Instructional Problem

Our department serves students majoring in a multitude of different areas.  The student’s scholastic goals are as varied as they are. Their goals range from those who will pursue a Ph.D. in order to become research scientists to others who aspire to become landscape designers and many related fields in between. This diversity of students and their curricular backgrounds creates great challenges for the course concept, especially since there are decidedly less Hort Science students in the course than in the other areas.  A persistent issue we face is “How do we teach Plant Physiology at the highest level while addressing the different goals and backgrounds of our students?”

Students from Horticultural Science have eight required courses in Chemistry, Biochemistry and Genetics, three of which are lab courses, in their plan of study. In addition, these students take introductory courses in Botany, Horticulture, Plant Pathology and Plant Propagation. In contrast, students from the Horticulture Landscape and Design area must take only three introductory courses in Chemistry (none are lab experiment courses) and three additional introductory courses in the Botanical field. The latter students inevitably have a large learning gap to overcome going into Hort301 since they have little to no lab experience and must often learn the basics of practical, scientific research methodology. They too often get caught up in procedural questions.