1. LON-CAPA Logo
  2. Help
  3. Log In
 

C-Fern Logo  C-Fern
C O N T E N T S
C-Fern Home
Web Manual
  Introduction
  C-Fern Nutrient Medium
  Culture Conditions
  Gametophyte Culture
  Gametophyte Observations
  Sporophyte Culture
  Spore Mutagenesis
  Bibliography

Other Resources

  Light Stand
  Growth Pod
  DNA Extraction
  C-Fern T-shirt
  Who's Who
  Selection and mutants
  Media formulation error
  Image gallery
Web Journal
Educational Resources
  National Science Standards
  Gametophyte development
  Student research questions
  Research in the classroom
  Research with C-Fern
  Brief description of C-Fern
  C-Fern manipulation
  Root tropism?
Frequently Asked Questions
Workshop and Exhibit Schedule
 Educational Materials
  Investigations
  Mutant & wild type spores
  Manual & Culture Instructions
  Supplies - Domes, media
Have questions?
Contact the C-Fern Project
cfern@utk.edu
 Supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation - Division of Undergraduate Education
Development of C-Fern is supported
by the National Science Foundation (NSF-DUE)
Copyright © 1997-2000
Thomas R. Warne and
Leslie G. Hickok.
All rights reserved.

Teaching With C-Fern

Research In The Classroom

L a b  C o r e
Description of the Model System
Equipment Requirements
Sources for Spores & Culturing Supplies
Research in the Classroom
Research Questions
C-Fern Technical Assistance
L a b  L i n k
Background Web Links
Adopter Links
Research Links
On-Line Poster Presentations
Discussion Board
How can you incorporate biological research into your classroom? How can you introduce students to the realistic application of the scientific method and provide for extensive authentic opportunities for extensive, repeated, long-term, open-ended research for students at all levels of sophistication? Though every classroom is unique, the study of a particular organism can provide the flexibility that accommodates all levels of students and permits to development of many skills, from observation to experimental design. For an organism to be useful in the classroom, it should be easy to manipulate, simple to grow, but applicable in many different ways.

Plants offer many advantages and opportunities for many levels of hands-on activities without the myriad concerns and problems associated with animal or bacterial systems. However, capturing students' interest, teaching the basics of plant biology and helping students appreciate these indispensable components of our world can be a daunting task. Finding better ways to teach about them is a constant and inescapable challenge. Nevertheless, we also know that by using plants the same fundamental biological principles and concepts can be addressed as with animals.

Because the basics for successful implementation are well understood, model plant systems offer advantages as teaching tools. Extended use of a model system either as an independent research organism or in a series of teacher directed investigations, can help focus students' efforts on the processes of science as well as content. As familiarity with using a model organism increases, students can concentrate on the development of associated or integrated skills such detailed observation, hypothesis formulation, experimental design, collection analysis and presentation of data and other components of the scientific method. In some important ways this approach mimics a authentic research experience where effort not a series of disjointed laboratory exercises, but rather is focused on a particular topic or subject. For such an approach to be successful, an organism must not only be simple to learn and use, easy to grow and manipulate, and applicable to a broad range of disciplines and educational levels, but also must be inherently engaging to students.