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Botany

16/05/13 | Innsbruck, Austria

"Science Education in School"-Conference in Galati (Rumania)

On the 19th of April 2013 the fourth international conference „Science Education in School“ took place in Galati in the North of Rumania. Suzanne Kapelari, coordinator of the INQUIRE-Project, was one of over 100 participants and presented the INQUIRE-Project as well as the Commenius Project INSTEM. On the next day more than 250 pupils took part in the “Stars of Science”-Students Contest, where they presented scientific experiments to a jury of experts.

25/04/13 | London

Pitcher plants as tiny ecosystems – educational microcosms for IBSE

Large and complex topics, like how ecosystems work for example, can be challenging to explain. Using small, observable experiments can therefore be useful in simulating of landscape-scale processes. Scientists have used pitcher plants as tiny model ecosystems to study how “tipping points” are triggered in lakes and ponds. Perhaps this could generate some ideas for IBSE demonstrations?

19/04/13 | London

Curing ‘Plant blindness’ using an inquiry-based approach

Can IBSE be used to combat “plant blindness”? – a phenomena whereby plants are overlooked in our environment and considered “boring”. A recent study developed a Fighting Plant Learning Unit in order to test the use of IBSE to inform and inspire students on the topic of plant defence mechanisms.