Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

School

Center for Science and Math Education

Committee Chair

Rachel Gisewhite

Committee Chair School

Center for Science and Math Education

Committee Member 2

Maria Wallace

Committee Member 2 School

Center for Science and Math Education

Committee Member 3

Kendrick Buford

Committee Member 3 School

Center for Science and Math Education

Committee Member 4

Mac Alford

Committee Member 4 School

Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences

Committee Member 5

Tammy Greer

Committee Member 5 School

Psychology

Abstract

A serious cause for human-induced habitat loss and the loss of biodiversity may be that of Plant Awareness Disparity in which people have lost their awareness of the unique role plants play in the ecosystem and to human lives especially through ethnobotanical relationships such as food and medicinal use. Environmental literacy, which include plant knowledge, has been found to be deficient in students of higher education in Mississippi, and with less formal education about plants occurring across multiple education levels, plant awareness may be declining in Mississippi. This dissertation seeks to evaluate the status of plant awareness in Mississippi and if formal and informal educational experiences using a methodological framework of posthumanism for Mississippi K–12 and undergraduates that introduce ethnobotanical connections between plants and people in can increase plant awareness through both quantitative measures of awareness and qualitative exploration of perceptions. To address this problem, three studies were conducted to evaluate plant awareness and ethnobotanical knowledge and learning in three study groups using a Plant Awareness Inventory Questionnaire (PAIQ). The first study examined plant awareness in a K–12 science camp student population to investigate the impact ethnobotanical and botanical lessons on plant awareness in a K–12 science camp. In evaluating four post-secondary institutions, the second study assessed plant awareness and ethnobotanical knowledge of daily plant use through the PAIQ that also included questions about Mississippi plants with traditional ethnobotanical uses and compared the PAIQ to demographic data. The third study utilized the PAIQ to assess botanical and ethnobotanical knowledge and awareness change in a university student population in two university courses that used course-based undergraduate research experiences based in botanical and ethnobotanical knowledge. The three studies overall showed that interaction with plants over time and through carefully mediated educational lessons may help increase plant awareness. Demographic data and assessments of the post-secondary population in Mississippi show little explanation for variance in the PAIQ and varying degrees of relationship occurs between respondents and specific species. A change needs to be made in science education at all levels to increase exposure and increase awareness of plant and human relationship.

ORCID ID

0009-0008-3914-1229

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