Birgit Pruess, professor of microbiological sciences, has published an active learning exercise on the “Three Sisters of Agriculture.”
The article, “The Three Sisters of Agriculture: An Active Learning Activity on Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation,” was published in CourseSource.
According to Pruess, active learning promotes higher level learning in students, while also helping to provide an equitable learning environment.
The activity builds on the Three Sisters, a plant community of beans, corn and squash that has been used by multiple indigenous tribes for generations.
Students investigate the symbiosis between the three plants, where corn provides stalks for beans to climb up on, beans provide nitrogen to all plants and squash helps retain water in the soil and provides shade.
The plants together cover many nutritional requirements, which the students also look into.
The microbiology component is the metabolic process of nitrogen fixation, where bacteria in the nodules of bean roots fix atmospheric nitrogen and make it available to the plant community members. The exercise ends with an assignment on this bacterial metabolic process. Students work in groups and spend much of their time finding information and discussing it within their groups.
Pruess, who earned her doctorate at Ruhr Universität Bochum, Germany, received the 2021 H. Roald and Janet Lund Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2010 William J. and Angelyn A. Austin Advising Award and the 2006 Larson/Yaggie Excellence in Research Award.
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