W2 'Smiling Faces' - A Simple Technique for Teaching
Enzyme Function
Organized
by: Suzanne Cunningham, Purdue University, Agronomy Department,
915 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, Phone:
765-494-5825 Fax: 765-496-2926, scunning@purdue.edu
Interactive
programs have been developed so students of various
ages can experience plant science, learn how enzymes
breakdown starch during digestion and seed germination,
and, ultimately, better understand the role agriculture
plays in their daily lives. Plant science and starch digestion
are introduced through hands-on experiments using corn
seed, saliva, starch-agar gels, and iodine indicator. Elementary
students learn what an enzyme is, how enzymes work using
letters of the alphabet, and have the opportunity to see
enzymes in action. We discuss the role enzymes play in
seed germination and food digestion. Simple hands-on experiments
changing enzyme assay parameters can assist middle school
students in charting enzyme activity. Students use the
starch-agar gels containing seeds from grains and legumes
to visualize the differences in the amount of starch stored
in these seeds. Elementary and middle school students better
understand the concepts of enzyme activity and specificity
by using jigsaw puzzles and LegoTM blocks in 3 to 5 minute
experiments. The food pyramid and the role plants play
in nutrition are introduced to all students. Discussions
of corn processing and utilization by the food, pharmaceutical,
cosmetic, plastic, and oil industries help students appreciate
the role agriculture plays in our culture.
Target Audience: Kindergarten - Middle School Teachers
Attendee
Limit: 48
W3 Planting Science and Cultivating Mentoring
Organized
by: Claire Hemingway, Botanical Society of America, P.O.
Box 299 St. Louis, MO 63166, chemingway@botany.org
Did a mentor help pique and foster your interest in plant
science? The PlantingScience program offers scientists
from our sister societies meaningful opportunities to share
their deep knowledge, curiosity, and excitement of scientific
discovery, while helping students learn how science works
and connects to everyday life. This interactive workshop
will first present a brief introduction to the online mentoring
PlantingScience program and then break into small discussion
groups focused on the role of scientist mentors in science
education. Join scientist mentors and K-16 educators in
the program to explore and share strategies for effective
mentoring. Using our experiences and student work in the
program as a framework, we will address ways of promoting
scientific habits of mind and guiding student investigations
as well as some of the unique challenges of communicating
online with young learners. This session is geared toward
graduate students and post-doctoral researchers interested
in building their mentoring skills, although it would be
also of interest to faculty members looking for meaningful
outreach programs to meet National Science Foundation's
Broader Impact statement.
Target Audience: Junior High School and High School Teachers,
Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee Limit: 50
W4 MorphBank's New Annotation Functionality for Morphological
Phylogenetics and Biological Research Collections
Many biological disciplines draw important conclusions
from images. However, many of these images cannot be published
due to page constraints in journals, and thus they are
not widely available. MorphBank (www.morphbank.com) is
for these images what GenBank is for genetic data - an
easily accessed repository with added functionality tailored
to the disciplines using the resource. This workshop will
introduce participants to new annotation functionality
in MorphBank for phylogenetic character state annotations
and the remote annotation of biological research collection
specimens. Participants will be guided through the MorphBank
interface, including the submission and annotation of images
and the creation of access privileges for collaborations
at early stages. This is a great opportunity for potential
users to view and comment on the design of this emerging
resource.
Target Audience: Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee Limit:
100
1:00pm - 3:00pm
W5 Classroom Wonders: Wisconsin Fast Plants and C-Fern
Experience new, hands-on,
minds-on activities with Wisconsin Fast Plants and C-Fern.
These fascinating,
diminutive,
quick growing plants are ideal teaching tools for exploring
life cycles, environmental effects, genetic variation,
population biology and more while teaching students the
process of doing science. Participants will do hands-on
activities and receive free materials.
Target Audience: Junior High School and High School Teachers,
Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee Limit: 75
Sunday
8:30am - 12:30am
W6 Measuring Eco-physiology of Plants from Cells to Ecosystems
with Nondestructive Techniques
Organized by: Anitra Thorhaug, Yale University School
of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 1359 SW 22 Terrace,
Miami, Fl
33145
Fax 305-858-6697, thorhaug@msn.com
Sponsored by the Physiological
and the Ecological Sections of the American Botanical
Society, There has been
a rapid development of in vivo imaging approaches to physiological
and ecological processes , especially responses to stress.
These techniques range from sub-cellular level to the whole
ecosystem and landscape level. The techniques span a range
from microscopy and NMR imaging to hand held instruments
(absorbance, fluorescence, reflectance sensors) to airborne
and satellite remote sensing. What are new laboratory and
portable field techniques to nondestructively measure plants?
How do they operate? What are their limits of measurement?
What types of results occur from each? What can they do
for my research or teaching? A hands-on workshop with experts
and their instruments for demonstration of a series of
nondestructive, non-intrusive instruments and the types
of results obtained from them will allow the participants
to learn how these instruments operate and what results
could be obtained from each instrument. The range will
be from the molecular level to the landscape level including
cells, leafs, whole plants, ecosystems, and large scale
landscape level seen from remote sensing. The theme is
that non-destructive instruments gives the ability to measure
intact living plants either in field or laboratory. This
allows investigators great advantage over classical methods
of grinding or slicing specimens to ascertain chemical
and physical properties and responses. The living systems
responses may indeed be greater than the sum of its parts
and certainly respond to stress and other changes more
than the inert methods. The replication of various levels
of the changes being tested with the same specimens allows
better statistics. The multiple trials of various substances
to the same specimens also is of statistical advantage.
Instrumentation and its adaptation to eco-physiology is
rapidly changing. Field and laboratory instruments will
be demonstrated by experts, who will talk to small groups
of participants on a continual basis during a half day
session. The experts will lead the participants through
the procedures and results of their instruments.The range
from photosynthesis and stress measurements to remote sensing
of ecosystems will be conveyed. This is a learning experience
for investigators and students of eco-physiologists, physiologists,
ecologists and those who teach field and laboratory plant
science on a whole organism to landscape level. I.Organ,
Cellular,and subcellular level responses of Photosynthesis
. "Photosynthesis and light responses." "Where
are the responses occurring in the cell" "In
Vivo Stains in organelles, organs and whole plants" II.Whole
Plant to canopy scale Stress Measurements. "Spectral
Reflectance for Forest leaves". "Spectral reflectance
signature of dominant habitat organisms for remote sensing
With major natural variables." "Portable field
absorbance measurements" "Fluorescence measurements:
cells and leaves." III. Satellite and aerial Mapping
of ecosystems and plant health "Remote Sensing " " Mid
Altitude Color Photography mapping."
Target Audience: Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee Limit:
75
W7 Image Quiz: Teaching plant identification based on
insights from cognitive psychology
Organized by: Bruce Kirchoff, Department
of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro,
Greensboro,
NC 27402-6170,
Phone: 336-334-4953, Fax: 336-334-4839, kirchoff@uncg.edu
Image Quiz is a cross-platform
computer program designed to efficiently teach plant
identification.
It does this
by helping users become visual experts in species recognition.
Unlike novices, experts are able to quickly recognize patterns.
This allows chess masters to recognize chess configurations,
and botanists to identify species from a glimpse out the
window of a moving vehicle. Image Quiz helps students rapidly
achieve this mastery by adapting techniques from cognitive
psychology to the task of species recognition. It is designed
to promote holistic processing, the visual processing mode
used by experts.
Target Audience: Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee Limit:
25
W8 Sharing scientific research with K-12 learners: expanding
our outreach
Organized by: Candace Lutzow-Felling,
Director of Education, Blandy Experimental Farm, University
of Virginia,
400 Blandy Farm Lane, Boyce, VA 22620; Phone: (540)837-1758
ext 230; Fax: (540)837-1523 cjl6b@virginia.edu
Many scientists have the desire to share their knowledge
and passion for science with the K-12 learning community
but are uncertain how to transmit the findings and the
process of science at the K-12 level. This workshop will
help prepare scientists to collaborate with teachers and
effectively communicate with students in K-12 classrooms.
Questions addressed will include: How can I use my scientific
knowledge, understanding, and experience to contribute
to K-12 science education? What types of activities might
be involved?; How much time do I need to commit?; and Where
might I interact with K-12 teachers and students? The workshop
will begin with a discussion of how to adapt scientific
knowledge and research for learning at the K-12 levels.
Scientists involved in this knowledge transfer will share
some of their insights and experiences. Two teachers who
have collaborated with scientists, either in classroom
teaching or scientific research, will give their perspectives
with a focus on how scientists can partner with K-12 teachers
to provide students with hands-on science experiences.
Examples of projects that have involved K-12 students and
teachers in scientific research will also be described.
The second half of the workshop will provide participating
scientists with an opportunity to brainstorm ways in which
they can share their knowledge and/or research with the
K-12 community. Participants will also engage in some hands-on,
inquiry-based botanical activities to help familiarize
them with this teaching and learning method. Ways in which
this teaching technique can be incorporated into their
transfer of scientific knowledge to any age learning community
will also be discussed.
Target Audience: Professional and student scientists
Attendee
Limit: 30
W15 Using
the taxonomy of educational objectives to inform the teaching
of botany.
Organized
by Mary Barkworth, - Utah State University, Intermountain
Herbarium,
Department of Biology, 5305 Old Main Hill, Logan, utah, 84322-5305, U.S.A.
In 1956, Bloom published a taxonomy of educational objectives
that ranked different kinds of cognitive learning, from straight recall to analysis,
synthesis, and
evaluation. Research since 1956 has led to some revision of his ideas, but the
basic principle and approach can aid us in designing and evaluating all aspects
of the courses we teach. Participants will start by discussing sample outlines,
lectures, and tests in terms of the kinds of learning they appear designed to
encourage, after which there will be a general discussion of integrating the
objectives into a statement of one’s teaching philosophy. The last half
of the workshop will be devoted to developing, or modifying, objectives and activities
for the courses taught by the participants. For this portion, those attending
are encouraged to bring their own course outlines, lecture notes, and tests.
Tests are important. Students are pragmatists; most students use our tests as
an indication of what we regard as important in what we teach. It is, therefore,
important that they reflect our educational objectives. Description of Bloom's taxonomy
Limit: 30
10:00am - 12:00pm
W9 Plants
in Space: Educational Opportunities in Plant Biology
Using the Space
Garden
Organized by: Marty Gustafson, Orbital Technologies Corp.
1212 Fourier Drive Madison, WI 53717
Phone: (608)
827-5000 Fax: (608) 827-5050 gustafsonm@orbitec.com
Space exploration has
been a perennial area of wonder for children across the
United States. Not only is the
spaceflight environment itself interesting, but it also
has important biological consequences for plant growth.
In this workshop, we will discuss why plants are important
to the long-term development of space and what challenges
scientists and engineers face in growing plants in microgravity,
on the moon, and on Mars. We will then introduce the Space
Garden, an educational plant growth kit used for ground-based
studies of plant biology which is an analogue of the Astro
Garden, a plant growth kit that will be used to grow basil
on STS-118 and the International Space Station. Finally,
we will discuss how interested students might become the
space farmers of the future.
Target Audience: Kindergarten - Middle School Teachers,
Junior High School and High School Teachers
Attendee Limit:
50
W10 Preparing Figure Files for Publication
Organized by:Jeff Monson, Art Department, Allen Press
(publisher of American Journal of Botany); Beth
E. Hazen, Production
Editor, American Journal of Botany, behazen@willowsend.net
Jeff Monson, supervisor of Allen Press's Art Department,
will introduce participants to the basics of preparing
figures for print publications using Photoshop. Participants
may bring their own laptops and Photoshop and submit questions
in advance to Beth (behazen@willowsend.net) or bring questions
and figure files to the workshop.
Target Audience: Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee
Limit: 30
1:00pm - 5:00pm
W11 Scientific Writing and Editing
Organized by: Beth E. Hazen, Production Editor, American
Journal of Botany; E-mail: behazen@willowsend.net
Learn to:
• Correct common problems with grammar, punctuation, style,
word usage, tables and figures
• Use commas correctly
• Recognize indicators that signal problems
• Write more concisely, eliminate unnecessary words
• Write complete, succinct captions for tables and figures
Workshop presented by Beth Hazen, manuscript editor for
10+ years, specializes in editing for non-native English
writers. Pertinent areas of grammar, punctuation, terminology
and word usage, and style will be discussed, with an emphasis
on examples from manuscripts submitted for publication.
Participants will receive a reference handbook, writing
and editing for plant scientists, written by Beth, which
expands on workshop topics. Questions for coverage in the
workshop may be e-mailed to Beth (behazen@willowsend.net)
until five days before the meetings start. Sample paragraphs
for onsite editing may be sent until 2 weeks before the
meeting.
Target Audience: Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee Limit:
30
W1 New BSA Teaching Innovations
Short Course
Organized by: Jim Wandersee, LSU and
Marshall Sundberg, ESU
This 4-hr. short course,
co-taught by two experienced full professors with decades
of plant biology education experience, is offered especially
for graduate students, prospective and new plant sciences
faculty, and others interested in innovation. It is designed
for those who seek an optimized and prioritized overview
of the latest thinking and research on successful, 21st-century,
college science teaching. Use of e-Learning, active learning
strategies, computer-based concept mapping, findings
of misconception studies, and research-supported course
organization strategies for teaching large classes will
be highlighted. The course is comprised of a carefully
structured series of mini-presentations and activities
that maximize every minute of the Congress attendees’ time.
The short-course text book, Active Learning in Secondary
and College Science Classrooms, will be supplied
to each participant for annotation during the course.
Each course completer will receive an official BSA
2007 Professional Update Course Completion Certificate with
a value of .5 CEU (continuing education unit).
Attendee Limit: 50
W16
The World of Plants at Your Fingertips
Organized by: Nancy Morin, Flora
of North America Association
(email: nancy.morin@nau.edu)
Learn: about the wealth of information
available online, with a focus on taxonomic and floristic
websites
Where the data comes from and how it is managed
What
are its limitations — what to watch out for
What
aspects of these resources do you NOT know about yet—powerful
tools,
unusual datasets
How can you help these organizations to improve content
and function
The world of plants at your fingertips: A tremendous amount
of information about plants is at your fingertips on the
internet. What do you need to know about those resources
to use them most effectively? Are there powerful tools
you aren’t using yet? Are there limitations to the
data or the retrieval methods that you should know about?
In this workshop participants will get a high level overview
of some of the largest online database projects and an
indepth look at some regional and national resources.
The overview: Stinger
Guala (USDA/PLANTS) will talk about the Global Biodiversity
Information Facility, which is
bringing facilitating the digitization of and global
dissemination of primary biodiversity data, and James
Macklin (Harvard
University Herbaria) will talk about the International
Plant Names Index—a major resource for plant names,
literature, and authors. A representative from the Science
Environment for Ecological Knowledge (SEEK) project of
Ecoinformatics.org, will introduce taxonomic concepts—how
different taxonomies may be represented in different
data sets, what users should be aware of, and efforts
underway
to solve this fundamental problem.
In Depth: Bruce Baldwin (Jepson Herbarium, University
of California, Berkeley) will give a tour of the Jepson
Interchange
and the Consortium of California Herbaria online resources,
and a speaker (TBD) will talk about the development of
Southeast Regional Network of Expertise and Collections
(SERNEC), a similar site for the Southeast U.S., and
Vegbank, an ecologically oriented site. Stinger Guala
will introduce
recent advances in the USDA PLANTS database and explain
some of the lesser known datasets available there, and
James Macklin will talk about resources available on
the Flora of North America website. There also will be
a demonstration
of Missouri Botanical Garden’s Botanicus, a remarkable
portal to botanical literature. The workshop will be
interactive, with question and answer opportunities and
discussions
among presenters and participants throughout.
Participants will receive a CD of resource materials from
the projects demonstrated as well as an annotated list
of links to useful websites.
Limit: 40
1:00 - 3:00pm
W12 Collections Planning and Policy for Educators and
Academics
Organized by: Matthew Cole Director
of Education Green Bay Botanical Garden PO Box 12644 Green
Bay WI 54307-2644
Phone:
(920) 491-3691
Fax: (920) 490-9461, mcole@gbbg.org
In the world of museums, collections form the basis for
displays, research and education. Herbaria, libraries and
greenhouses are familiar collections to many botanists-even
the living plants on school or university grounds can be
a resource for teaching or research. But the institutional
policies that underlie collections management lay outside
many students' and educators' experience. Step behind the
curtain to see how collections policy and planning can
affect the diversity of plants being grown, the sharing
of costs or resources, the educational viability of your
collection, and the standards for recordkeeping and research.
Examples will be drawn mostly from the collections of living
plants.
Target Audience: Junior High School and High School
Teachers, Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee Limit: 16
W13 Carex Identification
Organized by: T. M. Jones Department of Biology Utah
State University 5305 Old Main Hill Logan, Utah 84322-5305
Cell: (216)789-6841
Fax: 435-797-1575 TPolonski@adelphia.net ,
A.A. Reznicek Herbarium, University of Michigan 3600
Varsity
Drive
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108-2287, Ph: 734-764-5544 Fax
- 734-647-5719 reznicek@umich.edu
Participants will be given the opportunity to develop
skill in the identification of sedges through a combination
of short presentations and use of paper and computer-based
keys. They are encouraged to bring their own specimens
for identification but for those unable to do so, specimens
will be provided. The participants will also be asked to
complete a questionnaire on the keys used.
Target Audience: Junior High School and High School
Teachers, Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee Limit: 30
3:30pm - 5:30pm
W12a Collections Planning and Policy for Educators and
Academics
(Repeated from 1:00-3:00pm)
Organized by: Matthew Cole Director of Education Green
Bay Botanical Garden PO Box 12644 Green Bay WI 54307-2644
Phone: (920) 491-3691 Fax: (920) 490-9461, mcole@gbbg.org
In the world of museums,
collections form the basis for displays, research and
education. Herbaria, libraries and greenhouses are familiar
collections to many botanists-even the living plants
on school or university grounds can be a resource for
teaching or research. But the institutional policies
that underlie collections management lay outside many
students' and educators' experience. Step behind the
curtain to see how collections policy and planning can
affect the diversity of plants being grown, the sharing
of costs or resources, the educational viability of your
collection, and the standards for recordkeeping and research.
Examples will be drawn mostly from the collections of
living plants.
Target Audience: Junior High School and High School
Teachers, Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee Limit: 16
W13a Carex Identification
(Repeated from 1:00-3:00pm)
Organized by: T. M. Jones Department of Biology Utah
State University 5305 Old Main Hill Logan, Utah 84322-5305
Cell: (216)789-6841 Fax: 435-797-1575 TPolonski@adelphia.net ,
A.A. Reznicek Herbarium, University of Michigan 3600 Varsity
Drive Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108-2287, Ph: 734-764-5544
Fax - 734-647-5719 reznicek@umich.edu
Participants will be given
the opportunity to develop skill in the identification
of sedges through a combination of short presentations
and use of paper and computer-based keys. They are encouraged
to bring their own specimens for identification but for
those unable to do so, specimens will be provided. The
participants will also be asked to complete a questionnaire
on the keys used.
Target Audience: Junior High School and High School
Teachers, Undergraduate/Graduate
Attendee Limit: 30
Monday
5:00pm - 7:00pm
W14 Ideas to Deliverables
- Designing and Disseminating Effective Educational Materials:
A Joint ASPB-BSA Education Workshop
» Need
a Letter of Invitation?
E-mail Johanne » Apply
for Travel Money - See if you qualify
» ASPB
Travel Grant Application Members of all societies
are invited to apply.
» Visa
Information
Meeting is registered with the US Department
of State
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