Where have all the flowers gone?—the place of plants in school science

Children’s ideas about the internal structure of trees: cross-age studies

“…Although it has been shown in some research that plants are neglected organisms in the curriculum (Tunnicliffe 1999), in textbooks (Honey 1987;Schussler et al 2010) and even in students' minds (Gatt et al 2007;Patrick and Tunnicliffe 2011), teachers may benefit from considering that students have their own explanations of plant structure, physiology and life functions contained in their mental models. In order to teach about biological phenomena effectively, teachers may benefit from paying special attention to plants and to the way students see and interpret them.…”

“…In many countries, plants also seem to be neglected in both the science curriculum and in biology textbooks compared to the coverage allocated to animals (Honey 1987;Schussler et al 2010). For example, in research carried out by Shussler (2010), a selection of elementary school textbooks (provided by Harcourt Science and Macmillan McGraw-Hill Science), were analyzed.…”

Toward a Rationale for Recycling in Schools

“…a lack of coverage of plants in biology classes (Flannery. I99 1 : Hershey, I 992: Honey, 1987;National Research Council. 1992;Steward, 1967), as well as the decline of field biology from the biology curriculum in many colleges and universities in North America.…”

Exploring Horticulture in Human Culture: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Youth Education

“…The lack of emphasis on plants in school curricula has been well-documented (Flannery, 1991;Hershey, 1992;Honey, 1987;Walch, 1975). Many reasons have been suggested for this educational gap, including: That teachers find plants much less exciting than animals, and that they share this attitude with students (Flannery, 1991 ); that most people are "animal chauvinists" (Darley, 1990); or that school science texts devote considerably less time to plants (Honey, 1987). Wood-Robinson (1991 ) revealed startling misconceptions about plants by young people, demonstrating the need for more work in the area of students' understanding of many aspects of the functioning of plants and human relationships to plants.…”

“…Wood-Robinson (1991 ) revealed startling misconceptions about plants by young people, demonstrating the need for more work in the area of students' understanding of many aspects of the functioning of plants and human relationships to plants. Honey (1987) suggests that the knowledge and experience of plants that we receive in daily life does not relate to plant biochemistry, for example, but more probably does to whole plants or large portions of plants. Reductionist approaches (e.g., encouraging memorization of the Krebs cycle as opposed to providing an overview of the relevance of photosynthesis ) are indisputably inappropriate for youth.…”