The Sherlock Hoes Files Botanical Mysteries Georgette Briggs

The Sherlock Hoes Files: Botanical Mysteries Georgette Briggs, Staci Forgey, Alenka Hlousek-Radojcic, Glenna Malcolm, Sarah Orlofske, DB Poli

The Biggest Mystery of All (aka our goal) Students often ignore plants - how do we make plants exciting & memorable?

Our Mystery Case File Connections Writing emphasis Plant evolution Form & Function Human connections

Case File 1 Evolution and Plant Diversity Plant evolutionary relationships Phylogenetics Morphological and physiological adaptations of plants to the terrestrial environment Alternation of generations Diverse types of science Writing

Plant Evolution: Hands on Quantitative Lab Students will build and interpret phylogenetic trees based on plant traits Morphology Reproduction Molecular Data http: //www. phylo. org/sub_sections/o utreach/outreach_c

Plant Diversity: Writing Choose a plant (or a few plants) from visiting the greenhouse Outside Research Place the plant in evolutionary and ecological context Assessment: develop signage/exhibits for the university greenhouse and website

Case File 2: Heavy Metals and Phytoremediation

Case Learning Goals • Identify macronutrients and micronutrients in plants and their uptake and movement • Describe the terms tolerance and toxicity as it relates to plants nutrients • List and describe several metals and their reported levels in typical polluted and non-polluted soils. • Assess the suitability of an identified site for phytoremediation • Describe and present a poster with a detailed phytoremediation strategy for your identified site

Writing and Assessment Activities Extension to Higher Levels Data analysis Concept Maps to model project context and approach Poster detailing phytoremediation strategy for your identified site Graphing Outline procedures and experimental set-up of preliminary experiments to test efficacy of proposed strategy Changing audience Higher level learning objectives Data manipulation Lower level learning objectives 1. Identify macronutrients and micronutrients and their movement in plants 2. Discuss tolerance and toxicity as they relate to plant nutrients 3. Heavy metals and their reported levels in typical polluted and non-polluted soils. 4. Scenarios are presented (case study) 5. Develop phytoremediation plan Collaborative Work : Group Discussion Background Knowledge

Phytoremediation

Case File 3: How conventional plant breeding has unintended consequences for plant-insect interactions Why are these wild sunflowers so small?

Case File 3: How conventional plant breeding has unintended consequences for plant-insect interactions Why do I see more pest damage on sunflowers on my farm?

Case File 3: How conventional plant breeding has unintended consequences for plant-insect interactions Why aren’t there bugs on these wild sunflowers?

Case Goals: To make hypotheses for Podrick’s question To consider multiple trophic levels among plants and insects To interpret bar graphs with multiple treatments To summarize results from data relevant to Podrick’s question To research and share findings from other research studies regarding how conventional plant breeding… Why aren’t there bugs on these wild sunflowers?

Case Goals: To make hypotheses for Podrick’s question To consider multiple trophic levels among plants and insects To interpret bar graphs with multiple treatments To summarize results from data relevant to Podrick’s question To research and share findings from other research studies regarding how conventional plant breeding… Why aren’t there bugs on these wild sunflowers?

Sample Data From Literature “Teacher” Examines: a b

Case Goals: To make hypotheses for Podrick’s question To consider multiple trophic levels among plants and insects To interpret bar graphs with multiple treatments To summarize results from data relevant to Podrick’s question To research and share findings from other research studies regarding how coventional plant breeding… Why aren’t there bugs on these wild sunflowers?

Thank you for your attention!