The term 'Plant Blindness' describes people tending to overlook plants, even though they have an enormous importance for life on earth, especially because of their ability to photosynthesise. Many attempts have been made to counteract plant blindness in biology education. However, so far there is no comprehensive tool to assess the degree of plant…

The activity described here was designed to center on the observation of circadian rhythms in plants through the example of growing beans. The aim was to develop students' skills of systematic observation of various variables in the long-term. Our study took place at a Science and Arts Center with 17 gifted students in the third and fourth grades…

How might fourth graders address the problem of measuring the size of a leaf? And why might their classroom teachers choose such a shape to measure? One group of fourth-grade students in an urban Australian school were interested in knowing the sizes of leaves on a passionfruit vine growing at their school. The children were excited after a visit…

Children worldwide are increasingly deprived of direct nature experiences (DNE). Often rooted in restrictions of urbanization and modernization, this loss may hamper biodiversity conservation through erosion of biodiversity knowledge. Yet, the extent of this phenomenon in small cities, particularly in rapidly developing islands, remains…

We explored factors affecting outdoor classroom design by assessing attitudes and drawings from 73 sixth graders from a single middle school. Females had more favorable attitudes about the value of outdoor classrooms, were more motivated to build an outdoor classroom, and had stronger attitudes about outdoor classrooms benefiting wildlife.…

This study used class practices to verify the applicability of a web application specially developed for the observation in general elementary school classes of the blooming of cherry blossoms with time-lapse digital images. The learning effects of class practices on children's perceptions of the connection between familiar phenomena and climate…

This study aimed to establish a fully 3D modeled immersive virtual reality (IVR) system for primary school students learning about plants and evaluate teachers' perceptions of the usage of the system and pupils' flow experiences and learning attitudes. There were 5 teachers with expertise in science and IVR experience who were first interviewed to…

Learning resources are quite important for online learning while resource provision based on algorithms could not address learners' ubiquitous needs well. Moreover, the structure and content of resources are pre-defined which makes the "Structure" and "Content" coupled closely and could not easily adjust when learners' needs…

Plant blindness is defined as the inability to notice plants in one's own environment, recognize their importance for the environment and human beings, appreciate their aesthetic and unique biological features, and the tendency to rank plants as inferior to animals. Many people exhibit symptoms of plant blindness (Wandersee & Schussler, 1999).…

This research aimed to compare the effect of teaching science through-creative-drama activities and student-centred inquiry-based teaching on the cognitive structures of primary school pupils about the classification of living things. It was designed as an exploratory action research case study and the contribution of both interventions on the…

The aim of the research is to examine the contribution of mobile application using in botanical fieldwork to the quality and durability of knowledge of the subject Nature and society compared to multimedia teaching in the fourth grade of primary school. The study involved 120 students, divided into two groups: control group, which taught on the…

The worldwide scientific community has been promoting science communication from colleges and universities to schools, and different tools for communicating scientific discoveries have been created. Among this variety of tools, our choice fell on a storybook. The book, entitled "The Curious Case of Ants That Live in Galls," is directed…

In this article we share how developing and following tikanga was integral to our enactment of mana orite in the local curriculum as we (tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti) collaborated on a Year 7 science unit: Plants, Place, and People. Our initial thinking as we approached this unit had been to look for connections between matauranga Maori, the…

Artificial photosynthesis is a promising approach to generate commodity chemicals using abundant chemical feedstocks and renewable energy sources. Despite its importance, affordable and effective hands-on classroom activities that demonstrate artificial photosynthesis and teach key concepts, especially for primary school students, are lacking.…

In this study, a process was designed, in which a lemon seed grew into a seedling, using the inquiry-based science learning approach. This aimed to increase the overall development of the scientific process skills of children and their sensitivity to nature. The germination, growth and development of a plant were meticulously and systematically…