Editors Choice Reviews Plant Reproduction & the Pollen Tube Journey – How the Females Lure the Males
Do College Introductory Biology Courses Increase Student Ecological Literacy?
Lorbiecke, René. 2012. The American Biology Teacher 74(8): 575-580. Many of us have had students germinate pollen to observe pollen tube growth on a slide, but Lorbiecke has taken this one step further to demonstrate chemotaxis as the pollen tube approaches an ovule in this semi-in vivo assay. Rapid cycling Brassica (Fast Plants) flowers are the research material and the author provides detailed instructions, including a diagrammatic flow-chart of the procedure, for students to follow. Excellent macrophotographs illustrate the results.
Cheruvelil, Kendra Spence and Xuemel Ye. 2012. Journal of College Science Teaching 42(2): 50-56. Do prospective biology majors have greater motivation for study and more positive perception of environmental issues than non-majors? Yes. Do they have better conceptual understanding? Not so much. Are they more ecologically literate at the end of the course? Not significantly. I’m sure these results would be different in any of the courses we teach. Or would they be? Actually, for most of us, the results would probably be quite similar. Read this article and set yourself a challenge.
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