able to identify plants?
For a start, one can say that it meets one of the life Processes and Living Things criteria in the National
Curriculum. Children need to understand why animals and plants live where they do. How can they do this if
they do not know what those animals and plants are? More importantly, all biologists, and many others, know
that the existence of green plants is fundamental to the success of all animals life on earth.
Not only are plants the primary source of food, but they also supply oxygen to the air we breathe. We ignore
plants at our peril, without green plants there could be no other life forms on Earth.
So the major aim of plants UK is to encourage pupils to really look at plants, so that they notice thei structure, observe their various features and distinguish their specific characteristics. If children are doing these activities, they are taking the first steps in identification.
A good second question would be to ask how to start identifying plants in a particular habitat? A good answer here is that we need to recognise the habitat. Many of our plants are habitat-dependent, they are rarely found in the "wrong" sort of place. Most plant identification handbooks ignore this and try to cover all of Britain, so only part of their content is relevant in any one place. But children do not know this, so they can be overwhelmed by being given far too wide a range of possible plants.
Most highly illustrated plant guides do not simplify and point out the fundamental structure by which plants are classified into families, genus and species. Standard botanical keys are jargon-filed and need several glossary pages. These are not child-friendly.
There are at least two reasons why plants UK manages to avoid these problems. Firstly, Lyn Merrick is a very competent ecologist and an excellent, experienced teacher of ecology, as well as being a very talented wildlife illustrator. She has painted every illustration especially for this project, thus ensuring that each one clearly shows the points made by the key or text. Secondly, Frank Ahearn is a highly respected professional computer programmer, there is no "flaky" software here!
As an added bonus, Lyn and Frank are sister and brother, so they have an excellent rapport and understand just what is required of one another to make the project successful.
The core of the CD-rom is a system for identifying the common plants likely to be found around most British schools, in easily accessible habitats such as the school grounds, waste places and parks. Plants are identified by answering a series of simple questions about their observable features. Help and further explanations on what to look for are readily available. The first choice opens the appropriate database, one of which contains 52 wild flower species, another some 42 trees and shrubs and the third has 24 grasses. Each species has its own data form, with at least one full colour plate and basic details of its appearance, habitat and characteristics. A further text description is available via a button on the form.
The package includes extra items for teachers, including some Health and Safety advice when dealing with plants, a guide to how plants are classified and information on adaptations for seed dispersal. There are also eleven photocopiable activity sheets, including some in spreadsheet format for simple and speedy data collection.
The final component is a three sheet "Teacher's Guide to Problems identifying Plants", which gently guides and inexperienced plant identifier through the main pitfalls.
Lyn acknowledges we may need to work to get pupils interested in grasses. Grasses have been regarded as a very difficult group by amateur botanists for far too long. With her guidance and a reasonable hand lens, this should no longer apply.
We need to be aware of grass, long, uncut grass is a vital habitat for wildlife as it houses numerous invertebrates that are essential for a successful food chain. Not only does grass feed the animal world, it also feeds the entire human race. Our major food source is cereals of one form or another and all cereal crops are members of the Family Grass.
I can unhesitatingly recommend this CD-rom. It costs £30.00 for a single user, £80.00 for a 10-user site licence or £120.00 for a multi-user site licence. A standard post and packing charge of £3.00 and VAT at the current rate must be added to the total.