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Purpose: Many students perceive plant anatomy as difficult due to the complexity of the material. Additionally, conventional teaching techniques often neglect the importance of information retention in the learning process. Therefore, this study examines the effects of Retention-Based Learning on students' learning outcomes compared to conventional learning without Retention-Based Learning. Methodology: A multiple-group time series research design was used to measure the effectiveness of Retention-Based Learning on students' learning outcomes including information retention, cognitive load, and learning achievement. Retention interventions in the Retention-Based Learning class included watching videos, identifying images and answering questions. The participants in this study were seventy-eight 10th-grade public high school students in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, divided into two research groups. Findings: This study found that students in the experimental group had better information retention in each lesson and a significantly higher ability to process information with less mental effort and lower cognitive load than the control group. Additionally, the experimental group showed significantly higher learning achievement than the control group. These findings demonstrate the importance of maintaining information retention to maximize learning outcomes in plant anatomy lessons. Significance: This study indicates that maintaining retention can be a simple and powerful learning approach to help high school teachers teach complex material. The study highlights the significance of maintaining student retention to improve learning performance.

An important educational goal is enabling students to learn scientific concepts. The scientific concepts learned in class are developed within students' cognitive structures. Despite the successful application of Semantic Network Analysis (SNA) to study these cognitive structures, there has been limited examination of students' concept networks based on their individual characteristics. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the differences in students' characteristics based on their cognitive levels, which influence their thinking and behavior. To analyze these differences, this study compares concept and connected concept networks, focusing on photosynthesis, a challenging life sciences topic. The study's results indicate that students could not clearly distinguish concepts by subtopic, but there were changes in the concept network after class. Although the types and number of concepts students knew were similar depending on their cognitive level, the concept network structure differed. Additionally, some students could not distinguish between similar concepts. Thus, teachers are advised to differentiate between similar concepts during instruction and address personal variables such as students' cognitive levels.

Field-Based Practicum (FBP) about Pterydophyta diversity material in Low plant botany learning is very important, even though the facts in the field show that FBP is still minimally carried out. This research aims to utilize the potential diversity of Pterydophyta in the Tuban-Lamongan Pantura area as a support for FBP about low plant botany learning. The type of research is descriptive exploratory with a transect method, which divides the research area into five plots. Data collection techniques involve observing abiotic parameters and fern morphology in each plot and counting the number of individuals of each species. Data analysis used the Shannon & Wiener index for diversity and qualitative descriptive analysis for morphology. The research results showed 19 species of ferns with 210 individuals divided into two classes, namely Polypodiopsida and Psyotopsida. The fern diversity index is in the medium category (H´=2.10). The diversity of ferns obtained shows that the Tuban-Lamongan Pantura area has a high potential to support FBP about low plant botany learning to provide insight and direct experience to students about the diversity of ferns in the surrounding environment.

This paper provides evidence gathered from two suites of non-formal science activities that were intended to increase engagement in science by culturally diverse groups. Both studies involved the delivery of science activities that were designed, implemented and evaluated to show culturally contextualised science. The activities were run in two very different contexts (urban and very rural areas) and were designed to be of relevance to two distinctive cultural groups (those with links to South Asia, and those being educated through the medium of Gaelic, an indigenous minority language in Scotland), while also actively engaging with those beyond the target group. The link between language identity and culture was incorporated into the design of both sets of activities as well as the qualitative evaluation. The latter considers how the participants' assessment of the interventions, implemented by writing or drawing on a blank postcard, was designed to provide unstructured responses and explores what the resulting data revealed about the impact of the interventions. The findings suggest that the set of activities that most strongly engaged participants on the value of diversity in the creation of scientific knowledge, as well as increasing their focus on the consequences of scientific activity, were those that facilitated a more exploratory approach to the subject matter. By contrast, activities that had to be done according to a standard scientific protocol produced growth in subject-specific knowledge. The present paper explores the principles of the inclusive pedagogies that informed the design of the activities and discusses how these were operationalised in two very contrasting cultural contexts. The key finding was that presenting science as social practice, rather than as being socially neutral, is key to promoting engagement, along with the benefits of explicitly demonstrating the relevance of science to participants' daily lives.

Environmental literacy related to the utilization of medicinal plants in the community provides a foundation for the younger generation to take an active role and form an attitude of care and responsibility for environmental sustainability. The current research aims to introduce the Inquiry-Etnobotany (IEb) learning model to enhance students' environmental literacy. The research design applied a pretest-posttest control group design to assess the effectiveness of the IEb model intervention, comparing it with the inquiry and discovery learning models. Upon analysis, notable differences emerged between the pre-test and post-test results across various learning models. Specifically, the IEb model exhibited a substantial difference, indicating significant progress in student outcomes. Similarly, the inquiry model showcased an improvement, while the discovery learning model displayed a slightly smaller change. Furthermore, the disparities between pre-test and post-test outcomes were evident across the different schools involved in the study. The IEb model has a significant impact on enhancing students' environmental literacy. However, the research results in each school also demonstrate that various learning models enhance students' understanding of environmental issues despite the different levels of effect.

Although formulating a broadly accepted definition of scientific literacy may be challenging, it is widely recognized that Nature of Science (NOS) is an essential component of it. There are different ways to define NOS. In some cases, NOS can be conceptualized through a number of general NOS aspects like for instance science's empirical basis or tentativeness. This approach in NOS teaching and learning is considered to be helpful for advancing students' understanding about NOS. Moreover, it has been suggested that history of science, and more specifically narratives informed by the history of science, can be very well used to explicitly and systematically highlight general NOS aspects. Thus, this paper reports on two "fiction talk stories" that we created considering the history of the super-organismic-plant-community concept and the critique against it. Our stories, "Inspiration cannot wait" and "Panta rhei," set focus on the creativity involved in scientists' work, the distinction between observation and inference, and the tentativeness of science. In this paper, we (a) discuss fiction talk stories as a type of narratives used in educational contexts, (b) highlight the historical background of "Inspiration cannot wait" and "Panta rhei" and present the narratives themselves, (c) discuss them in terms of their essential features and the strategies we considered, and (d) we make some final remarks.

This mixed-methods research study aimed to observe the changes in relational conceptual changes and achievement in photosynthesis and cellular respiration in 15 seventh-grade students using the variation theory of learning, a framework for contextual distinctions, and supports the Common Knowledge Construction Model (CKCM) for science education. The strategy used was prediction-observation-explanation, where students wrote and drew to express their macroscopic and sub-microscopic concepts, depicting any changes. Pre- and post-assessment tests were given to measure achievement in science. Through phenomenography analysis, five descriptive categories were generated for photosynthesis and nine for cellular respiration, revealing variations within and between students' ideas. Statistical tests showed significant improvements (p < 0.001) in photosynthesis and cellular respiration knowledge after implementing the CKCM learning sequence, with scores increasing from 37 to 77% and 33% to 72%, respectively. These findings suggest that inquiry-based learning based on relational conceptual change, guided by variation theory and an understanding of the nature of science, can lead to a deeper understanding of scientific explanations and improve overall science achievement.

The objectives of this study were to 1) investigate the efficiency of Application on Nymphaea 'Thai Lotus Species' for creating awareness of Undergraduate Students, 2) compare students' achievements before and after learning through the Application on Nymphaea 'Thai Lotus Species' for Creates Awareness of Undergraduate Students, and 3) examine student satisfaction towards the Application on Nymphaea 'Thai Lotus Species' for Creates Awareness of Undergraduate Students. The sample comprised 30 Secondary 4 second semester at Faculty of Technical Education, Rajamangala University Thayaburi Education Service Area Office Pathum Thani, derived through purposive sampling technique. Data was collected through an application called Nymphaea 'Thai Lotus Species' to create awareness among undergraduate students. The research used a pretest, a post-test, and a student satisfaction form. The data was analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation, and t-test for dependent samples. The findings showed that the Nymphaea 'Thai Lotus Species' application was adequate, with an E1/E2 score of 81.58/80.03. The study also revealed that students achieved better results after using the application to learn about creating awareness among undergraduate students. The mean and standard deviation before learning were 8.27 and 2.22, while the mean and standard deviation after education were 4.66 and 0.61. The t-test score used before and after schooling was 31.16 at a statistically significant level of 0.05. Moreover, the student satisfaction towards the Application of Nymphaea 'Thai Lotus Species' for Creates Awareness of Undergraduate Students was high.

The use of Augmented Reality (AR) in education combined with local potency such as Naturindo Herbal Garden located at Sendangsari Village, Pengasih District, Yogyakarta, Indonesia as a center for the herbal medicine industry and learning resource for human digestive was identified as an important strategy for developing student learning outcomes. The purpose of this research was to integrate Naturindo Herbal Garden integrated AR booklet to encourage student's curiosity and learning interest about human digestion for grade eleventh. The AR-digestive booklet was developed by author in previous research then used in this research as learning media. This research was a quasi experiment, determination of research sample used simple random sampling to determine the control and experimental classes with 74 students, 3 biology teachers by giving questionnaires to collect students' interests, curiosity and teacher's response. The learning material in the booklet was conceptually correct, equipped with clear and engaging AR animations to support the learning process. The results showed that the local potential-based digestive system AR-booklet was effective for encouraging student's interest (87.5) and curiosity (91.6) with the results of in the high category and t-test value was below 0.5. Teachers stated the use of AR booklet had achieved remarkable results and was very effective. This study recommended the implementation of local potential-integrated AR booklet to facilitate student's curiosity and learning interest as an innovation in the biology learning process.

In the early modern era, Spanish missionaries, cosmographers, chroniclers, and physicians wrote major studies on botany, ethnography, navigation, Indigenous languages, war, and history, aided by capable, though often reluctant, Indigenous informants. They penned this rich body of scholarship using iron gall ink -- a mixture of tannins, sulfates, and gum -- that facilitated the transmission of ideas in print and manuscript format, as well as the administration of the vast empire. Analysis of ink opens a window onto a laboratory of botanical knowledge that resulted from observation, practice, and artisanal innovation. The "potions lesson" assignment described in this article allows undergraduate and graduate students to make ink using recipes that circulated as marginal notes in notarial records and in grammar and writing manuals. The potions lesson experiment forms part of an assignment in the author's course offering, "Secrets of Nature in the Iberian World," a junior seminar that explores the way people in the early modern period negotiated their relationships with animals, climate, land, disease, plants, and water, and the way they framed their understandings of these categories. Students considered the roles of women and men who molded and shaped the environment to suit individual and collective needs across North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and parts of Asia. The course centers on an experiential model with a focus on hands-on learning. In addition to readings and discussions, students engaged with the past through a series of activities in labs, special collections, and museums. This lesson formed part of a unit on plants that considered the relationship between colonialism and botanical knowledge. Because the assignment analyzes the sixteenth century at the height of Iberian exploration and because the composition of the ink circulated across Europe and subsequently the New World, one can easily adapt it to fit a range of classes. Student reflections on the assignment suggest that the experience of spending time outside the classroom greatly refreshed the learning environment. According to the author, the assignment enhances the teaching curriculum in the humanities by asking students to take an active role in the learning process.

For plant identification in school biology, many digital and analogue identification methods have been developed to make this demanding and little motivating process more student-orientated. In this experimental field study, we examine two empirically developed tools: the digital identification app "ID-Logics' and the paper-based key, generated by the online platform 'Eikes Baumschule'. In line with Self-Determination Theory (SDT), an evaluation study with 251 students was conducted to investigate the effect of both tools on students' intrinsic motivation. The results of the study were unexpected, as the different media regarding the SDT did not present themselves as projected: While both tools influence students' intrinsic motivation positively, each displays specific effects regarding enjoyment, perceived competence, and perceived autonomy. Taking these effects into account, each tool under investigation offers different advantages and disadvantages for plant identification in the field. The resulting opportunities and challenges, for plant identification, of both tools are discussed critically against the background of SDT, and future directions for research on intrinsic motivation in the context of species identification are mapped. Furthermore, this study shed light on the process of species identification and thus indicates recommendations for practical use in biology lessons.

Purpose: Design an innovative Flipped classroom's Delivery through virtual laboratory. Design/methodology/approach: The fundamental framework of the present investigation is a Participatory Action Research (PAR) design. By merging the impetus of "action." with the inclusiveness of "participation," PAR establishes a "network" for collaborative teaching or research. PAR is pertinent to our research because it facilitates the participation of infrastructures and individuals in formulating a critical community. This community encourages critical self-reflection, promotes accountability, redistributes authority, and cultivates confidence in research. PAR fosters constructive transformation in educational environments by utilizing participants' combined insights and experiences to establish a structure for substantive dialogue and proactive measures. Findings: As virtual laboratories are becoming essential in 21st-century science education, we found groundbreaking evidence that can support our novel approach to enhance the quality and equity in education. Our results show that virtual labs engage scientific goals and practices, develop scientific literacy, foster scientific inquiry and problem-solving, and promote metacognition. The effects of the virtual laboratory can develop high self-efficacy and positive attitudes among students. It improves students' laboratory performance, which we noted from laboratory activities, simulations, and long exam results. Originality/value: The study offers groundbreaking account to depict epistemic fluency aided by virtual laboratory.

Purpose: Our study focuses on providing empirical evidence regarding the optimization of podcasting in asynchronous learning. This action research aimed to innovate the delivery of asynchronous classes using differentiated podcasts. Design/methodology/approach: We utilized action research as the research design for the study. Participating in action research entails developing practical knowledge to improve educational practices through specific methods and critical perspectives (Sáez Bondía and Cortés Gracia, 2022). According to Burns (2007), action research involves deliberate interventions usually prompted by identified issues, mysteries or inquiries that individuals in the social setting seek to improve or change. Implementing changes to enhance individuals' actions and understanding within their context is the focus of action research (Kemmis, 2010). The study's approach is ideal for examining new practices and gaining enhanced theoretical insights (Altrichter et al., 2002). Engaging in action research helps enhance understanding and empowers us to impact and enhance practices through continuous reflection, exploration and action. Through this iterative process, we can continuously enhance our comprehension and make substantial strides toward fostering positive transformation. Findings: The study findings showed an apparent rise in student regulation and engagement and remarkable enhancements in learning outcomes, as demonstrated by differences in pre-test and final exam scores. These results highlight the actual effect of specialized podcasts on self-paced inducing students' self-efficacy in learning. Our research provides valuable insights on effectively incorporating podcasts into education, offering innovations and improvement of practice among educators and institutions adapting to the ever-changing landscape of the educational environment while catering to the diverse needs of the learners. This research is pioneering research catering to the various learning styles of asynchronous learning environments. Research limitations/implications: Although our current sample offered valuable insights, upcoming studies could gain from more extensive and more diverse participant groups to strengthen the reliability of our results and guarantee broader applicability across various demographics and contexts. Moreover, the length of our intervention may have been relatively brief, which could have limited our ability to evaluate the long-term impact of customized podcasts on learning results. Continued investigation into the long-term effects of these interventions could provide valuable insights into their effectiveness over time and help shape the creation of more lasting educational approaches. Practical implications: Innovation in asynchronous learning differentiated teaching attuned to the diverse learning styles of the students. Social implications: The study promotes equitable education, which eventually promotes learning outcomes of the students. Originality/value: We created differentiated podcasts tailored to the learning styles of the students. This research is pioneering research catering to the various learning styles of asynchronous learning environments.

Docent programs are in flux. Many institutions have rethought their programs to encourage more diverse voices: some have eliminated the docent role, while others have changed their structure and offered additional training. When The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens decided to invest in its docent program as part of an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant, they started with a self-study of 10 docent programs across the country. This article summarizes the key findings of that work, from which three major themes emerged: intentional investment, targeted approaches for diversification, and expanding non-traditional training approaches.

Learning resources are quite important for online learning while resource provision based on algorithms could not address learners' ubiquitous needs well. Moreover, the structure and content of resources are pre-defined which makes the "Structure" and "Content" coupled closely and could not easily adjust when learners' needs changed. To solve this problem, an automatic resource generation mechanism is needed. In this study, we summarize the main components of resource design and proposed a "Structure-Content Loosely Coupled" resource model (Learning Cell Model). The model separates the structure and content into independent yet connected parts by defining "Dynamic Structure" and "Container". Then, the automatic resource generation mechanism and its supporting system were designed based on the model and used in two 5th Grade classes. Results showed the mechanism and system could generate resources according to learners' needs accurately and improve learners' learning outcomes without increasing their cognitive load. Further, the learners had good attitude, technique acceptance, and satisfaction. Overall, the "Structure-Content Loosely Coupled" model and the proposed mechanism could be used creatively for more flexible and adaptive resource provision. They made the resource generation timely and automatic which helped teachers' resource design. The results are enlightening and foster further research in this field.

The study investigated the potency of ethnoscience instruction on the critical thinking ability of biology students. The study employed a quasi-experimental research design, with a total of 113 senior secondary school two (the equivalent of grade 11) students from two schools in educational district V of Lagos State, Nigeria. All students in the two sample schools used for the experimental and control groups took a pretest before treatment, a posttest at the end of the treatment phase. Test of Critical Thinking in Photosynthesis (TCTP) with a reliability of 0.76 was used for data collection. The ANCOVA output demonstrated a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group (F (1, 110) = 14.79; p < 0.05). Ethnoscience Instruction had no differential impact on students in the experimental group based on gender. We concluded that ethnoscience instruction is a viable culturally relevant tool for improving critical thinking skill in biology.

Photosynthesis is the predominant metabolic process for energy obtention in plants. Here we describe a case study where a set of anatomical, biochemical, and molecular characters are used to reconstruct the evolution of the C[subscript 4] photosynthetic pathway, within the evolutionary framework provided by the genus "Flaveria." Our main educational goal was to engage biology undergraduate students to solve a photosynthesis-related phylogenetic problem by stimulating them to assemble informative characters of diverse nature. This case study was successfully implemented as a seminar in a massive university introductory course, during the COVID19 lockdown. Using an online learning environment, most small groups achieved the Students Learning Outcomes, which were assessed through a questionnaire and an open-ended question. Individual performance was also evaluated through a specific exercise in the course's midterm test. Finally, students were surveyed for their perception about the seminar through a poll. We concluded that this seminar could be easily adopted to promote the learning of complex and interdisciplinary content like the C[subscript 4] photosynthetic pathway in undergraduate botanical education, even in a large online introductory course.

This paper describes the master course design process at the largest institution of higher education in Colorado, USA. The master course design process demonstrated principles of backwards design and employed a team-based approach to course development. The course map was the primary vehicle for communicating the design of the course during development and later for accountability. This case study presented the redesign of General College Botany. The General College Botany curriculum employed authentic assessment and provided an andragogical learning environment. The central authentic assessment in the course was a term-long research project. Other assignments included wiki-building discussions, traditional quizzes, and at-home labs. The accounting of this process and the assignments described for an online science course provide a template for other institutions to follow when considering the implementation of master courses in higher education settings. As botanical curricula continue to be cut from degree programs and the need for remote learning becomes imminent in the modern world, the scaling of educational resources is facilitated by master course design. Master course design promotes accountability and standardization while also affording a well-researched, constructive, and blended learning environment. Evaluative results showed that the master course increased student success and retention in the course.

Learning online during pandemic COVID-19 must still accommodate creativity. This study aimed to identify the level of student creativity using the STREAM (ScienceTechnology-Religion-Engineering-Arts-Mathematics) approach. It was conducted on an online practicum in the Plant Anatomy course. The purpose of this study was to identify the level of student creativity in various indicators of creativity through a performance assessment of the product of the practicum report. The static-group comparison design was used as the research design. The target population is the fourth-semester student in the Department of Biology Education. The samples were chosen using purposive sampling, determining class IV-A (39 students) as a regular class and class IV-C (38 students) as intervention one. The research was equipped with creativity performance tasks, rubrics with a scoring of practicum reports' performance assessments, and field notes. Each student designs and makes one of the anatomical structural models of roots, stems, or leaves. The practicum report was used to identify their level of creativity. The data were analyzed by calculating the creativity level percentage in a qualitative descriptive manner. The results showed that the creativity level of the intervention class is excelling (57.89%), while the regular class the emerging (58.79%). The STREAM approach provides a better level of creativity.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the existing Student Inquiry and Research program at Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy transitioned to a remote-only format. This paper describes the mentoring of 12 high school juniors and seniors in yearlong remote research projects involving plant biology and protein engineering. Working in groups of two or three, students read scientific articles and proposed experiments. An experienced researcher then carried out the experiments and gave the students the data. Students analyzed data, drew conclusions, and shared their results in an oral presentation and in a written paper. Despite the online-only format, all anonymously surveyed students agreed that the experience improved their confidence in both conducting and communicating scientific research, and 90% agreed that because of the experience, they are more likely to pursue a career in STEMM. These results are similar to those seen from in-person research experiences. Given the positive outcomes from this program, further development and use of remote research experiences may be beneficial, particularly for students who would not otherwise have access to any research opportunities. Remote learning technology thus enables existing resources of time and funding to be allocated differently to provide more students with authentic research experiences.

This study explored the Rwandan secondary students' opinions on learning biochemistry concepts covered in the Rwandan advanced level of secondary school biology curriculum, and the reasons behind the difficulty of the concepts. In this research, sequential exploratory mixed-method designs were adopted. The sample comprised 195 secondary school students, who were purposively selected from the schools in Rwamagana and Kayonza districts of Rwandan Eastern Province. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires and focus group semi-structured interview guides. Data analysis was carried out using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Results from this research showed that photosynthesis and respiration are the major units that are challenging to study with the respective percentages of 62.5 and 75.1. On the other hand, the concept of enzymes is the most difficult according to students' views. The lack of adequate laboratory and learning resources and teachers' teaching styles were reportedly the reasons behind the difficulty of these units. Therefore, the provision of continuous professional development training on advances in teaching and learning biochemistry to in-service teachers would be one of the strategies to enhance students' understanding of these concepts.

This article examines how students' botanical knowledge and interest in plants can be increased in order to counteract "plant blindness", which is a phenomenon describing the lack of people's awareness of plants. Since recent studies point to a continuous decline of students' interest in biology, especially in botany, during secondary education, a workshop on pollination and floral ecology has been designed. 100 students (N=100) from five different schools took part in the workshop. By means of a pre- as well as a post-test and a questionnaire directly after the workshop, data regarding the students' interest, knowledge and intrinsic motivation has been collected. Results show that the workshop has a positive impact on the students' interest in the pollination and floral ecology. Additionally, the findings indicate that the workshop leads to an increased botanical knowledge as well as development of intrinsic motivation.

This case study examines how teachers preserve and foster the funds of knowledge students bring to school in the Palenque community of Colombia. Data was collected using the funds of knowledge Matrix instrument, open-ended questions, teacher interviews, and non-participant observations. An analysis of data was done using a domain analysis process, and a category of cultural meanings. The findings included the creation of three new categories: "ethnobotany," "Kuagros," and "Kulum." The study identified teachers' educational practices that fit the culturally relevant profile. These involve rethinking curriculum, reforming instruction, considering the types of funds of knowledge, and a more ethnographic approach.

The performance in biology at the secondary level has not been as good as expected. This has been a matter of concern. Thus, there has been a continuous focus on exploring newer innovative learner-centered and friendly instructional strategies to enhance understanding and retention in biology. This study, therefore, determined the effects of Concept Mapping (CM) and Cooperative Mastery Learning (CML) on fostering retention in photosynthesis among secondary schools in Nyamagabe district, Rwanda. A pre-test and post-test non-equivalent control group quasi-experimental design was used. Data were obtained from 151 students taught with CM, 144 students taught with CML, and 154 students taught with Conventional Teaching Methods (CTM). The Photosynthesis Retention Test (KR-21= 0.82) was used for data collection. The data were mainly analyze d using mean and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The results showed that the CM and CML treatment groups outperformed the CTM group in retention in photosynthesis. There was a statistically significant difference in favor of the CM between the two experimental groups. The male and female students taught using CM retained equally in photosynthesis while gender difference was revealed in the mean retention scores of the students exposed to the CML, with females retained significantly higher than males. The study concluded that the CM and CML strategies were more effective than CTM. It was suggested, among other things, that teachers should be encouraged to apply CM and CML strategies when teaching biology.

It is critical to develop students' science communication skills as they progress through their education. One way this goal can be accomplished is by integrating Flip into educational programs. Through Flip educators create prompts that students respond to in video form, which leads to deeper discussion on various topics. This brief will share an example of how Flip was used with high school students spending time at a botanical garden to not only promote science communication skills but to help engage them with plant life. In this activity students assume the role of "educator" by becoming an expert on a specific plant species and recording a video introducing others to that organism.

Students in environmental sciences, ecology, or wildlife management are often reluctant to acquire training in basic laboratory techniques. To advocate the importance of this training, we reviewed literature in the fields of biological and environmental science for one frequently used technique--centrifugation--and evaluated whether centrifugation parameters are properly expressed. Centrifugation is used to extract and purify different types of biomolecules for further characterization or quantification. The repeatability of the procedure depends on the proper identification of parameters defining the gravitational force applied to a solution, for example the duration, distance from central axis, and angular velocity. Correctly expressing rotation velocity--the "speed"--is therefore crucial to ensuring repeatability and the possibility of using the same protocols in different laboratories. When scrutinizing the materials and methods sections of publications in ecology, zoology, botany, or general biology journals, we noticed that velocity is expressed in different ways and essential information is often missing. We sampled 2000 articles in different fields of biological sciences that recorded centrifugation as a technique in the materials and methods section. We found centrifugation velocity to be properly expressed in gravitational force "g" in only 47.8% of the papers. The score dropped to 40.4% in journals specialized in ecology. We use this analysis to advocate for a minimum of training in the techniques of biochemistry that are of common use in environmental sciences. Better training would allow higher reproducibility of results in scientific publications.

Artificial photosynthesis is a promising approach to generate commodity chemicals using abundant chemical feedstocks and renewable energy sources. Despite its importance, affordable and effective hands-on classroom activities that demonstrate artificial photosynthesis and teach key concepts, especially for primary school students, are lacking. Educating young students on this topic is a critical step in the development of the next-generation energy workforce, especially one that is diverse in race and gender. We hypothesize that an effective approach to educate a broad range of young students on the topic of artificial photosynthesis is through the use of an active learning-based lesson plan that employs cheap and accessible materials. This hypothesis is confirmed by evaluating the understanding of fifth grade students with a survey before and after a lesson plan on artificial photosynthesis that uses active-learning techniques and uses safe and highly accessible materials (baking soda, tap water, plastic jars, Ni coil, alligator clips, and a solar cell) to perform solar-powered water splitting. The lesson plan and survey questions are designed to align with the educational outcomes for fifth grade classrooms in California and to address four general learning objectives: (1) Motivations of Artificial Photosynthesis, (2) Applications of Artificial Photosynthesis, (3) Inputs and Outputs of Artificial Photosynthesis, and (4) Engineering Design for Artificial Photosynthesis. The survey data demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in overall student understanding from the lesson plan. Importantly, the data show that the lesson plan presented here is effective at narrowing the performance gap between minority students and overly represented groups.

Creating meaningful learning environments that support university students in their early STEM courses has become a focus of interest for many universities. This research investigated an active learning environment where students used Ozobot robots to visualize complex concepts such as Metabolism, Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration in an Introductory Biology course. Three conditions were employed over three semesters including a Control, Non-reflective, and Reflective condition. In both the Non-Reflective and the Reflective condition, students programmed robots to visualize concepts in the three topics of interest. Quantitative analysis using Kruskal Wallis revealed significant differences on unit tests between the Reflective and the other two conditions. No difference was found between the Control and the Non-Reflective condition. Qualitative analysis revealed three themes Engagement, Visualization, and Social.

We used a novel approach that combined direct PCR of plant tissue and SRAP DNA fingerprinting to seek to identify the crosses made in "Brassica rapa" used in the Wisconsin Fast Plants. Our goal was to develop a rapid method for students to use in a biology, botany, or genetics class to identify the parental types (purple stem, non-purple stem) and the F1 generation for "Brassica rapa." Our data indicates that there is detectable polymorphism in the "Brassica Rapa" plants with which to identify the three types of plants.

This study aimed to develop a learning progression (LP) for botanical literacy and assess the impact of a garden-based education course on Thai pre-service science teachers (n = 49). The inquiry- and community-based education course was taught over a 15-week period. To measure botanical literacy, a 50-item multiple-choice test was employed. A hypothetical model of the construct was proposed and validated using a dichotomous Rasch model. Results indicated that the model fits the data well. Thus, the hypothetical model was confirmed. The validated botanical literacy comprised conceptual and procedural domains. Each domain had several core ideas and subordinate concepts located on a linear construct and arranged by increasing difficulty. For example, in the conceptual domain, the core ideas arranged from the easiest to most difficult were plant diversity, plant morphology, and plant eco-physiology. The botanical literacy of the pre-service teachers was measured before and after the instruction. To measure the learning gain, we fixed the pre- and post-item difficulty and estimated the post-instruction person ability. The means of pre- and post-instruction person ability were compared using the Welch t-test. We found that learning gain was statistically significant (p < 0.01). This study discusses implications of LP for botanical literacy in biology education.

The chemical experiment is designed for undergraduates majoring in chemistry, energy, and environment. The intended purpose is that the students will comprehend the reaction mechanism of photocatalytic reduction of CO[subscript 2] through hands-on experiments and deepen their understanding of sustainable energy technologies. More importantly, the experiment can make students strengthen the understanding of basic theory of photochemistry and become familiar with the operation process of laboratory instruments, such as a photocatalytic reactor and gas chromatograph. The novel graphene quantum dots/NiAl layered double hydroxide (GQDs/NiAl-LDH) composites are prepared by undergraduates, and the photocatalytic activity is investigated through a series of characterizations and tests. Then the reaction mechanism analysis is carried out in the form of group discussion after the experiment. The student's grade in the laboratory experiment depends on the experimental operation, catalyst synthesis, photocatalytic activity, and mechanism analysis. It is promising that students can organically combine chemistry knowledge with experimental operation through this experiment, so as to encourage them to continue the research related to photocatalytic CO[subscript 2] reduction.

Biology, known as the science of life in its most general definition, is one of the branches of science closest to individuals due to the subjects it contains. Therefore, knowing the concepts related to biology correctly is important for the sustainability of the learning process. In this study, it was aimed to determine the conceptual perceptions and misconceptions of prospective science teachers about photosynthesis. The research using the case study was carried out in 2020-2021. The study group of the research consists of 57 pre-service science teachers studying in the first and fourth year of a state university in Turkey. The structured interview form and focus group interview form prepared by the researchers were used as data collection tools. As a result of the research, it was determined that the conceptual perceptions of the pre-service science teachers about the substances taken from the external environment in the photosynthesis process, photosynthesis products, and the importance of photosynthesis for the ecosystem were not sufficient. In addition, in the study, it was determined that pre-service science teachers had misconceptions about the definition of photosynthesis, energy source and the importance of photosynthesis for the ecosystem.

The plant kingdom can be learned more successfully if tasks involve direct contact with elements of the plant world and students have the possibility of working cooperatively in small groups within the secondary school classroom. This paper analyses student understanding of the general and floral physiology of angiosperms within a teaching-sequence in which cooperative learning was applied to 74 Spanish secondary school students aged 12-13 years. The influence of group work and the use of plant elements on learning was assessed by comparing two tasks administered individually before and after the sequence. Subsequent application of Fisher's exact test detected statistically significant differences between the two milestones in favour of cooperative learning and the use of plants. We can therefore conclude that this active method for learning the plant kingdom enables students to get physically closer to the subject of the plant kingdom whilst developing their scientific knowledge via group work.

The worldwide scientific community has been promoting science communication from colleges and universities to schools, and different tools for communicating scientific discoveries have been created. Among this variety of tools, our choice fell on a storybook. The book, entitled "The Curious Case of Ants That Live in Galls," is directed at 8-to-12-year-old children, and its use is suggested for literature and science classes. We propose either reading the text with the students or individual reading, followed by a debate and retextualization exercise. Also, the teacher can use the story as a motivation to address the science content and to discuss the scientific method. We observed the emergence of new questions, teaching methodologies, and didactic resources capable of amplifying the scientific context and, consequently, the student's motivation.

This study investigated the effectiveness of student-centered instruction on eighth-grade students' conceptual understanding of photosynthesis. The study employed a Quasi-experimental research method. The data collection instruments included were multiple-choice tests, observations, and an informal assessment. The pretest and posttest were administered before and after treatment, respectively. An informal assessment was also administered before and after the intervention. Besides, the observation was conducted from the first day up to the last day of the intervention. The pretest and posttest data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-tests quantitatively, while data collected through informal assessment and observation were presented using narration. The findings of the pretest revealed that there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the two groups. Post-test results revealed that experimental group students significantly improved their conceptual understanding of the topic of photosynthesis compared to the control group students. The study concluded that the guided inquiry teaching method is more effective than the lecture method in improving students' conceptual understanding of photosynthesis. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that governments encourage biology teachers to apply guided inquiry teaching methods by providing appropriate instructional material.

Worksheets are often used during field trips and utilize a learning cycle with three stages (exploration, concept introduction and concept application) to engage learners in the learning activities of observation and exploration. However, traditional paper worksheets do not provide multimedia and interactive presentations with physical objects, which made learners losing interaction with the physical context during field trips and failing to implement all the stages completely. This study designed an augmented reality worksheet with a three-stage learning cycle and applied it to learning about plants, specifically assisting learners in observing and classifying plants. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used to show the effect of learning when learners used augmented reality worksheets. Lag sequence analysis was used to identify learning behavioral patterns. The findings indicate that the learning effect of using augmented reality worksheets is much better than that of paper worksheets and improves the learners' interaction with plants.

The aim of the research is to examine the contribution of mobile application using in botanical fieldwork to the quality and durability of knowledge of the subject Nature and society compared to multimedia teaching in the fourth grade of primary school. The study involved 120 students, divided into two groups: control group, which taught on the principles of multimedia teaching with the help of digital herbarium and experimental group, which taught through botanical fieldwork, with the help of the mobile application PlantNet Plant Identification. A digital herbarium was placed on student's computer at school (in the computer classroom) and at home, and a mobile application on every student's mobile phone. Students studied and identified 30 plants, 13 forest and 17 cultivated plants. After the identification of the plants, the quality of students' knowledge was examined by a post-test, while the durability of knowledge was examined by a re-test. The results of the research showed that using of the mobile application in botanical fieldwork contributed to the higher quality and durability of students' knowledge compared to multimedia teaching at cognitive levels: analysis, evaluation and synthesis.

The under-representation of women in senior echelons of the academy, particularly in disciplines which have been historically male-dominated and male-led, is well-documented internationally. The narrative, however, is not a linear one, and there have been intervals of alteration and narrow apertures of opportunity. This article focuses on one of those intervals, the period 1957-1962, which saw three women professors being appointed to the Science Faculty at University College Dublin: Carmel Humphries (1909-1986) first female professor of zoology (1957); Phyllis Clinch (1901-1984) first female professor of botany (1961); and Eva Philbin (1914-2005) first female professor of organic chemistry (1962). Interrogating the career biographies of Humphries, Clinch, and Philbin, this article examines how as outsiders within an academic hierarchy marked by male privilege, these women managed to infiltrate the inner sanctum of university activity, undertaking leading, high profile academic roles in prestigious, male-dominated disciplines. The article finds, however, that while Humphries, Clinch, and Philbin were successful in negotiating, even shifting, the university's centre of gravity for a brief period, this powerbase was soon eroded and the dominant hegemony reinstated, ushering women scientists back to the margins of university activity.

A feature of student--teacher--scientist partnerships (STSPs) involves students working with scientists for the purpose of helping them learn more about how scientists work and think. Previous research on STSPs has generally focused on identifying the best practices of partnerships and on identifying challenges of these partnerships. The study reported here employed a cluster-randomized trial design to test the effectiveness of the PlantingScience STSP that combines high-quality curriculum, teacher preparation, and online mentoring by professional scientists. The results of the current study show that students who participated in the PlantingScience STSP showed significant improvements in science content knowledge and attitudes about scientists compared with students in the control group. The study sample was highly representative, demographically, to the U.S. population of high schools. These results add to the limited empirical evidence about the effectiveness of STSPs on student outcomes related to science achievement and attitudes.

Teachers are confronted with many challenges in the science classroom. One of these challenges is finding a reliable learning approach to improve students' performance. This study used peer learning approach of teaching to help students learn and understand concepts in a photosynthesis class. The participants of the study were 40 science students at Shama Senior High School in the Western Region of Ghana. These students were put into mixed ability groups and taught for 10 consecutive weeks. Pre-intervention test, post-intervention test, and questionnaire were the main instruments used to collect data from the students. Descriptive statistics of the data collected shows an immense improvement in students' performance after the implementation of the intervention. The strategy used improved students' learning of photosynthesis in the classroom as well as their performance in the post-intervention test. Based on the findings of this study, it can be said that peer learning approach of teaching has a positive impact on the performance of students in the classroom

Researchers' notions of research quality depend on their field of research. Previous studies have shown that field-specific assessment criteria exist but could explain neither why these specific criteria and not others exist, nor how criteria are used in specific assessment situations. To give initial answers to these questions, formal assessment situations (reviews of publications) and informal assessment situations (seminar and conference discussions) in two specialties (plant biology and medieval history) were analysed through observations and qualitative content analysis. The empirical findings reveal a large variety of quality criteria used by researchers, which cannot be subsumed under conventional notions of originality, reliability, or validity. The identified field-specific quality criteria can be explained by differences between the two fields' research practices and between the epistemic properties of the two fields.

Humanity has existed in special living conditions since March 11, 2020 when WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. This coronavirus disease has already taken more than 6.55 million of people's lives from almost 625 million of officially confirmed cases of people infected around the world at the beginning of October 2022. Lot of university lecturers, teachers and researchers are concerned by new challenges in the education and science process. Therefore, many new recommendations and methodologies have been published for effective teaching in the pandemic time focusing on different forms of distance digital education. Certainly, the process has been actual for biological disciplines too where the biggest problems appeared with the organisation of field courses. Every country and even every university have been looking for optimal ways within their epidemic situation according to country restriction rules. Therefore, we have generalized this experience, as well as developed protocols on example of iNaturalist platform ("https://www.inaturalist.org/") for effective use of citizen science tools not just for distance learning of botanical cycle disciplines in the pandemic time and beyond, but also for collecting valuable data about plant distribution during this process. We present a future-oriented vision of the solution of biodiversity and sustainability education.

With the benefits of low cost, energy efficiency, and environmental protection, photocatalytic hydrogen production is considered to be the most promising technology for the development of a clean and sustainable society. However, the utilization of photocatalytically generated hydrogen is not very common yet. Therefore, tertiary education urgently needs to guide undergraduate/graduate students to realize that the hydrogen generated by photocatalysis can be feasibly utilized. Herein, we report an experiment demonstrating the generation, storage, conversion, and utilization of photocatalytic hydrogen. In this paper, TiO[subscript 2], Pt, and lactic acid are respectively used as the photocatalyst, cocatalyst, and sacrificial reagent to generate hydrogen fuel from water. Upon light illumination, hydrogen is photocatalytically produced in the TiO[subscript 2]-Pt-lactic acid-water system. Then, through a drainage method, the hydrogen gas is stored in a U-shaped manifold. Subsequently, the produced hydrogen is directly circulated without purification into a hydrogen fuel cell. The electricity obtained from this fuel cell is used to drive an electric fan. The total lab time is about 3 h. Upon the completion of the experiment, students can master several basic operational skills and can experience how interdisciplinary knowledge of the chemistry and physics of materials can be utilized to solve some energy and environmental problems.

Pigments are light-absorbing substances that are abundant in nature, serving roles in coloration, camouflage, mate/pollinator attraction and photosynthesis among higher life forms. Among microbial organisms, pigments can also be found in a wide range of phyla. While some of these pigments function in photosynthesis, namely among algae and some bacteria, the great majority of microbial pigments play entirely different roles. The exploratory study presented here will stimulate students to think about the cost and benefit of a heritable trait (pigment production) of microscopic organisms and its effects on survival in a competitive and hostile environment. Exploring and understanding the roles these pigments play allows for a number of cross-disciplinary learning opportunities that combine physics, chemistry, biology and even art, and can be set up as an inquiry-based learning module suitable for small-group and active learning experiences.

The study assessed the effect of concept map on achievement and classroom management of 7th grade students. Three elementary schools were purposively selected in Silchar town of Assam, India. The 7th grade students (n = 36), of 'School I' was assigned to lecture cum discussion approach, 34, students (n = 34) of 'School II' was assigned to Spider Concept Map Approach (SCMA) and the 30 participants (n=30) of 'School III' was assigned to Hierarchical Concept Map Approach (HCMA). Pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design used to assess the effect of concept map on the achievement and classroom management of students. Pre map test was assigned to both the experimental and comparison group and after three weeks instruction post map test was administered. In addition to these, Concept Map Classroom Management Scale was assigned among all the participants of both experimental and comparison groups to response. The individual pre and post spider concept map and hierarchical concept map, and Concept Map Classroom Management Scale (CMCMS) scores were analyzed through ANCOVA and post hoc Tukey-Kramer Multiple Comparisons. It was resulted that both spider concept map & hierarchical concept map training students in association with those in the comparison group demonstrated significantly better in the performance of photosynthesis and respiration concepts as well as self-classroom management.

Photosynthesis is the most effective cycle and sustainable natural process known in nature. Students who learn the subject of photosynthesis well will also make better sense of other issues such as environmental problems, the state of the atmosphere, greenhouse gases, climate changes, carbon footprints and conservation of forests. The aim of this study is to present an example of a worksheet that investigates the skill levels possessed by preservice teachers in the causal process, and also to examine their ability to write a photosynthesis equation by means of a history-based approach that also includes reading skills. The study was conducted with the action research method. The study sample consisted of a total of 71 preservice biology teachers. At the first stage, before the implementation of the worksheet, 34 teacher candidates from within the sample were asked a question with a diagram summarising the photosynthesis process. At the second stage, all the prospective teachers were asked for the skill levels they possessed in the causal process to be assessed via implementation of the worksheet. The answers given by the preservice teachers in the defining variables section in particular make up the least answered section of the worksheet. In the section of the worksheet related to making inferences, The students were asked to write the four separate equations by revising them incrementally, and it is striking that the rates of correct answers given for each were high. There is a need for teaching materials to be designed in the field of science at university level and for these to be made available to science teachers in book format.

The aim of this study is to present pre-service biology teachers with reading texts about the research of Van Helmont and Joseph Priestley relate to the subject of photosynthesis, for their familiarization with the processual and contextual aspects of science and their understanding of the nature of science, and to reveal the extent to which these texts contribute to the teacher candidates. The study was carried out by "action research method". The sample consisted of 66 biology pre-service teachers studying at Karadeniz Technical University between the years of 2016 to 2018. In this study, two separate reading texts were prepared in order to increase pre-service teachers' processual and contextual understanding, and after the teacher candidates had read the texts, they were asked to answer the related questions. Percentage and frequency values were determined by grouping the answers as "correct, partially correct, incorrect and unanswered". The fact that in this study, only 47% of the pre-service teachers were able to form a correct hypothesis means that their skills in this regard are in need of development. Candidates experienced some difficulty in interpreting statements that were not given explicitly in the text. The candidates' level of critical thinking is at a good level. It has been determined that they have post-modern view as epistemological belief. There is a need for designing instructional materials covering conceptual, processual, contextual dimensions of science in different subjects at university level and presenting them to biology teachers in book format.

This research aimed to assess the knowledge of photosynthesis among students in agricultural education and understand the influence of the contextual factors on it. In photosynthesis, biomass is produced, so understanding these processes is essential for successful agriculture. The research sample consisted of 330 students in agricultural education in Slovenia. Data were collected with a knowledge test and a contextual questionnaire. Better knowledge of photosynthesis was positively related with higher awareness of the importance of biology as a science and of photosynthesis. There was no significant relation between the knowledge of photosynthesis and positive attitudes toward biology lessons. The average achievement on the knowledge test of photosynthesis was 56%: the highest on the item about energy and the lowest on the item about the primary purpose of photosynthesis. Between these two achievements was the knowledge of reactants and products in photosynthesis, and the knowledge concerning chlorophyll. Considering these results, improvements should be made in teaching. For this population, more experimental and less theory-based lessons were suggested. The findings could benefit biology and science teachers in agricultural education and help improve national curriculum for biology in agricultural programmes.

Recently, the research about innovative approaches in the education of blind (non-visual--NV) students has intensified; however the use of dichotomous keys (DK) in their botanical education has not yet been examined. This research explored the contribution of two self-generated dichotomous keys (DK) for plant identification (a digital version--DDK and a printed version--DPK), to the botanical education of NV students. The research included 100 students, with an average age of 24, divided into 2 groups. Group E1 determined the plants using the DDK while in Group E2 plants were identified using the DPK. The DDK contributed more than the DPK in helping the NV participants to acquire the quality and durability knowledge they need to identify different plant groups (woody, bushy and herbaceous plants). The NV has the greatest success in the identification of woody plants, and the least success in the identification of herbaceous plants. The members of both groups (E1, E2) had positive opinion about the contribution of the applicable dichotomous key to their knowledge, the activities in it. Due to this fact, both versions of DKs are recommended as new assistive tools in the botanical education of NV students.