cultural use of plants

[q00001 at TIGGER.STCLOUD.MSUS.EDU]

Netters,
We are interested in incorporating/developing a course which would provide 
a non-western prespectives of plants and the role they play in these cultures
Anyone that might know of information related to this subject we appreciated 
your assistance.  
In related topics having to deal with General Biology/Botany/Zoology courses 
particularly at the introductory level, the manner in which the material is 
presented is under deep discussion.  The basic tenent which is being 
questioned is: A survey of the various taxonomic groups in a discipline vs. 
a functional framework which then incorporates how diverse organisms deal with
the functional requirement.  Any comments or the approaches at the intro 
level which you have found effective would be appreciated.

David DeGroote 
Biology/SCSU
q00001 at tigger.stcloud,msus.edu