Recent Plant Science Education Articles
David Hershey
journal "Plant Physiology", I thought I would provide an overview of the
plant science education literature as it does not seem to be mentioned
in typical curricula leading to college degrees in plant science. Well
over 1,000 articles have been published dealing with plant science
education. Many, however, are aimed at people with little or no formal
training in plant science such as precollege teachers and college
teachers of introductory biology courses. Unfortunately, the authors of
many of the articles often have little or no formal training in plant
science themselves. Thus, you have to be on the lookout for errors. This
situation means that there is a great opportunity for knowledgable plant
science educators to contribute accurate articles to the teaching
journals.
Most of the plant education literature is found in a handful of
journals, none devoted exclusively to plant science teaching. To give a
quick overview, I will list some 1998-99 plant articles in several of
these journals. Other journals not in the list that also publish plant
articles are "School Science Review" (from England), "Science Scope"
(National Science Teacher's Association [NSTA] journal for middle school
teachers), "Carolina Tips" (newsletter from Carolina Biological Supply
Co. promoting their products), and "Journal of Natural Resources and
Life Sciences Education" (for college teachers and extension workers in
agronomy and soil science from American Society of Agronomy, the only
journal mentioned here with page charges).
I have had good experiences publishing in many of these journals
including "American Biology Teacher", "Journal of Biological Education",
"BioScience", "Journal of College Science Teaching", "Carolina Tips",
"Science Activities", and "The Science Teacher".
It is worth noting that submitting a manuscript to "Science & Children"
may lead to disappointment. If your manuscript receives positive
reviews, it is not accepted for publication as it would be by most other
journals. Rather, it is placed in a "pending file" for up to two years.
If the editor decides not to use it in that period, the manuscript is
simply returned to the author without even the reviewer's comments.
Recent plant science education articles:
1. "American Biology Teacher" (National Association of Biology Teachers
journal for high school and college biology teachers, the biggest single
source of plant teaching articles):
Flannery, M.C. 1999. Seeing plants a little more clearly. Amer. Biol.
Teacher 61:303-307.
Gibson, D.J. et al. 1999. Learning ecology by doing ecology: Long-term
field experiments in succession. Amer. Biol. Teacher 61:217-222.
Wandersee, J.H. and Schussler, E.E. 1999. Preventing plant blindness.
Amer. Biol. Teacher 61:82, 84, 86.
Smith, D.G. and Avery, D.F. 1999. Supermarket botany. Amer. Biol.
Teacher 61:128-131.
Minorsky, P.V. and Willing, R.P. 1999. Samara dispersal in boxelder.
61:56-59.
Matlack, C.R. 1998. Fern gametophytes in the classroom. Amer. Biol.
Teacher 60:594-595.
Zales, C.R. and Colosi, J.C. 1998. An exercise where students
demonstrate the meaning of "not statistically significantly different."
Amer. Biol. Teacher 60:596-600. [uses forsythia leaves]
Clements, L.A.J. and Jackson, K.E. 1998. Visualization of the light and
dark reactions of photosynthesis through dynamic demonstrations. Amer.
Biol. Teacher 60:601-605.
Wayne, R. and Staves, M.P. 1998. Connecting undergraduate plant cell
biology students with the scientists about whom they learn: A
bibliography. Amer. Biol. Teacher 60:510-517.
Vann, C.N. et al. DNA fingerprinting of trout lilies: A high school
science project. Amer. Biol. Teacher 60:419-425.
McDaniel, L., Maratos, M., and Farabaugh, J. 1998. Infection of plants
by tobaccoo mosaic virus. Amer. Biol. Teacher 60:434-439.
Babich, H. and Fox, K.D. 1998. Induction of crown gall on carrot slices.
Amer. Biol. Teacher 60:445-447.
Fontaine, M. 1998. Thigmomorphogenesis in the classroom. Amer. Biol.
Teacher 60:285-287.
Clifford, P. and Oxlade, E. 1998. Using dandelions to demonstrate the
concept of phenotypic plasticity. Amer. Biol. Teacher 60:291-293.
Valenzuela, J.L. 1998. Ficus epidermal structures: A tool for
introducing leaf anatomy. Amer. Biol. Teacher 60:216-219.
Wenkert, W. 1998. Make some porometers and use them to determine when
your plants are "working." Amer. Biol. Teacher 60:116-120.
Tatina, R. 1998. Osmosis in poisoned plant cells. Amer. Biol. Teacher
60:144-147.
Fox, M., Gaynor, J.J., and Cribben, L. 1998. A botanical treasure hunt -
A fun and educational tree identification exercise. Amer. Biol. Teacher
60:42-45.
Ford, R.H. 1998. A transpiration experiment requiring critical thinking
skills. Amer. Biol. Teacher 60:46-49.
2. "BioScience" (well-known journal with occasional Education Department
that sometimes deals with plants):
Hickok, L.G., Warne, T.R., Baxter, S.L. and Malear, C.T. 1998.
Education: Sex and the C fern: Not just another life cycle. BioScience.
48:1031-1037.
3. "Journal of Biological Education" (British journal for biology
teachers):
Oxlade, E.L. 1998. An investigation of leaf mosaics. J. Biol. Educ.
32:34-39.
Barker, M. 1998. "Such shameful whoredom." J. Biol. Educ. 32:172-180.
(Analogies between plants and animals are often a source of confusion in
the understanding of sexual reproduction in plants)
Weyers, J.D.B., Hoglund, H.O. and McEwen, B. 1998. Teaching botany on
the sunny side of the tree: Promoting investigative studies of the plant
ecophysiology through observations and experiments on sun and shade
leaves. J. Biol. Educ. 32:181-190.
Barker, M. 1998. Understanding transpiration - More than meets the eye.
J. Biol. Educ. 33:17-20.
4. "Journal of College Science Teaching" (NSTA journal for college
science teachers):
Shmaefsky, B., Shmaefsky, T. and Shmaefsky, K. 1998. A vivid
demonstration of fall leaf color changes. J. Coll. Sci. Teach. 28:65-67
Grant, B.W. and Vatnick, I. 1998. A multi-week inquiry for an
undergraduate introductory biology laboratory: Investigating
correlations between environmental variables and leaf stomata. J. Coll.
Sci. Teach. 28:109-112.
Feldman, R.S. 1999. Using a small-scale demonstration farm as a teaching
area in biology and environmental science: Learning ecological
principles while growing food. J. Coll. Sci. Teach. 28:186-191.
Silvius, J.E. and Stutzman, B.C. 1999. A botany laboratory inquiry
experience: Investigating the effect of soil resistance on bean seedling
emergence. J. Coll. Sci. Teach. 28:193-197.
Fox, M, Gaynor, J.J., Shillcock, J. 1999. Floating spinach disks - An
uplifting demonstration of photosynthesis. J. Coll. Sci. Teach.
28:210-212.
5. "Science Activities" (Heldref Foundation journal for precollege
teachers but articles may be of use at college level such as the one by
Glime and Yi):
Glime, J.M. and Li, Y. 1998. pH lowering ability of "Sphagnum". Science
Activities 35(3):10-16.
Buege, D.J. 1999. The flying sunflower: A seed dispersal project.
Science Activities 35(4):10-12.
Zinn, B., Gnut, S. and Kafkafi, U. 1999. First-rate crops from
second-rate water: Classroom activities model a real-world problem.
Science Activities 35(4):27-30.
6. "Science Teacher" (NSTA journal for high school science teachers):
Coffee, S.R. and Rivkin, M.S. 1998. Better schools and gardens. Science
Teacher 65(4):24-27.
7. "Science & Children" (NSTA journal for elementary school teachers):
McLaughlin, C.W., Hampton, L. and Moxham, S. 1999. Shining light on
photosynthesis: Teaching about photosynthesis and plant growth in a
primary classroom. Science & Children 36(5):26-31.
David R. Hershey
dh...@excite.com