School students, and their teachers, seldom have opportunities to investigate something in nature. Yet children's development, as perceived by Piaget, and historical scientists' learning, involves investigation. We acted to include these investigative responses and historic resources into our work with new science teachers. We did this in the…

The relationship between the form and structure of plants and their gravitational environment is one of the most important teaching subjects of biological education. However, the teaching materials for the gravity effect have so long been concerned only with gravitropism, i.e. the short-time response of adjusting the orientation of seedling roots…

Identifying and providing the most appropriate classroom environment for living organisms can be time consuming, expensive, and sometimes seemingly impossible. This document, a collection of 2-4 page articles from "Sciences and Children," provides useful information on the collecting and culturing of plants and animals. Among the 43 chapters are:…

Investigates the attitudes and values that children and adolescents hold with respect to nature and the patterns of reasoning with which they are expressed. Outlines current positions in environmental ethics, discusses difficulties in applying contemporary theories of moral development to the problem, and summarizes preliminary results of the…

Evaluated is the impact of the landscape upon children in 21 schools in England. Past and present experiences of 8- to 11-year-old children were measured. Results indicate that both past and present experiences make a small but significant contribution to the children's development of botanical knowledge and environmental dispositions. (Author/CW)

The relationship between language, thought, and concept formation has been a central issue in many studies and theoretical discussions in various domains--philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and linguistics. The relation between language and concept development can be framed as two opposing questions: (1) Does the child learn concepts first and…

An ethnographic study was conducted with the goal of evaluating the botanical concepts of sixth-grade students. One aspect of the study involved examination of the levels of abstraction students use for naming plants. Nine sixth-grade students were interviewed individually. Each was asked to identify the plants seen in a set of 64 slides and…

Students' alternative conceptions arise out of an interconnected system of beliefs: about the nature of science, of learning, of the natural and social world. Cross-cultural perspectives on these world views are therefore essential. This study probed middle school students' conceptions about plants. Tribal students were found to have a richer and…

Children have ample opportunities to learn about science outside of school through visits to science museums, participation in extra-curricular science programs, and by pursuing experiments at home, yet few studies have examined what it means to do science in such places and how such ways of knowing might become integrated with, or differentiated…

This document summarizes the findings of the Learning through Evaluation, Adaptation and Dissemination (LEAD) Center's report on the team approach to the first research experience for undergraduates in botany and zoology. Students (N=25) and faculty (N=12) were interviewed and a comparison was made between students who performed the research in…

Reviewed are some of the techniques being used in plant biotechnology laboratories. Described are tissue culture and genetic manipulation. Advantages and disadvantages of this approach and ethics and public concern issues are discussed. (CW)

Non-indigenous species (NIS) are common in the United States landscape. While some are beneficial, others are harmful and can cause significant economic, environmental, and health damage. This study, requested by the U.S. House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, examined State and Federal policies related to these harmful NIS. The report is…

Studies the perceived effectiveness of four student projects involving videotape production, computer conferencing, microcomputer simulation, and rapid-cycling Brassica breeding for undergraduate plant breeding students in two course offerings in consecutive years. Linking of the computer conferencing and video projects improved the rating of the…

This paper describes the effects of the implementation of constructivist techniques with interactive computer simulations on conceptual understanding of plant nutrition and critical thinking skills in heterogeneously grouped secondary biology classrooms. The study focused on three strategies for teaching plant nutrition: (1) traditional; (2)…

The assertion that there is a social component to children's construction of knowledge about natural phenomena is supported by evidence from an examination of children's classification schemes for plants. An ethnographic study was conducted with nine sixth grade children in central Texas. The children classified plants in the outdoors, in a…