This article is the first to employ a Freirean framework to discuss the Taiwanese Sunflower Student Movement and its political, pedagogical and social significance. We analyse lecturers' and students' perspectives and experiences of civic responsibility in order to explore the relationship between critical pedagogy and student participation in the…

Classroom exploration of plant-based medicines and ethnobotany is a timely and valuable way to engage students in science. This Feature highlights Internet-based resources to help teachers in primary and secondary classrooms incorporate lessons and activities to teach about plant medicines. These Internet resources include curricula, videos, sites…

A critical thinking assessment was used to compare biology students in a nonmajors course who participated in either a multisemester research program or in a one-semester lab study. Initially, it was thought the former would be more effective in promoting critical thinking improvement than the latter. Data from nine biology classes with pre- and…

"BioBlitz" events are popular local wildlife surveys often engaging public audiences in a race against time to find, identify, and record as many different species as possible in a given timeframe. This study provides baseline assessment of the value of BioBlitz as a tool for public engagement and collection of environmental data in the…

We conducted interviews with 16 postsecondary students at a large public university on pollination systems knowledge. A semi-structured interview protocol was developed with open-ended prompts to elicit student explanations of pollination systems. Congruent themes were developed through coding of the interview transcripts into low, medium, and…

The enrichment of plant foods with gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is currently an interesting issue in the field of nutraceuticals and can be used as an experiment for upper-division undergraduate students. Here, an interdisciplinary hands-on experiment to produce GABA-enriched mung bean sprouts using common household reagents is described. Based…

The aim of the research is to determine the perceptions of the preservice science teachers about the photosynthesis and to reveal the relation between these perceptions and the misconceptions of the existing concepts. In the research, field scanning method was used as a descriptive research method. The sample of the research is composed of 355…

This research aims to utilize local biodiversity specifically Sampunong Bolo Wild Life Sanctuary in Municipality of Sara, Iloilo, Philippines as teaching materials in K12 Basic Education Program Science Curriculum. The methods used were interview, photo and video elicitation, and document analysis. The highly diverse forest ecosystem in Sampunong…

Background: Although plant reproduction is a core subject in school science curricula, botanical topics are typically unpopular with students. Integrating the arts into science subject matter has the potential to increase student interest and understanding. Educational theatre has shown particular promise in this area. Purpose: The study examined…

Constructing scientific arguments is an important skill, and is specifically addressed by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science and engineering practice of Engaging in Arguments From Evidence. To ensure that students understand the significance of a scientific argument, they need experiences that will help them understand, use, and…

A lesson that focuses on the intricate co-evolution of flowers with their pollinators is one way to help students learn the delicate balance in nature and help ensure that our actions do not upset this balance. In this lesson students use the engineering design process to engineer a flower that is a perfect model for its chosen pollinator. Next,…

A classroom exercise is described in which college students take part in creating and supporting an evolutionary hypothesis that explains effort grunting. The exercise holds their interest throughout and readies them to understand hypotheses of animal and plant evolution. It informs them about the dependence of cultural evolution upon biological…

Food security is one of the most pressing concerns of our times. Despite the vast opportunities, there is a shortage of skilled professionals in the food, agriculture, and plant sciences. Although most programs focused on addressing this concern have targeted students, we have often overlooked another critical group--the teachers. To address this…

Biology learning, especially the topic of plant physiology, requires Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). This ability needs to be improved with HOTS based teaching materials. The teaching materials, however, have not been developed, especially those in plant physiology topic. Students' HOTS in biology learning still requires an improvement as…

As part of the educational process, it is currently difficult for a teacher to engage students for the amount of information that is available all around us today. Therefore, it is necessary to choose appropriate methods and actively prepare various teaching aids that can motivate students, arouse interest in self-study and thus educate them. The…