Why do students think plants are “boring”? One factor may be that they do not see plant movement in real time.

The Plant Science TREE is an on-line teaching tool giving access to inspirational educational resources from the research community.

Taxonomic education and botany are increasingly neglected in schools and universities, leading to a ‘missed generation’ of adults that cannot identify organisms, especially plants. The ‘taxonomic illiteracy’ of Western cultures has been recognised but limited research exists on the most effective methods for teaching species identification, especially in adults. A recent House of Lords inquiry [...]

This paper, just published in the Journal of Biological Education, strikes me as having a lot of potential. The method would also be appropriate for online learning and in developing countries where facilities might be limiting. Why not give it a go?   Stephen P. Bonser, Patrick de Permentier, Jacinta Green, Gary M. Vela , [...]

So, you want to earn a lot of money after you graduate to pay off all those debts, right? In that case, according to Which University, you should have done Medicine or Dentistry. But you didn’t get in to those subjects (or why would you be reading AoB Blog – are you lost?) – so [...]

Finally, news of a new TV series written and presented by the world’s most famous natural history broadcaster and UK National Treasure, Sir David Attenborough. Sadly, it’s on a pay-per-view Sky Atlantic digital channel (No. 107) – in glorious HD (that’s High Definition) – and on Sky 217 in 3-D. But whilst it’s not exactly [...]

My last few posts have looked at the exciting science that was presented recently at the UKPSF conference. How can we ensure there will be a new generation of eager, bright plant biologists to help turn those great ideas into reality? This is another major – and global – issue and was addressed by a [...]