The activity described here was designed to center on the observation of circadian rhythms in plants through the example of growing beans. The aim was to develop students' skills of systematic observation of various variables in the long-term. Our study took place at a Science and Arts Center with 17 gifted students in the third and fourth grades…

The percentage of children with certain allergic conditions has increased over previous decades. Seasonal allergies, which includes hay fever, allergic rhinitis, and allergic conjunctivitis, causes sneezing, cough, runny nose, and itchy eyes. Eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, causes itchy, bumpy rashes and thickened skin that can appear…

Giant kelp ("Macrocystis pyrifera") forests are icons of marine beauty, acting as critical marine ecosystems with great ecological and economic value. Kelp forests are hot spots for biodiversity and provide myriad ecosystem services such as nursery habitat for commercial fisheries, nutrient cycling, wave attenuation, as well as…

The understanding of analytical chemistry and its application in different areas of life science is something that should be encouraged for students studying chemistry, and also something that appeals to many students. Life science includes a vast variety of areas, out of which some are more easily approached in student projects. The chemical…

Climate change adaptation efforts at the local level can help build support among Extension clients as well as improve resilience of natural systems. Marsh migration models of tidal wetlands in Connecticut show inland movement where conditions are suitable. Property owners, however, are frequently opposed to allowing marsh migration of cultivated…

Critical analysis (CA) skills are crucial in higher education and should be incorporated into the curriculum at that level. The unique characteristics of abstract biology materials and the involvement of prospective Biology teachers (PBTs) in scientific investigation activities make them highly relevant for teaching CA skills. Inquiry activities…

Metacognition is often described as the awareness and regulation of learning. It uses strategies which include monitoring one's own thinking, engaging in active planning and self-evaluating one's study habits. Bloom's taxonomy can be used as a metacognitive tool to guide students' study strategies and thus improve their academic performance by…

This chapter discusses ways of engaging the plant-human connection and exchange by learning about bonsai and then engaging and meditating on the tree to eventually cultivate the experience of bonsai as meditation.

This article presents Family Nature Tours as a participatory method for exploring children's human and more-than-human-nature interactions within the context of the family. Through equipping children with wearable cameras during family-led outdoor activities, this qualitative study provides insight on what non-rural Alaskan families consider…

In the past few decades, chemistry has evolved to interact with various disciplines to synergistically help tackle global challenges. This, in turn, requires that newer generations of chemistry students are trained to be more flexible in accepting and coordinating new concepts. In this experiment, pineapple was used as a key model to allow for the…

This study examined factors that shape how nursery growers perceive automated nursery technologies and evaluate how these perceptions relate to growers' adoption. We applied Rogers' (2003) Diffusion of Innovations to understand growers' perceptions of automated technologies to inform Extension programming serving niche audiences in the nursery and…

How might fourth graders address the problem of measuring the size of a leaf? And why might their classroom teachers choose such a shape to measure? One group of fourth-grade students in an urban Australian school were interested in knowing the sizes of leaves on a passionfruit vine growing at their school. The children were excited after a visit…

Plant awareness disparity (PAD, formerly plant blindness) is the tendency not to notice plants in one's environment, which leads to the perspective that plants are unimportant. In this paper, we explore how plants and animals are represented in introductory biology textbooks to determine if these texts are contributing to PAD in undergraduate…

When most people think "King Island," they think of a place synonymous with premium Australian dairy products. But hidden away from the lush, green pastures of grazing cows is an island teeming with invertebrate and plant species. You could probably eat some of those too, but that wasn't the intent of the Bush Blitzers who set off to…

Integrated STEM activities are espoused as appropriate for enhancing student learning in relation to statistical concepts; however, a greater understanding of the way in which students' ideas about those concepts develop is needed to maximise the learning potential offered by engagement in STEM activities. For this study, plant growth was chosen…