A Computer-Based Tool for Introducing Turfgrass Species

An essential component of an introductory turfgrass management course is the description of how turfgrass species are adapted to different cultural systems and environments. The objectives of this project were to develop an interactive program to introduce the characteristics of turfgrass species and their optimum environments and to evaluate the students' gain in understanding turf species characteristics through this approach. A self-contained application, Turf Species, was constructed using the SuperCard development tool. Turf Species consists of three sections including a self-paced tour of the species, a what if establishment section, and randomly composed reinforcement quizzes with automatic grading. Turf Species was designed to be distributed to students on diskette for self-paced study and reinforcement of material presented during previous lectures. Each student who used the Turf Species tool spent approximately 2 h evaluating the program. Seventy-one percent of the student evaluators felt that the graphic representations or illustrations for each species aided in their understanding of the material. All of the evaluators indicated that the testing module helped in their understanding of the turf species, and 86010 of them suggested that the Turf Species program should be used more extensively in the introductory turfgrass management course. An evaluation of the test scores found on returned diskettes showed an average examination grade of 52% with a range from 5 to 100%. A PPROXIMATELY 10 to 25 students enroll in the introductory turfgrass management course at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign each fall semester to explore the world of managing fine turfs. For many, this experience will be their only formal training in the area. A major objective of the course is to teach students how to select appropriate turfgrass species whose growth characteristics best match a particular cultural system. In this approach, the genetic potential of a plant is closely matched to the constraints of the intended environment. This is considered the most environmentally sound method of managing turfs. Turfgrasses that are closely adapted usually require minimal fertilization, irrigation, and a reduced need for using pesticides (Balogh et al., 1992). More than 20 grass species are used for turfgrass across the USA (Turgeon, 1992). The introduction of these species and their attributes represents a difficult learning situation for new students. The absence of distinctive characteristics such as flower color or growth habit make grasses more difficult to remember than other plant material. Also, students are being exposed to many other species through concurrent enrollment in horticulture Department of Hortie., Univ. of Illinois, 1102 S. Goodwin Ave., Ur· bana, IL 61801. Contribution from the H1inois Agrie. Exp. Stn., Ur· bana. Received 25 Apr. 1994. ·Corresponding author (fermo@ uiue.edu). PUblished in J. Nat. Resour. Life Sei. Educ. 24:45-48 (1995). plant material courses. Presently, turf species are introduced to students through static, paper-based data sheets. With this format, a single data sheet is presented for each species. Other media-such as 35-mm slides and textbooks-are used to show pictorial representations of the important visual characters of each species. Students are also shown live specimens in the lab and field. They can view differences or similarities among the species due to the format consistency of the data sheets. Many of the major associations between plant characteristics and environmental requirements are presented during lecture. Although laboratory periods are designed to introduce grass morphology and to relate form to function, time does not permit students to explore all the possible combinations of turf species and enviornments. Additional independent study would be useful to explore case studies of attempts to match turf species to particular environments. One possible opportunity for independent study is through the use of interactive software to allow students to generate what ifscenarios of turf establishment. A selfguided browsing tool would allow students to independently expand on their classroom introduction to the turf species. Our objectives in developing Turf Species were: (i) to develop an interactive program to introduce the plant characteristics of turf species and their optimum environments; and (ii) to develop a mechanism within the program for students to evaluate their understanding of turf species characteristics through this approach.