Created in 1552 as a gift for Spain's king, the Badianus Manuscript is a repository of Aztec traditional medicinal knowledge and contains the earliest surviving illustrations of New World plants. At the College of Santa Cruz (Mexico City) for Aztec nobility, an Aztec healer who became the college physician compiled plant descriptions and medicinal…

Describes the operation of the Minolta SPAD-502 Leaf Chlorophyll meter. Presents five sample activities for using this technology in high school or college science classes. (WRM)

Children love observing seeds change as they germinate and grow into tall healthy plants, but how can teachers make investigating plants an exciting and immediate event? Microscopy might just be the answer. Although most students have seen flowers, not many have looked closely at their various structures or seen their colorful designs only…

Spring is an exciting time in any kindergarten classroom. The children are communicating better, and they have begun working more independently. Their critical-thinking skills are growing each day. Last year, as the warm days of spring teased our senses, a plant unit seemed especially enticing, so the author created four interactive, plant-themed…

The authors investigated whether guidance and reflection would facilitate science learning in an interactive multimedia game. College students learned how to design plants to survive in different weather conditions. In Experiment 1, they learned with an agent that either guided them with corrective and explanatory feedback or corrective feedback…

This study is intended to develop an assessment instrument to investigate students' understandings about internal transport in plants and human circulatory system. A refined process of a two-tier diagnostic test was used to develop the instrument. Finally, three versions of the Internal Transport in Plants and the Human Circulatory System test…

Previous research (e.g. "Cognition" 64 (1997) 73) suggests that the privileged level for inductive inference in a folk biological conceptual hierarchy does not correspond to the ''basic'' level (i.e. the level at which concepts are both informative and distinct). To further explore inductive inference within conceptual hierarchies, we examine…

With such curriculum gaps, it is hardly surprising that middle school children's understanding of botany is limited and riddled with misconceptions. Knowing that plants supply the oxygen to sustain most life forms and provide the primary energy source of most food webs is a core idea of science. Investigating non-native species is one way to…

This study aims at highlighting the collaborative activity of two high school students (age 14) in the cases of modeling the complex biological process of plant growth with two different tools: the "paper & pencil" concept mapping technique and the computer-supported educational environment "ModelsCreator". Students' shared activity in both cases…

A Mrs. Jefferson, a sixth-grade lead science teacher, wandered through her students' art show, she enjoyed the creative drawings that her students did in art class. Next year, due to budget cuts, the art teacher would be shared with several other schools and would not have time for weekly art classes for every grade. The principal understood the…

Writing can be a powerful tool for learning biology. Writing assignments in biology could help students personalize and understand the biology knowledge they are studying. In this article, the authors present the "Botanical Sense of Place" (BSP), a convenient and easy-to-use writing template that they developed to elicit and probe students' prior…

The "Kids for Trees" program described in this guidebook is a hands-on natural resource management experience where students raise trees from seedlings to harvest and manage other natural resources in a sustainable manner. Sections of the book include key concepts, getting started, needs of different kinds of trees, learning about potential…

This booklet contains games and activities that can be photocopied for classroom use. Activities include Wetland Terminology, Putting on the Map, Erosional Forces, Water in...Water out, Who Lives Here?, Wetlands in Disguise, Dichotomous Plant Game, Algae Survey, Conducting an Algal Survey, Water Quality Indicators Guide, Farming Wetlands, Wetlands…

This is an activity book designed for students in grades 3 through 6. These activities incorporate science themes and cooperative learning. Students explore topics by working with others as team members to complete the science activities. This book contains five units on the following topics: weather, insects, plants, dinosaurs, and space. Each…

The Magnificent Mum Education Program is a theme-based program developed around the garden mum. With its bright colors, various flower forms, perennial life cycle, and easy propagation, the garden mum is ideal for classroom use and community planting programs. The mum-theme lessons can be integrated into all subject areas including science, math,…