Vegetation Survey By Drawing

Different people may categorize vegetation types in different ways. Participants divide into teams to collect plant material and, together, identify categories of plant types. Each team develops an ideographic image for a category and assigns it a distinct color, creating ecological nomenclature relevant to the participants. Given a standard topographic map of the study area, teams in the field assess the locations of each group of plants, marking them by colored pen. Topographic maps, with patches of vegetation marked, are aggregated and polygons of each assessed vegetation represent a mean. Students learn about vegetation detail, location, categorization, and spatial interrelationships of vegetation communities. In 2024, the lesson was tested three times in Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo. The Appendix includes examples from testing. This lesson is written regarding vegetation, but it can be conducted for other biotic or abiotic types. The structure of the lesson is intended to let participants work out understandings of vegetation categories by themselves, in their own collectively derived categories. The lesson may be conducted in any language, or in a language learning or language revitalization context. It stands to critique standard English language and Latin vegetation categories, while also teaching how vegetation mapping is done through scientific consensus. The lesson was presented at the 12th annual Indigenous Language Institute, Sandia Resort & Casino, Albuquerque, NM.