Teaching plant anatomy

[John Penny]

On 20 Aug 1996, Dr david Starrett wrote:

>Plant-eders,

> Next week I will begin teaching an upper level plant anatomy course to
>seniors and masters students here. I have inherited a 30 year old syllabus.
>I will be using it as a guideline. My question... Does anyone have any
>suggestions/tips on teaching the course? My worry is that 16 weeks of
>looking at cross sections will be rather dry. The syllabus basically
>follows the chapter outlines in Fahn's book. I want to spiff this class up
>a bit. Any neat demos, techniques, etc? Any batter way to teach than
>simply regurgitating book material? I am not trained as a plant anatmoist
>though I have had the class (14 years back) and have taught basic anatomy in
>intro botany classes.
> Any thoughts, suggestions, horror stories, etc. appreciated. This is a
>two hr lec, 3 hr lab per week.
> Thanks

> Dave Starrett

Dear Dave,

Your can cut your own hand-held sections using single-edged razor blades,
just as you would in the field to identify some of the larger fucoid seaweeds.
Use 0.05M toluidine blue for about 30 seconds to stain the specimens.
I find celery petioles quite good for this.

Are you doing plant diversity ? Take the students out in the field to
collect their own specimens rather than getting them yourself or
buying the material in. (Everybody appreciates a 'jolly', especially students.
Even in the middle of the city, it's easy to find mosses, liverworts,
filamentous greens, ferns,etc as well as a wide range of higher
plants. Just look on waste ground, at the bottom of walls & lamp posts
frequented by the local dog population (high nutrient input so good
for Prasiola & Rosenvingiella, etc., between the cracks in paving
stones (mosses & liverworts), playing fields (broad leaved weeds)
etc.

Marsilea spores (avialable from specialist suppliers such as
Philip Harris in the UK) will germinate easily to produce a
protonema within a couple of hours of being wettened.

Moss spores can be cultured on sterile agar slopes although these take longer.

Most of all, let your enthusiasm show. I find this is the
most effective tool for enlivening potentially boring classes like histology
or anatomy. The teachers I remember best from my time at university are
those that allowed me to experience their love for the subject.

Spiffing up a subject is really only effective if you're already
spiffed.

j.p...@bell.ac.uk (John Penny)