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Fast Plants: An evaluation of the use of an innovative plant material in middle and high school classrooms
Abstract
A new plant cultivar, Fast Plants (Brassica rapa), originally developed for research purposes, shows great potential for improving science teaching and learning. The extremely short life cycle and petite size of the material, plus easy classroom maintenance procedures, suggest that Fast Plants may be an important vehicle for changing attitudes toward plants and plant study, and for changing classroom practice. This study has been undertaken to assess the usefulness and effectiveness of Fast Plants to middle and high school science teachers. A group of middle and high school teachers were introduced to Fast Plants at a one-day workshop. 22 of those attending volunteered to use Fast Plants in their classrooms during the subsequent school year. Although teachers were not specifically asked to continue work with Fast Plants after the first year, their use of the innovation was documented through the three years of the study. Teacher response to the material was assessed using questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observation during the three years. The final summative evaluation made at the end of the study indicates that the material was very useful in the classroom and a highly effective teaching tool. Teacher use of Fast Plants increased during the three years, with an expansion both in the numbers of classes in which the innovation was used, and in the ways the material was used. Increases in the time spent on plant study, in student use of live plant material, and in student learning as judged by their teachers were seen. The innovation had a positive effect on both students and teachers.
Subject Area
Science education|Secondary education|Teacher education
Recommended Citation
Fischer, Judith Hummel, "Fast Plants: An evaluation of the use of an innovative plant material in middle and high school classrooms" (1991). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9120876.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9120876