I agree with David Kramer that insufficient science content courses for
precollege teachers is a major problem. I have seen a number of precollege
teacher complaints that college education curricula are top heavy with
pedagogy courses that they find are not particularly useful in the
classroom, and they regret they have had so few science content courses. It
is not just the lack of science content courses, but even the content
courses available are not tailored to a precollege teacher's needs,
particularly the vast number of elementary teachers. Plant biologists could
help the situation a lot by offering a plant science content course for
precollege teachers which also has a laboratory in which teachers learn how
to grow plants and do plant experiments cheaply under classroom conditions
including Wisconsin Fast Plants, C-ferns, hydroponics, tropisms,
photosynthesis, transpiration, plant hormones, bulb forcing, supermarket
botany, etc.
I have read some of the pedagogical literature and I often find that
educational "theories", such as constructivism, are more accurately called
philosophies because they are not based on very extensive or clear data but
more on teacher experiences and viewpoints. There are many competing
philosophies and strong critics and proponents for each one. To a biologist,
that presents a murky situation. As teachers, we know from experience that
students and classes are very variable. For a single teacher, a teaching
technique that is a big success with one class one semester can fail for a
different group of students in the same course another semester. Similarly,
techniques that one teacher finds invaluable, another teacher may find are
not effective for them. Contrary to plant science, where one theory usually
dominates, pedagogy offers a menu of teaching and learning strategies and
techniques.
I think it would be worthwhile if a pedagogy course was required for a
graduate plant science program to at least introduce potential teachers to
different teaching and learning methods. The course would have to be
tailored for plant science. I think there are several reasons why no such
pedagogy course is required. Not all MS and PhD students will do much
college teaching. At many univeristies, undergraduate education is not a
high priority compared to research. There are few faculty with both pedagogy
and plant science expertise. The "educational jargon" really turns off a lot
of biologists who feel that if there was substance behind it, it would be
presented in plain English. A lot of pedagogical research is based on
"softer" kinds of evidence, such as surveys and testimonials, that
biologists do not, by training, give much weight. As students, most older
scientists survived, if not thrived, with the traditional lecture approach
and may tend to view other teaching techniques as coddling students,
particularly college students. There is often not much of the solid data
biologists are accustomed to supporting some educational philosophies. As an
example, the article mentioned in this newsgroup before on a Theory of Plant
Blindness. ( http://www.botany.org/bsa/psb/2001/psb47-1.html#Toward a Theory
of Plant ) I have read the article several times but I cannot find clear and
unequivocal evidence supporting a "theory" of plant blindness as a human
"default condition" due to human visual perception and visual cognition.
When judged with the rigorous standards of science, the evidence is indirect
and circumstantial.
David Hershey
dh321 at excite.com
An addition to Ed Hesseler's list of useful publications is the journal
"American Biology Teacher" which has both biologists and pedagogists
contributing articles. The editor is a plant scientist. Another book I have
found enlightening is "Fulfilling the Promise: Biology Education in the
Nation's Schools" (1990, National Academy Press).
The text of the "National Science Education Standards" is available online:
http://books.nap.edu/books/0309053269/html/index.html
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