Description

The project Digital Storytelling with Plants aims to engage young people in the Botanical Garden through multimedia storytelling about plant-human relationships, focusing on creative and digital education. The project will be implemented in the Botanical Garden together with artists, scientists, and educational experts. Young participants will develop their own ideas, share experiences with peers, or express their experiences in the form of digital stories on various social media channels. The project seeks to strengthen the relationship between Digital Natives, Digital Media, and the Botanical Garden, thus increasing youth awareness of nature, plants’ impact on society, and the need to protect plants.

Specific questions will be addressed during the project:

• Which scientific tools (e.g., images, environmental data) can we use to make the plant knowledge of our time visible and usable?
• What plant stories can we tell with social media and how can the public contribute (citizen knowledge)?
• How can digital storytelling contribute to shaping digital transformation in an educational context?

Igniting creativity with digital workshops

We invite young participants to explore, create, and express their own unique experiences through a series of innovative workshops. These workshops, focusing on Plant Embodiment, Plant Coding, Plant Art-Science, Zoom-in & ‑out, and Plant Culture, aim to craft a digital narrative about a plant. Our team of scientists and educators collaboratively transform plant knowledge, images, and measuring devices into experimental, sensory-rich (visual, olfactory, tactile) activities designed to inspire participants. These workshops are rigorously tested by Master’s and Bachelor’s students from the School of Art and Design (FHNW Basel) and Art Education (ZHdK), ensuring their feasibility, educational value, and aesthetic appeal. We offer a diverse mix of these workshops during project weeks for schools and school holidays, providing an engaging and educational experience that blends art, science, and digital storytelling.

Creative coding and plant coding

In Workshop 2 “Plant Coding”, the participants (age >10) can deepen their skills in creative coding. Prof Bernadette Spieler (PH Zürich) will guide the participants how to code and create short stories and games using the Pocket Code app (catrob.at/pc), which uses Lego-like blocks that can be snapped together to create a script and to be executed on the smartphone, thus the app can be used directly in the Botanical Garden. For example, a plant can become the main character in a game, an interactive animation can be created from snapped-together plant images. Thus, an individual story can be invented about a favourite plant and its development (from meiosis to plant growth in response to environment). Children learn important mathematical and computational concepts, they are also deepening their understanding of ideas in other disciplines and developing a broad range of problem-solving, design, collaboration, and communication skills. Finally, an own version of the app (customised for Botanical Garden) will be presented at the end of the project.

Digital storytelling: A powerful tool for plant science communication and engagement

Storytelling is a powerful tool for science communication, especially for topics like plant biology and natural science together with digital artefacts. It not only conveys information but also brings people together, fostering understanding, empathy, and communication. Digital stories allow individuals to move beyond, adding depth to their work by combining images, music, text, and voice. Swiss schools use digital storytelling as a tool for students to express their understanding of a topic (Lehrplan 21, Medien & Informatik, learning materials such as Connected). However, in science communication, it’s crucial to provide materials that are easy to understand. Moreover, the project connects plant-related content to people’s daily lives or specific problems, sparking curiosity and encouraging exchange. To achieve this, Dr. Eveline Hipeli (PH Zürich) oversees the project’s quality and defines the social media analytics tools. She also develops a social media marketing strategy for the Botanical Garden.

Projected outcomes of the digital storytelling with plants initiative

The project is expected to transform the Botanic Garden into a hub for digital and creative knowledge transfer, enhancing understanding of nature amidst digital transformation. The project aims to reach over 700 young citizens through more than 40 workshops and public events.

The project’s anticipated impacts include:

• Increased visitation of the Botanical Garden by young people
• Heightened awareness among young people about plants, nature, and global challenges
• Development of creative and digital problem-solving skills among participants
• Implementation of more multimedia activities in Botanical Gardens and schools
• Increased collaborations between schools, out-of-school learning providers, and universities

The project will also investigate the content about plants that dominates social media and identify the main influencers in this space. The findings will be summarised in a peer-reviewed publication, science communication conferences, and guidelines for the Botanical Garden’s social media strategy. The results will provide valuable insights for future social media use by the Botanical Garden and other science communicators.

Project outcomes

PHZH played a leading role in the Agora project “Digital Storytelling with Plants” by developing and implementing the workshop “Plant Coding”, one of several interdisciplinary workshops conducted in the Botanical Garden of the University of Zurich. Alongside formats such as Foxtrail, Plant-Insect Love, and TreeKI, the goal of Plant Coding was the combination of nature-based learning, computational thinking, and digital storytelling. The workshop offered children the opportunity to explore selected plants on site, document their observations, and translate biological processes into digital artefacts. Using the Pocket Code app, participants first used simulations and second, programmed their own games in which ecological relationships such as light requirements, water balance, or growth dynamics were modelled through game mechanics. All experiences were summarised in a digital story in the form of a short video explaining key facts and showcasing the game. This interplay between direct nature experience and digital construction enhanced both scientific understanding and foundational programming competencies.

Evaluation results show that Plant Coding had particularly strong effects on plant awareness and engagement. Children, especially girls, reported increased interest in plants and plant-related professions, and a noticeable reduction in the perception of plants as uninteresting. They valued the combination of creative design, programming, and scientific inquiry, and experienced a strong sense of agency as they developed functional digital products. Complementing the coding activities, participants produced short video clips presenting their games and telling their own plant-related stories. This work strengthened media literacy skills, particularly regarding narrative structure, visual communication, and audience-oriented presentation.

Plant Coding also served as the foundation for the development of a comprehensive set of open educational resources (OER) created by PHZH. These materials include storyboard templates, video production guidelines, step-by-step instructions for Pocket Code, and structured guidance for planning and running interdisciplinary workshops at Botanical Garden Zurich.

The media-educational analysis conducted by PHZH examined the children’s video productions in detail, assessing narrative structure, scientific accuracy, visual communication, and technical execution.

More digital course material by University of Zurich on “Digital Storytelling with Plants”

Project Documentation

Publications