The Department of Plant and Soil Sciences offers an Honours elective module called “Plant, People and Planet” (BOT 789). Prof. Nigel Barker leads this module, and its aim is to involve students in projects that increase awareness about plants and the environment. In 2023, these students were split into two groups, with two separate projects.

One project was based on campus, and required the students to create a botanical trail that provides information about some of the amazing and unusual plants that grow on our Hatfield Campus (which is a formal Botanical Garden in its own right – the Manie van der Schijff Botanical Garden – see https://www.up.ac.za/botanical-garden). Building on submissions prepared by some of these students and their peers when they took the third-year BOT 366 Plant Diversity course the previous year, the #LoveYourCampus project was developed. Working hand in hand with the Tourism Honours students, led by Prof. Karen Harris, as well as the horticulturist responsible for the gardens, Mr Jason Sampson, the plant science students trialed out the concept by developing the content for a website, and designing small plaques bearing the name of the plant and a QR code that takes the visitor to a web page with information on the species and in some cases its interesting history as relating to UP. Initially an A4 page was developed with the QR code and a link to a Google form for a survey. These were mounted on trees around campus, and the results from the survey collated. Thereafter, having had feedback from the survey, the design of the plaques was finalized, and Prof. Barker liaised with Facilities Management to ensure these met with official approval and could be installed. Unfortunately, the official plaques arrived too late in the year for an official “launch” of #LoveYourCampus botanical tour, but this will be done in 2024.

The second group of students worked with the renowned traditional healer Dr Ephraim Mabena in Mamelodi. Dr Mabena is passionate about environmental education, and wanted to have an educational trail developed on the mountain ridge above Mamelodi, where he has his medicinal plants gardens. These students worked on developing the content for large signboards (again with QR codes linking to additional content on the web) that were then mounted on poles and put in the ground on the mountain in Dr Mabena’s Mothong African Heritage site. The challenge faced here was trying to get the scientific content explained in a way that Grade 8-12 learners could understand. These large signs were installed at the end of the semester last year and have yet to be formally tested with a group of school learners – a process that future BOT 789 students can continue with so that this project can be further developed and expanded.

In reality, although divided into two groups, all the BOT 789 students participated in both projects and helped each other out; they also interacted with various communities beyond their immediate scientific context, including Dr Mabena, his horticultural interns, tourism students and staff, as well as other members of the public. Most importantly, their legacy from these two projects is there for all to see and experience, and can also be further built on in the future.