A New Carnivorous Plant Course for Young People

Teresa A. Golembiewski

University of Wisconsin • Whitewater Department of Biological Sciences • 800 West Main Street • Whitewater, WI 53190 • USA

A new course on carnivorous plants is described. The course is taught annually as part of an enrichment program for students age seven through nine. The course is based upon the Bloodthirsty Plant book series by Gareth Stevens Publishing. Beyond the purely educational aspects, the course emphasizes fun and incorporates numerous craft activities.

Inspired by Michael Szeszes’ work, I began to teach a course for young people on carnivorous plants. My course is now offered annually through The Young Scholars Program at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Young Scholars Program is an enrichment program for area grade school students and is offered cooperatively through the UW-W. Continuing Education Services and the Area Gifted and Talented Network. My course is geared towards students younger than Michael Szeszes’, and incorporates my interests in crafts. I have developed a 16 page workbook to augment the course.

My course (entitled The Weird, Wild, Wacky and Wonderful World of Carnivorous Plants) is a six Saturday, two hour per day class for seven through nine year old students (U.S.A. grades second through fourth). On each of the first five days, a different carnivorous plant group is introduced: sundews, butterworts, Venus flytraps and waterwheels, pitcher plants, then bladderworts. The two hour class is roughly divided into halves: the "educational" hour, and the "creative expression" hour. The sixth day is a festive review and inspirational send off to further learning.

The educational hour begins with a story about the carnivorous plant topic of the day using the "Bloodthirsty Plant" book series by the Gareth Stevens Publishing company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This series consists of six books, each a 24 page documentation of a different carnivorous plant group. These books are the stepping-off point for observations, discussion and questions. After reading the book to the class, live examples of the plant genus of the week are examined. Class participants are encouraged to TOUCH the sticky mucilage, SNIFF for sweet scents, and LOOK for trigger hairs, downward-pointing hairs and insect remains.

Students demonstrating Venus fly trap puppets made from paper plates.

Students making sundews out of pipe cleaners.

Next we examine how the plants work. Winged fruit flies are released into a bell jar with the various carnivorous plants. For the tiny bladderwort, a video camera attached to a dissecting microscope is used to observe live protozoa swimming among the bladder traps. After an informal discussion of what we have learned, we sit down to our workbooks and together answer key questions about our genera of the day. Thus concludes the educational half.

The creative expression half, while a great deal of fun, actually includes many educational aspects. Students piece together jigsaw puzzles that contain pitcher plants in their habitats then answer habitat riddles. Sundews are grown from seed, and butterworts from leaf cuttings and division. We discuss winter treatment, and why it is so important to not take plants from the wild. We learn how to obtain tried and true, easy-to-grow varieties.

Students observing Pinguicula and fruit fly interactions in a bell jar.

Students enjoying "butterwort bread". Home made butter is spread onto green bread.

Students model sundews from pipe cleaners, mold pitcher plants in clay, and fashion a Venus flytrap puppet out of a paper plate. They construct an origami butterfly for the Venus Flytrap puppet to eat. They build a butterwort out of green bread, and shake green-dyed cream to make the buttery mucilage. They link hands to form a human bladderwort trap and act out the capture of classmate prey. Then they create their own stories and pictures of their experiences and record them, with their thoughts, in their notebooks.

I forward this work to contribute to the discussion, began by Michael Szesze, on the use of carnivorous plants in science education. I have developed and have now described a very hands-on, informative, yet fun course on carnivorous plants that is geared towards students aged seven through nine.