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Plant Talk

Inside The New York Botanical Garden

New Online Resource Invites Students to Become Plant Hunters

Posted in Learning Experiences on May 27 2010, by Plant Talk

Kids Learn Science Through Virtual Exploration of Haupt Conservatory

Elizabeth Fisher is Associate Manager for Education Marketing and Public Relations.

The New York Botanical Garden has launched a new online resource that brings the wonder of its extensive plant collections into homes and classrooms around the world. Plant Hunters is an innovative tool that provides a virtual exploration of Earth’s vast biodiversity inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and serves as a dynamic way for students and families everywhere to discover the beauty and importance of the world’s plants.

Plant Hunters combines digital illustrations and interactive games with expert-developed plant science content as an engaging way to teach users about topics such as pollination, plant evolution, and how plants may be used for medicine, food, and shelter. Users can navigate the Tropical Rain Forest and Desert Galleries of the Haupt Conservatory, explore 64 different plants in more detail, watch videos of Botanical Garden scientists, play seven different Plant Challenges, and much more! Learning as they play, kids can progress from a “Beginning Biologist” to a “Cool Conservationist” and finally to a “Professional Plant Hunter.”

The site’s amazing graphics provide a delightful and vivid virtual experience of the Haupt Conservatory—the largest Victorian-style glasshouse in America. Now visitors to the Garden can supplement their experience by clicking on and learning about their favorite plants from home; families and school groups have virtual access to the Conservatory; and educators have an exciting new tool to foster science literacy among their K–8 students.

Chantal Nelson, a science teacher at C.S. 211–The Bilingual School, in the Bronx, said, “I like that [my students] are able to take what I’ve been teaching them in class and find it on the [Plant Hunters] site and explore more. There’s a lot more information on that site than I’m able to give them in 45 minutes.”

Students at the school also enjoyed Plant Hunters. Here’s what some of them had to say:

  • “The Web site is very interesting, because it shows you some plants you’ve never seen before.”
    Kenima Peralta, third grader
  • “I learned that there is such a thing as a rubber tree!”
    Kye Spenser, third grader
  • “We played with Plant Hunters on family game night!”
    Shanyah Lander, fourth grader
  • “I really liked the fact that it is using the Botanical Garden as a place to help us learn about exotic plants and flowers. I enjoyed that it showed you the real Conservatory and you really get to see it in 360-degree mode.
    Hillary Rosario, fifth grader

Created by award-winning Web design and development company Second Story, and with support from the Verizon Foundation, this free tool is now accessible for family and classroom learning on the Garden’s Web site and on Verizon Thinkfinity, a comprehensive educational Web site that provides thousands of free educational resources for teachers, parents, and students.

For an overview of Plant Hunters, check out this video.

Happy exploring!