Like most large research universities, the majority of students in the life sciences at The University of Texas are biology majors and most follow a pre-medical track. Most of the Biology majors (2000 compared with 21 Botany majors) consider the plant sciences irrelevant to their careers or even their lives. However, their major requires them to take two courses in the plant sciences. Economic Botany is a popular course because it has a reputation as a fun course and because they think there might be something useful in it. Nevertheless, most come into the course thinking that plants are dull and that anything dealing with botany is boring. My job is to convince them otherwise and at the same time provide them with some knowledge that will be remembered because it relates to their lives. The course is a full semester with two lectures per week. It has been taught in the past as a laboratory and a writing component course, but is currently taught as lecture only. The enrollment is capped at 60 per semester. Readings are from the text Economic Botany by Simpson and Ogorzaly and from a packet of readings of current material that changes from year to year. Extra reading material deals with issues such as herbal medicines, indigenous rights, and genetically engineered crops. Integral parts of the course are demonstrations in class that allow students to smell, feel, eat, and play with plant materials. Judging from the responses I have received over the years, the methods work with a general consensus that the course has been ômuch better than anticipated and provided material the students can use.

Key words: economic botany, hands-on teaching, pre-medical professions