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2005 Workshop
July 11-15 and 28-29
“The ABCs of Developmental Botany;
Integrating Plants into the High School Classroom”
A Professional
Development Salary Point Class (3pts)
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This workshop is from July 11th-15th and July 28th-29th at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. The workshop will be held from 9 am-5 pm in the Huntington’s Applied Tech Laboratory. The total commitment to the program is 7 day.
“The ABCs of Developmental Botany; Integrating Plants into the High School Classroom.” This workshop is part of a 5 year educational outreach initiative program administered through the National Science Foundation on a “Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research” grant called the Computable Plant (proposal 6230979). The course is geared to high school level biology teachers who are looking to enrich their classroom with inquiry based lessons using plants. These lessons will not only incorporate state and federal standards for biological sciences, but expand on them, including state-of-the-art techniques and information.
Each participant will receive a $350.00 stipend, and will be eligible for a $500.00 supply grant for classroom implementation of inquiry-based plant lesson plans.
Project Coordinator/Instructor
Dr. Martha Kirouac, Botanical Educator Special Projects
Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (see attached CV)
Additional instructors may include:
- Professor Elliot Meyerowitz, George W. Beadle Professor of Biology and Chair of the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
- Dr. Jose Luis Riechmann, Director, Gene Expression Center, Caltech
- Dr. Gary Schindelman, post-doctoral scholar, Caltech
- Jill Andrews, Assistant to the Provost for Educational Outreach at Caltech
- Dr. James Folsom, Director of the Huntington Botanical Gardens
- Kitty Connolly, Botanical Education Specialist at the Huntington Botanical Gardens
- Mike Kerkman, Botanical Educator at the Huntington Botanical Gardens
- Elaine Wong, graduate student at UC Irvine
Upon completion of the 49 hour program “The ABCs of Developmental Botany; Integrating Plants into the High School Classroom,” participants will be able to:
- Identify the major parts of a plant over a developmental time course
- Be able to use a dissecting and compound microscope to examine plant and cell structure
- Discuss how form and function relate to the development of an organism
- Discuss natural variation and adaptation
- Identify the parts of a plant cell, and their function
- Explain why the structure of the plant cell has profound implications on the developmental processes of the plant
- Understand that cells differentiate into tissues with specific functions
- Understand that all cells have the same DNA, and that cell determination is the result of a narrowing field of possible cell fates and is intimately tied up with transcriptional regulation
- Understand the technology of micro-arrays that allow you to survey a subset of cells and determine which genes are expressed in a given cell
- Examine various mutant lines of plants, identify what is mutant about them and relate that back to developmental processes
- Understand that altering gene(s) through mutation can alter the fitness of a plant
- Describe the shoot apical meristem tissue and the various classes of genes that are involved in determining floral identity
- Explain how humans have impacted the history of agriculture through selective breeding, mutation and biotechnology.
- Explain what totipotency and apoptosis is and how these processes effect plant and animal development
- Explain several key differences in the development of plants from the development of animals as well as highlighting some of the similarities
- Create three inquiry based lessons focusing on the principles of plant development
In order to receive credit for this workshop, the following homework assignments must be completed in full, and turned in by August 15th, 2005.
Participants (working in groups of three) must create three lessons/units utilizing information, activities, and lessons culled from the course content and other outside sources. The curriculum sample must meet the following requirements to receive credit:
- Plans must include an introduction that outlines the aims/philosophy behind the creation of the plan. This section must also outline how the plan meets the needs of English learners and students with a variety of learning styles.
- The lessons must correspond to at least one written, overall goal and a series of education objectives for each goal. This includes outline academic, performance and behavioral objectives.
- Possible interdisciplinary components to each lesson should be included.
- Each lesson must have: an estimated time requirement; a material list; educational objectives; a list of CA state educational standards covered; a detailed activity outline; lesson appropriate homework for students; an assessment plan; and a reference list (of source material, and additional reading when appropriate) as well as test questions from AP exams/ other relevant test.
- Lessons must incorporate the inquiry method of learning/instruction.
- While lessons may be pulled from other sources, the format of the lessons should be internally consistent. This may mean editing and re-writing. If the material is pulled from another source, that source must be cited.
- Plans should be easy to follow and learning objectives should be clearly stated.
- Readers other than the developer should easily understand plans.
- Plans are being created so that they may be used. Choose and create only lessons that are likely to be used in the classroom.
- The lesson plans will be shared with fellow workshop participants in the July workshop and then posted on the website.
Each participant must include a written proposal that outlines when the curriculum plan will be implemented in their classroom, and how it will fit into the overall classroom curriculum.
The participants must outline an expenditure plan for their $500.00 grant to implement plants into the classroom. Each participant will arrange a meeting with the program coordinator to review this expenditure plan before any purchases are made.
District Priorities and Participants Teaching Assignment
This course is designed to provide teachers with a better understanding of the development and genetics of plants, and how these differ from animal development. It is designed to encourage teachers to use plants as a basis for inquiry-based learning in their classroom. The course will focus on giving teachers the confidence, skills, desire and means to implement plants as an experimental system in their classroom. The content of this course as well as the follow-up workshop, and the homework will focus on science education and will align with state and federal standards in biological sciences for grades 9-12. Both of these goals are highlighted as core subject matter in the No Child Left Behind legislation. The workshop utilizes and models the inquiry method of scientific instruction and scientific exploration with authentic objects, useful techniques in working with English learners and those with special learning needs.
An outside evaluator will be engaged to determine the baseline knowledge of the participant teachers. Ongoing review by the outside evaluator and project staff will determine the level of the teacher comprehension and satisfaction with the program. Project staff’s interaction with teachers will direct subsequent years’ institutes. Interviews with the participants and products generated by classroom students will constitute an early summative report to be utilized for the design of the educational program, and review by the National Science Foundation. Last years 2004, to NSF prepared by our evaluators can be sent if requested.