Modern teaching on plants: Teaching activities for secondary school

This book invites teachers to address Plant Illiteracy - i.e. the lack of plant-related education. Plant Illiteracy (Uno, 2009) is a consequence of a lack of Plant Awareness (Pany et al., 2024), described by Wandersee and Schussler (2001) earlier as Plant Blindness. From a plant perspective, the lack of attention they receive could be seen as an effective “protection mechanism” because it keeps plants hidden from predators –after all, they cannot run away or otherwise defend themselves. Only flowers are colourful, which attracts pollinators, as are fruits, whose seeds can be dispersed. From a human perspective, however, a lack of Plant Awareness means the inability to perceive plants in the environment and to recognize their role in the environment (Pany et al., 2024). This lack of Plant Awareness leads to poor knowledge about plants and an inadequate understanding of their importance for climate and landscape (Ryplová & Pokorný, 2020). The Plant Literacy Handbook for Teachers (PR1), which is available at https://planteducation.eu/, offers a detailed introduction to the topic of Plant Awareness (or formerly Plant Blindness). There are numerous methods to bring plants into the focus of secondary school students. Through a variety of hands-on activities, they can explore the nature of plants and their ecological function.
The first chapter carries us to the arctic circle with the question: how do plants adapt to cold climate? It suggests field trips to nearby natural areas. The second chapter wants to show the importance of correct names for plants and was tested in an outdoor environment. In the third up to fifth chapter the impact of vegetation on the climate, especially temperature and water in the atmosphere is researched with inspiring methods, such as thermovision cameras – look inside! After that we take you into the discussion on the relationship between biodiversity, humans, economy, politics and society and look on biodiversity with a sociological perspective. The seventh chapter introduces the use of digital plant identification, which is the basis for research on biodiversity, as we cannot research this topic without knowing the variety of species. In chapter eight we focus on water plants because the experiments with them enable the research on oxygen and biomass production. Using inquiry-based field activities we can discover, how can aquatic plants influence the chemistry in water bodies and in this way the life of other aquatic organisms.
The final four chapters offer examples for online activities. The first one which our project team developed is focused on the cooling function of urban vegetation and uses Padlet learning platform. In the second online learning activity, we will try to discover the diversity of plant species using an online environment of Nearpod. The third online activity uses the online game on the competition of different demands on land use, the fourth one is an example of how to use online simulations to engage students into an intense dealing on this material, as they have to translate the international sources.