Interactions between plants, soil, and herbivores can shape plant community dynamics and ecosystem processes. My research addresses gaps in understanding of plant-soil-herbivore interactions in urban woodlands and how to improve critical thinking and literacy about urban woodland ecology through community-engaged learning. I employed greenhouse…

A community-engaged learning experiment was developed for an introductory analytical chemistry course at the University of Toronto Scarborough in collaboration with Campus Farm. The experiment introduced students to the application of analytical techniques to studying environmental samples. More specifically, students investigated the potential of…

The aroma volatile compounds in tomatoes are strongly linked to taste and flavor. Commercial tomato varieties, however, generally lack flavor. Tomato breeding programs have therefore started to focus on increasing the flavor-enhancing volatiles, which can be more easily altered than the sugar content. Analytical efforts that identify key flavor…

Researchers' notions of research quality depend on their field of research. Previous studies have shown that field-specific assessment criteria exist but could explain neither why these specific criteria and not others exist, nor how criteria are used in specific assessment situations. To give initial answers to these questions, formal assessment…

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…

"Invasive" species are generally viewed with contempt. Yet many Indigenous peoples have more nuanced approaches to newcomer species informed by kinship relations, and some ecologists suggest that ecosystems have always been dynamic and these species occasionally play beneficial roles in their new homes. A critical and decolonial…

While computer animations have the potential to assist learners in understanding difficult concepts and eliminating misconceptions, studies supporting this claim are scarce. This study investigated how the 7E instructional model integrated with computer animations affected students' conceptual understanding and misconceptions about food making and…

We present results from the first year of a three-year extramurally funded project involving a partnership between an ethnically diverse urban high school and professional research botanists. The goals are to provide students exposure to real-world science, broaden interest in scientific fields of study, and increase floristic data and herbarium…

Column chromatography of photosynthetic plant pigments is a common experiment in introductory laboratory courses for science majors and nonscience majors alike. We report a simple, rapid, reproducible, and small-scale solid--liquid extraction of photosynthetic pigments from inexpensive, store-bought dried herbs that affords a dark-green extract…

This article analyses the role of plants in three well publicised Nordic climate fictions for young adults: "Memories of Water" by Emmi Itäranta, originally published in 2012, "The World According to Anna" (2013) by Jostein Gaarder, and "Bouvetøya 2052" (2015) by Lars Maehle. Departing from the wider scholarly field…

Biology, known as the science of life in its most general definition, is one of the branches of science closest to individuals due to the subjects it contains. Therefore, knowing the concepts related to biology correctly is important for the sustainability of the learning process. In this study, it was aimed to determine the conceptual perceptions…

Scientific drawing and writing are critical to the development of observational and recording skills in biology. However, it is unclear how the process of drawing and writing contribute to the learning of plant taxonomy. In the present study, 41 adult botanical novices studied a suite of UK native plant species using two methods: labelled drawing…

It was purposed in this study to reveal the trend in the relevant field by making a bibliometric evaluation of the educational research articles published on botanic gardens, national parks, and natural monuments in the Web of Science (WoS) database. Within the scope of quantitative methodology, the bibliometrics was applied in the study. The data…

This paper uses ethnography to explore an outdoor, arts-based intervention run by Urban Wilderness, in partnership with an English primary school. Urban Wilderness are a not-for-profit organisation which aims to connect children and young people from disadvantaged areas to locally accessible nature. Over the course of three afternoon workshops,…

Humanity has existed in special living conditions since March 11, 2020 when WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. This coronavirus disease has already taken more than 6.55 million of people's lives from almost 625 million of officially confirmed cases of people infected around the world at the beginning of October 2022. Lot of university…