Prairie Plants Pioneer: Ada Hayden and Identifying Prairie Plants
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Purpose
This project is to give participtants in the 4-H workshop "Prairie Plants Pioneer: Ada Hayden and Identifying Prairie Plants" on June 25-26, 2018 the experience of identifying plants in the wild and then creating a digital entry. Subjects to be covered include natural resource management, botany, women scientists, and digital collections. The target audience is 8-12th graders, with 5 participants. The presenters are Debra Lewis, Herbatorium Director; Kim Anderson, Digital Scholarship and Initiatives, Co-Lead and Digital Initiatives Archivist; Laura Sullivan, Digital Initiatives Archivist; and Lori Bousson, Digital Initiatives Web Designer.
Objectives/Goals
- To learn how to identify plants.
- To learn how to research plants.
- To learn about Iowa prairie plants and prairies.
- To learn about women conservationists.
- To understand what goes into making a digital resource
Workshop Description
Day 1 -- Tuesday, June 26, 2018
- Ada Hayden Herbarium tour and Introduction to Iowa prairie plants.
- Introduction to Ada Hayden
- How to identify plants
- Methods:
- Use a key
- Dichotomous and hierarchical -- leads you through a set of choices between two options
- Google/reference book
- Ask an expert
- Use a key
- Methods:
Day 2 -- Wednesday, June 27, 2018
- Intro to digital collections and library resources
- Introduce assignment
- Use the key to identify an anonymized hand-colored lantern slide
- Work with digitized versions of Ada Hayden’s hand-colored slides to develop a mini digital exhibit
- NOTES: Some are weeds, some are native plants. Some may grow more in wetlands, some grow more in drier places.
- Components of description:
- Common name, scientific name
- Physical description (draw on keys and references)
- 1.Color
- 2.Height
- 3.Leaves?
- Habitat
- Native/non-native
- Where plant can be found/distribution
- Interactions with pollinators and animals