Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education)
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A new year’s resolution for your consideration…

A new year’s resolution for your consideration… | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

Here is one more resolution for your list: “In 2013, I will communicate about plants to a non-specialist audience.”  I think you know WHY (plant science is underfunded, plants are perceived as boring, or less important than animals, etc.), but here are some suggestions for HOW.

 

Participate in Fascination of Plants Day 2013 (http://www.plantday12.eu/home.htm#). Contact your local organizer to find out what’s planned, and either join in or create an event. Here is a summary of the 2012 event to inspire you (http://www.plantday12.eu/downloads2013/Success_EPSOglobal_FoPD2012.pdf).

 

Give a public lecture at a botanic garden, library, senior center, community group or other venue. You can talk about your research or about the roles of plants in our lives. Some of the Teaching Tools materials are easily adapted to a non-specialist audience, including “Why Study Plants?”, “Genetic Improvements in Agriculture”, “Plants, Food and Human Health”, and “Medicinal Plants”. (http://www.plantcell.org/site/teachingtools/teaching.xhtml).

 

Bring plants and a plant-based activity into a school classroom for an hour. Contact your local schools with a concrete proposal, and they’ll help to find a teacher who can work your idea into their curriculum. Many teachers have a very strict curriculum they have to follow, but if you can show them how your presentation fits into their needs they’re usually willing to bring you in as an invited guest. Here are some resources to guide and inspire you:

 

Activities you can do with school children: (http://bit.ly/12SGZ41) and lots more here (http://www.aspb.org/education/NEWK12.CFM)  and here (http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/K-12/Pages/default.aspx) and here (http://www.saps.org.uk/). Here’s a first-person account of a day in the classroom: (http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/culturing-science/2011/08/31/it-only-takes-one-day-bringing-scientists-into-the-classroom/).  Here’s a UK resource to help you connect with teachers (https://www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk/). Or, volunteer to be a mentor for a school group through Planting Science (http://www.plantingscience.org/) or at a school science fair: see more on p. 16 of this ASPB newsletter (http://newsletter.aspb.org/2004/marapr04.pdf).

 

Share a popular science book about plants. You can donate a copy to your public library, school library, or to your favourite high school biology teacher. Here are a few I’ve read recently that I’d like to share:

 

“What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses” by Daniel Chamovitz

“Seed to Seed: The Secret Life of Plants” by Nicholas Harberd

“Hybrid: The History and Science of Plant Breeding” by Noel Kingsbury

"The Emerald Planet: How Plants Changed Earth's History” by David Beerling

“Eating the Sun” by Oliver Morton

“The Secret Life of Trees” by Colin Tudge

“Reinventing Life: A Guide to our Evolutionary Future” by Jeffrey Coker

“Reaching for the Sun: How Plants Work” by John King

“Tomorrows Table” by Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak

“The New Oxford Book of Food Plants” by J.G. Vaughan and C.A. Geissler

“The Natural History of Medicinal Plants” by Judith Sumner

"A Private Life of Plants" by David Attenborough (book and DVD!)

              (if I missed any of your favorites let me know and I’ll add them!)

 

Plant scientists do have to shoulder a heavier burden of responsibility for communicating about our discipline than do animal biologists, but we also have a strong, supportive community and plenty of well-researched resources to make it easier. Have a very happy, fruitful year!

M Dolores Rodriguez's comment, December 31, 2012 7:01 AM
Great idea!
Mary Williams's comment, January 1, 2013 11:56 AM
Thanks, and Happy New Year!
Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education)
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Visit to CAAS, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Visit to CAAS, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

The best part of plant science is the plant scientists. I had an amazing visit today to CAAS, full of young and energetic PIs and students. Special thanks to Fan and Xiangxiang my tour guides! @ASPB @ThePlantCell

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What We’re Reading: June 2nd

What We’re Reading: June 2nd | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

What We're Reading: Aphids, ABP1, FRO2, PO4, yuvalamide A, pinenes, ancestral alliances and other delights

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What We’re Reading: March 31

What We’re Reading: March 31 | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

What We're Reading: Today we cover spandrels & speciation, thermophilous species & tradeoffs, the Kok effect & more

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CRISPR, microbes and more are joining the war against crop killers

CRISPR, microbes and more are joining the war against crop killers | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it
Agricultural scientists look beyond synthetic chemistry to battle pesticide resistance.
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What We’re Reading: March 10

What We’re Reading: March 10 | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

Stomatal immunity, banana breeding, synthetic botany, RACiR, AGO10 and SPY (oh my) and more!

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Activity and Videos: Do plants need soil to grow?

Activity and Videos: Do plants need soil to grow? | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it
This resource provides a set of videos and a practical investigation aimed at supporting working scientifically in the classroom and relating science to real world experiences.

 

In the first video Professor Brian Cox joins a teacher to find out how to set up and run an investigation to find out if plants need soil to grow. Children try to germinate and grow plants from a seed using a variety of different materials instead of soil.

 

Further videos show Brian Cox visiting an Industrial farm to find out about how they grow vegetables in a building and meeting a researcher looking at soil health.

 

A written resource, provided by Science and Plants at Schools, (SAPS), guides teachers in running the investigation in class. This resource has been provided by the Royal Society.

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Poverty Plus A Poisonous Plant Blamed For Paralysis In Rural Africa (Cassava)

Poverty Plus A Poisonous Plant Blamed For Paralysis In Rural Africa (Cassava) | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it
Some African countries have long witnessed mysterious outbreaks of paralysis. Affected regions are poor and conflict-ridden, where people's main food is a bitter, poisonous variety of cassava.
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What We’re Reading: February 17

What We’re Reading: February 17 | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

Morphometrics and mycorrhizas,

hydathodes and isoprenes,

Tansley Medal finalists and more!

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What We’re Reading: February 3rd

What We’re Reading: February 3rd | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

Reviews on P, Se, and FR/R. Haploid induction, chlorophagy, ethnobotany and more!

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ASPB | Jobs at ASPB. Ecucation Coordinator

ASPB | Jobs at ASPB. Ecucation Coordinator | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

Excellent opportunity for someone excited by plant science research! Located near Washington DC at Society headquarters (Rockville, Maryland).

The Education Coordinator is responsible for implementing the Society’s education and outreach activities, as well as for administrative support and coordination of correspondence, communication activities, and development of education-related projects. 

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Plant biologists welcome their robot overlords

Plant biologists welcome their robot overlords | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it
Old-school areas of plant biology are getting tech upgrades that herald more detailed, faster data collection.
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Edward Buckler

Edward Buckler | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

Edward S. Buckler, Research Geneticist, USDA-ARS and Adjunct Professor, Plant Breeding and Genetics at the Institute for Genomic Diversity, Cornell University, will receive the 2017 NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences, the first time this prize is being awarded.

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Meting with students at Tsinghua University, Beijing

Meting with students at Tsinghua University, Beijing | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

I spent a wonderful day visiting with the plant scientists at Tsinghua University, Beijing. Lunch with some graduate students was a highlight! Thanks for hosting me!

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What We’re Reading: April 28

What We’re Reading: April 28 | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

We're reading about photosynthesis (several), perennialization, Polycomb Repressive complexes, plastid origins, pollination by birds, hypoxia, hybrid vigor, heat stress (and more!). Enjoy and have a nice weekend!

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Are GMOs Good or Bad? Genetic Engineering & Our Food

A well-presented look at the controversies around GMOs, from the popular video seriesKurzgesagt – In a Nutshell.

 

Frankie Gnekow's curator insight, April 3, 2017 6:10 PM
Most people are confused about what GMOs are and how they are beneficial to people. People think that GMOs are deadly, but science has proven that they are no more dangerous than no GMOs. Most criticizes against GMOs that are actually valid are actually criticisms of the agriculture and pesticides industries, not the science of genetically modified organisms. Without GMOs, many people would not be able to produce crops and they would not be able to feed families. Examples would be in Hawaii, where the papaya industry was almost wiped out by a disease, but GMOs that were resistant to the disease were created and now the industry prospers. 
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What We’re Reading: March 24

What We’re Reading: March 24 | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

A plethora of papers featuring auxin (5), guard cells (2), evolution (3), & flower/ing (3) +more

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What We’re Reading: March 17

What We’re Reading: March 17 | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

Some big ideas this week, from sex determination to the fate of the world's plants (&much more)

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What We’re Reading: March 3

What We’re Reading: March 3 | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

Cool chemistry: Structural metabolomics for community ecology, MS imaging of Kranz anatomy, Real-time phloem unloading, Metabolic gene clustering, Pollen chemistry as a driver of host shifts in bees .... and more!

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Quinoa—quest to feed the world | KAUST Discovery

Quinoa—quest to feed the world | KAUST Discovery | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it
The sequencing of a high-quality quinoa genome by a KAUST-led team supports global food security and the production of crops to feed millions of people
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People Behind the Science Podcast. Dr. Mike Blatt: Keeping a Close Eye On Channels and Vesicle Trafficking in Plant Cell Membranes

People Behind the Science Podcast. Dr. Mike Blatt: Keeping a Close Eye On Channels and Vesicle Trafficking in Plant Cell Membranes | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

Editor-in-chief of Plant Physiology interview

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What We’re Reading: February 10

What We’re Reading: February 10 | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

What We’re Reading: February 10

Weekly roundup of new and interesting plant science. Shade avoidance syndrome, hypoxia in development, C-stores in coastal wetlands and more!

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“Genomic resources and databases”, special issue from Current Plant Biology

“Genomic resources and databases”, special issue from Current Plant Biology | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

The November-December 2016 special issue of Current Plant Biology is out now and available free of charge. With this issue, focused on “Genomic resources and databases”, Current Plant Biology celebrates the successful completion of its third year.

Call for papers: Upcoming special issue on plant development
This special issue will focus on the mechanisms that govern plant development including the differentiation of the plant cells, tissues and organ. The articles may include reviews, research articles, resources/databases and perspectives.

Deadline for submission: March 30th, 2017

Please contact Sushma Naithani for more information.

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What We’re Reading: January 27th

What We’re Reading: January 27th | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

Flower origins and pollinator interactions, dark responses, peptide hormones and pathogen responses, we've got it all!

A great place to find your weekend plant science reading.

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What We’re Reading: January 20th

What We’re Reading: January 20th | Plant Biology Teaching Resources (Higher Education) | Scoop.it

What We’re Reading: January 20th: drought, pathogens, membranes and databases, oh my! Fe, Cl and mitochondria too!

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