146 WORKSHOP 15 (Abstr. 326–327) Model Plant Systems for Teaching Horticultural Science
Oral Session 6—Teaching Methods/Human Issues 1 27 July 2006, 4:00–5:45 p.m. Nottoway Moderator: Ann Marie VanDerZanden
systematics by becoming more proficient on a particular plant family. To effectively communicate, student instructors must have a thorough understanding of the concepts they are teaching, which is an important outcome of problem-based learning ( Duch, 1996
The Teaching Portfolio is a factual description of a professor's strengths and accomplishments. It includes documents and materials that collectively suggest the scope and quality of a professor's teaching performance. The Teaching Portfolio is a living, breathing document that changes over time. Items in a Teaching Portfolio include a statement of teaching responsibilities, description of steps to improve teaching, instructional innovations, student and teaching evaluations, awards and honors, and a record of students who have succeeded. I will discuss the steps taken at Clemson University to use the Teaching Portfolio.
Many faculty are discipline experts and effective teachers, excelling in scholarly teaching. However, SoTL is the systematic inquiry about student teaching and learning in the classroom, followed by publishing or disseminating those findings to
The principles of plant physiology are best learned in an environment where students are directly engaged in the process of scientific inquiry. Working from this assumption, we have developed a two-stage approach to laboratory instruction that fosters student-directed research within an undergraduate plant physiology course. During the first 10 weeks of a 16-week semester, students develop competency in measuring physiological variables by using an array of standard analytical techniques. A core set of 10 laboratory experiments provides structured instruction and teaches the principles of modern physiological analyses. During week 11, students observe a demonstration of a plant response, where the underlying cause of the phenomenon is not evident. Working together in groups of three or four, students hypothesize on the physiological mechanisms that may be involved. After submitting a statement of hypothesis and a plan of study, each group then requests the necessary instrumentation, plant material and greenhouse and/or growth chamber space to conduct their experiments. Results of their experimentation are presented during week 15 in both written and oral formats. The approach appears to help students to integrate and connect learnings from earlier in the semester to solve a defined problem. Further, students learn how to judge the reliability of experimental results and to evaluate whether conclusions drawn are justified by the data.
Poster Session 27—Teaching Methods 29 July 2006, 12:00–12:45 p.m.
Hybrid teaching refers to course delivery through a blend of traditional, face-to-face teaching, along with online instruction outside of the classroom ( Hino and Kahn, 2016 ). Incorporating online components can allow educators to reach a greater
Introductory horticulture courses are taught in almost every 4 year and 2 year horticulture program across the country, however, purpose, content and approach can vary widely among schools. Survey results will show how different schools use their introductory course (recruiting, foundation, service), class composition, topics most commonly included, textbooks used, standard teaching techniques and new or innovative techniques that have been especially effective.
Abstract
Paul Read, ASHS Education Division Vice President, encouraged a number of us to share our thoughts on the teaching process for the edification of others. Among the courses I have taught over the last 20 years, a course on greenhouse management, including graduate level plant environmental measurements, has engaged my principal effort for the past decade. I have no pedagogical credentials to do so (i.e., teaching certificate), and certainly an educationist of today would consider me hopelessly old-fashioned and unqualified. However, I take solace in the face that Plato, Diogenes, and Confucius—to mention a few—did not have teacher training, computer grading, slide projectors, or television to “improve” information transfer. This probably represents the height of hubris to call upon the shades of some of the greatest teachers in history.