PROBLEM BASED CONCEPTS UTILIZING PLANT RESOURCES

THE PROJECT EXPLORES THE FEASIBILITY OF USING BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS, WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN TRADITIONALLY UTILIZED IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS, FOR DEVELOPING NEW PROBLEM-BASED LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS IN LIFE SCIENCE CURRICULA. THE RESEARCH EXPLORES THE USE OF PLANT BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS, SUCH AS PLANT MUTANTS WHICH ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH GENETIC STOCK CENTERS AND GERMPLASM COLLECTIONS, TO CONSTRUCT CLASSROOM EXPERIMENTS FOR BIOLOGY COURSES. THESE EXPERIMENTS ENCOURAGE PROBLEM-BASED EXPERIMENTAL ACTIVITIES FOR COMMUNICATING BIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS FOR HELPING STUDENTS DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING AND INVESTIGATION SKILLS. THE EXPERIMENTS FOCUS ON BIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS WHICH PROVIDE A FOUNDATION UPON WHICH STUDENTS CAN BUILD TO ACHIEVE A FULL APPRECIATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE AGRICULTURAL APPLICATIONS OF MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY. THE USE OF THESE MATERIALS PRESENTS STUDENTS WITH AN INTRODUCTION TO GENETICS AND BIOTECHNOLOGY, SHOWING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THESE DISCIPLINES AND OTHER AREAS OF MODERN BIOLOGY. A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION FOCUSES ON OBTAINING FEEDBACK FROM SEVERAL PRACTICING SCIENCE EDUCATORS. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT THE RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH WILL LEAD TO THE IDENTIFICATION AND UTILIZATION OF NEW RESOURCES IN SCIENCE EDUCATION, AND CONTRIBUTE NOVEL ASPECTS TO FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW BIOLOGY CURRICULA.