Abstract:

Many secondary schools of a certain age have inherited old science equipment from earlier times which brings with it problems of maintenance and storage, but also of use. In the modern world where education has become IT literate, and IT-conscious, so that to make the best use of existing equipment, educators must ensure teaching and learning makes use of IT. In this paper, historic biology experiments integrated with modern technology are reviewed having been set up and tested in the DCU Science Archive & Herbarium and teaching laboratory of Dublin City University. Senior biology curricula in many countries have highlighted two topics for focus in learning in the 12-18 age groups, namely plant growth/photosynthesis and water uptake including transpiration. They happen to be well-documented areas of problematic learning as they engender a wide variety of alternative conceptions, and practical, hands-on experience of working with these phenomena is seen as best-practice for dealing with these topics in science education. Their entry into curricula was the early following elucidation of the processes at work, so we see their inclusion in botanical, and later biology curricula from the early 1900s. The design of equipment with which to study these phenomena was originally research apparati developed in the latter quarter of the 19th century. Simple IT solutions, therefore, can be adapted to include historic apparatus and ensure modern IT-based practical approaches to experimental biology education is continued, typically involving data-logging sensors; employing apparatus that has lain idle or less used, and incorporate philosophical aspects such as the history of the development of the concepts of plant growth and water uptake. The equipment in question is a range of potometers for measuring relative uptake of water in plants and auxometers for measuring the growth of plants. However, many teachers of biology still utilise these apparati without the use of IT in education, and this paper attempts to remediate this lacuna but providing tested and evaluated solutions in classroom settings to implementing IT in one part of science education, namely, plant biology. Results of the evaluations indicate that compared with the experiments without IT interfacing the educational impact of the activity diminishes.

Keywords:

Historic plant biology experiments, integration with technology.