Botany online 1996-2004. No further update, only historical document of botanical science!
Botanical Society of America
Activities in Support of Education: 1997-2000
A Report to the PKAL Workshop: "The Future of Plant Biology"
The BSA supports the improvement of education in plant biology through its Teaching Section and also through its Education Committee (which is an umbrella effort of all the sections). Some of the individual sections also carry out educational activities appropriate to their sections but those activities are not listed here.
BSA affirmed the importance of excellence in science education and its commitment to improve science education in an important policy document, Botany for the Next Millennium. (see this document on the BSA web site at http://www.botany.org/bsa/millen/ ) The activities reported below are the most recent activities of the Teaching Section and the Education Committee which cooperate in planning and implementing these activities.
1997
Table of Contents (in 2000):
Botany 2000 (annual meeting program and abstracts; online registration)
Botany 2001 (ditto)
Announcements
Botany in the News!
BSA Publications
American Journal of Botany
Plant Science Bulletin
Careers in Botany
Botany for the Next Millennium
BSA Online Teaching Images
Online Membership Directory
Annual Meeting Sites
Membership Information Pages
Section Home Pages
WWW Botany Sites
Web Site Statistics
appropriated $1500 to attend NABT or NSTA
appointed committee to digitize our teaching slide collection for publication on the web
symposium at annual meeting (Montreal): "WIRED Biology: Using computers and the internet to enhance teaching and learning"
Teaching Section sponsors pre-meeting workshops and a paper session at annual meeting
1998
distributed bookmarks with BSA web site address at NSTA convention
appropriated $5000 for NABT/NSTA activities
Rob Reinsvold and Ethel Stanley presented workshop at NSTA and shared booth space with ASPP and Fast Plants
participated in three CELS events:
Rob Reinsvold, Marshall Sundberg, and Ethel Stanley represented the BSA at a conference, "Toward Literacy in Plant Biology," in Madison, WI co-hosted by CELS and ASPP
David Kramer represented BSA at a CELS workshop, "Collaborations in Undergraduate Biology Education," held July 9, 1998 at the Airlie Conference Center, Warrenton, VA
Gordon Uno (BSA and AIBS), Alan Berkowitz (ESA) and Louise Liao (CELS) presented a workshop, "Teaching College Biology: Roles for Professional Societies" at the AIBS/BSA annual meeting in Baltimore in which the collaboration of societies was explored further
slide digitizing committee still scanning slides!
Teaching Section sponsors pre-meeting workshops and a paper session at annual meeting
1999
As of July 21, 2000 (almost one year of publication) there have been 24,324 hits on this site! Thats an average of 68 hits per day. We havent done much go "advertise" the site beyond our own membership.
appropriated $10,400 for NABT/NSTA and other outreach activities
NABT: Rob Reinsvold and Ethel Stanley presented a workshop for secondary and community college teachers, "Leave It to the Plants."
NSTA: Rob, Ethel, and J. Shipman staffed the BSA booth. This was strategically located adjacent to booths sponsored by ASPP, American Phytopathological Society, Wisconsin Fast Plants, and C-Fern. This area was dubbed "The Plant Place" by convention participants and was very popular.
symposium at International Botanical Congress (St. Louis): "Botanical Literacy for the Next Millennium: What to Know and How to Know It" Note: Of the several hundred symposia, this was the only one that focused on education!
2000
asking for a continuing appropriation of $10,400 for educational outreach activities
NSTA: Rob Reinsvold and Tim Gerber operated our booth. There were approximately 20,000 attendees at the NSTA conference and we talked with nearly 1000 teachers and curriculum coordinators at the booth. The booth featured 15 activities involving 15 bean soup.
NABT: Will have a booth there in October.
published an article in Plant Science Bulletin calling our members attention to the fact that there are a number of articles on pedagogy of plant biology published each year: Kramer, David W. 1999. Report: The literature of plant science education. Plant Science Bulletin Vol. 45 (2) Summer 1999, pp. 35-36. As noted in the article, this bibliography was originally compiled by David Hershey. (See http://www.botany.org/bsa/psb/1999/arti99-2.html#arti2 )
participating (Kramer and Reinsvold) in this PKAL workshop on "The Future of Plant Biology"
symposium at annual meeting: "Using Educational Technology to Foster Learning Centered Pedagogies"
Other Activities
the Teaching Section offers two awards to recognize excellence in plant biology education:
The Samuel N. Postlethwait Award for Service to the Teaching Section
The Charles E. Bessey Award (to recognize and encourage excellence in teaching of botany as well as excellence in leadership in botanical education.
we publish "Careers in Botany: A Guide to Working with Plants" which is currently undergoing revision. This is in hard copy and also on our web site:
http://www.botany.org/bsa/careers/
Goals for the Future
To publish hands-on, discovery-type plant biology exercises for use in schools as well as at colleges and universities. These could be published on our website and/or in hard copy.
To publish an educational poster and accompanying materials describing hands-on activities related to the poster. We are currently negotiating with an artist/photographer to get the rights to several of his works (serial photos of plant development).
To publish web-based case studies in plant biology. This idea will be explored when we meet in Portland.
To offer assistance to publishers of plant biology trade books for children and for K-12 schools who are seeking professional review of manuscripts. We want to make sure that the plant biology content is correct before these books are published.
To publish instructions for growing plants in the classroom with a list of easy-to-grow plants that illustrate various morphological and/or taxonomic principles. This idea grew out of discussions with representatives of the American Horticultural Society but has not been pursued.
To add images to our online plant image data base and also to improve the captions on many of the images.
To support the improvement of plant biology education through workshops for K-12 teachers, community college faculty, and college and university faculty.
To continue to cooperate with other professional plant societies to share information about best practices and to cooperate in providing educational outreach so as to avoid duplication of effort.
David W. Kramer
July, 2000