Paper presented at the colloquium "Implementing HortBase: Horticulture global information system for decision support" held July 23-26, 1997, Salt Lake City, Utah. Includes references
4 pages., Via journal article., Learning by doing plays a critical role in a learner’s conceptual understanding. By actively engaging with a concept, students gain experience and develop an enduring understanding of the concept. The concept of pollen viability is a critical component in the field of plant breeding and can be used to explain various aspects of pollen quality. An inquiry activity was designed to expose undergraduate students in a horticulture course to the concept of pollen viability and its application. The entire class was tasked with collaborating to identify an in vitro germination medium optimized to germinate plumeria (Plumeria rubra) pollen. To determine optimum sucrose and pH concentrations of the medium, student groups were assigned treatments of pollen from two plumeria cultivars that were germinated in Brewbaker and Kwack media of differing sucrose and pH concentrations. Students calculated the percentage of germinated pollen and assessed pollen tube integrity and used these variables as evidence of an optimized medium. Although undergraduates were engaged in authentic research practices during the inquiry activity, lack of time and resources impeded completion of the activity. However, students were exposed to methods and instrumentation directly related to evaluating pollen viability. Moreover, they were exposed to the basic practice of pollen quality assessment that they can use to carry out investigations on pollen fertility. In addition, insight was gained to improve the inquiry activity in the future. Now, well-informed modifications to the inquiry activity can be made to pilot this activity in a formal horticulture laboratory section.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 144 Document Number: C22590
Notes:
Master of Science thesis, Agricultural Education, Texas A&M University, College Station. 121 pages., Results indicated that CD-based materials were more effective than were face-to-face workshops for teaching difficult turfgrass material to master gardener trainees. Participants were found to be participating in community development activities, but many master gardener activities were "development in the community rather than development of the community."
See abstract in file folder of Document No. D06143., Abstract of poster presentation at North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture conference, Athens, Georgia, June 16-20, 2015.
