The American Society of Plant Biologists has announced the launch of "Teaching Tools in Plant Biology" in its high-impact journal The Plant Cell. Teaching Tools is a monthly, online-only feature of the journal that offers regularly updated sets of teaching materials on important themes in plant biology. Each Teaching Tool includes a short essay introducing the topic, a PowerPoint lecture with notes, and suggested further readings.
Tools will be "off-the-shelf" modules but easily customizable by the instructor. They are designed with an audience of upper-level undergraduates in mind, but subsets of slides can be incorporated into lectures designed for introductory biology courses, public lectures, or even graduate-level courses. Teaching Tools are peer reviewed by leaders in the field and updated as new developments arise.
Cathie Martin, Editor in Chief of The Plant Cell, stated that she is "very excited about this new feature in The Plant Cell" and hopes that it will "extend the influence of the journal to the university classroom, contribute significantly to the teaching of plant science, and attract more students to study the wonders of plant life".
Upcoming Teaching Tools topics include:
- Why Study Plants? (October)
- Leaf Development 1 (November)
- Leaf Development 2 (December)
- Epigenetics (January)
- The Small RNA World (February)
This resource is being developed by Mary Williams, Ph.D., following a fourteen-year career as a professor of biology at Harvey Mudd College, a top undergraduate college of science and engineering. Mary has had a long-standing commitment to developing educational materials to promote student engagement in plant biology.
The first six Tools are free to anyone with access to the Internet at http://www.plantcell.org/. Starting in April 2010, Tools will be available only via a subscription to The Plant Cell (www.plantcell.org/subscriptions).
The Plant Cell (http://www.plantcell.org/) is published by the American Society of Plant Biologists. For more information about ASPB, please visit http://www.aspb.org/.