New Perspectives in Science Education

There is no question that plants are an important part of ecosystems. Knowledge on the more than 300,000 species of Embriophytes known today is available through different sources and scopes, as systematics, taxonomy, morphology and ecology (Chase et al., 2016, PPG I, 2016). However, studies point to the lack of enough contextualization and engagement of students in basic education when exposed to plants biology subjects at school (Ursi et al., 2018). Reasons are many, going from motivational factors on the students’ side, to lack of preparation of instructors to teach about plants, a phenomenon referred by many authors as “plant blindness” (Pany, 2014). This paper will describe an effort to educate Brazilian young Biology educators towards more effective ways to teach plants biology. Between 2018 and 2019, we held workshops and activities with teachers and grad students at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil). These workshops focused on describing systematic ways of organizing classes and activities on topics related to plants biology. Based on this experience, we report the planning of project-based classes on topics like plants life cycle, plants anatomy and physiology and plants evolution and taxonomy systematics. Activities developed during the workshops, as well the responses from the teachers taking the discipline will be discussed, and with this we present a paper providing examples on how to tackle “plant blindness” and achieve more effective outcomes when teaching plants biology.

Keywords: Plant Science, Active Learning, Science Education, Teachers' Training, Basic Education.

References:
[1] Chase, M. W., Christenhusz, M. J. M., Fay, M. F., Byng, J. W., Judd, W. S., Soltis, D. E., ... & Stevens, P. F. (2016). An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 181(1), 1-20.
[2] Pany, P. (2014). Students’ interest in useful plants: A potential key to counteract plant blindness. Plant Science Bulletin, 60(1), 18-27.
[3] PPG I. (2016). A community‐derived classification for extant lycophytes and ferns. Journal of Systematics and Evolution, 54(6), 563-603.
[4] Ursi S., Barbosa P.P., Sano P.T. & de Souza F.A. (2018) Ensino de Botânica: conhecimento e encantamento na educação científica. Estudos Avançados. 32(94), 7-24.