Supermarket Botany

Supermarket Botany is a frequently-used teaching resource or strategy. It draws on a student's existing familiarity with plant-based foods to explore plant structure and life cycles. One of its strongest points is that it is adaptable to many age levels--from lower primary school to university and general interest groups. We have designed a unique web-based resource that features accurate botanical information in an engaging format, combining a tutorial with an interactive test. High-quality photographic images of key morphological features allow students to interpret the structures they are observing. Teachers can use the website as a stand-alone application or as a resource for previewing/reviewing this material before/after a hands-on laboratory class. Evaluations have shown that this web-based application can result in similar learning outcomes to a traditional laboratory-based session. (Contains 2 tables, 8 figures and 5 online resources.)