Poster: Late and Moved Abstracts

Abs # 1388: A problem based learning approach to a plant cell physiology course

Presenter:	Olney, Margaret A., olneyma@yahoo.com
Authors	Olney, Margaret A. (A)
Affiliations:	(A): Colorado College

A problem based learning approach was used in a student-centered, discussion-based Plant Cell Physiology course. The problem addressed was how plants tell time, involving diurnal and seasonal rhythms of development, metabolism, photosynthesis, and gene expression. The students and instructor worked together to investigate answers, beginning with textbook chapters and review articles. Next, students chose and critically discussed research papers from the current literature. Most of the students had not read original research articles before and were excited to see how the scientific method was used to further scientific knowledge. The final exam was to write a comprehensive textbook chapter on how plants tell time and required using every level of critical thinking skills: recall, comprehension, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. However, it was broken into manageable sections to avoid overwhelming the students: a review of time-telling phenomena and mechanisms, a central in-depth example, an analysis of experimental journal articles including critical evaluation of whether the data support the authors' conclusions, a proposal for new, specific experiments to address unanswered questions remaining in the discipline, and connection of the material with the reader's personal experience. The lab was a student-designed group research project consisting of several parts: asking an interesting and relevant question, formulating hypotheses, designing experiments, writing and defending a research proposal, keeping a detailed lab notebook, collecting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and presenting and defending the research. This project followed the BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium's 3P's model of posing problems, solving problems and persuading peers.