Two intended learning outcomes of our undergraduate introduction to horticulture courses are for students to be more aware of the horticultural plants and practices that they encounter in their daily lives and to enthusiastically engage in growing and caring for plants. While lectures provide students with a framework on which to hang their expanding knowledge of plant science and horticultural concepts, we have found that including hands-on activities that allow students to reconstruct their own knowledge framework and connect the concepts to their daily lives has successfully engaged students and improved achievement of learning outcomes. In this presentation, we will describe how we have integrated a new introductory horticulture textbook, lectures, and hands-on ‘Seeing Horticulture’ activities, and examine student learning outcomes, in courses at Montana State University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
