ASPB EDUCATION FORUM

ASPB, Fast Plants Exhibits Popular with Teachers at 2008 NSTA Conference

Sherry Fulk-Bringman (left forground) and Suzanne Cunningham are ready to amuse and amaze each booth visitor.
Interested investigators invent inquiry-oriented tools with Mary Porntrai.

For the fifth year, ASPB hosted an education outreach booth at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) annual conference. Our eager booth volunteers flocked to Boston’s new convention center and joined the exciting thrum of science exchange throughout the enormous exhibition hall. The ASPB booth featured a wide variety of hands-on materials developed by the ASPB Education Committee, ASPB Education Foundation, Purdue University, PlantingScience, and Wisconsin Fast Plants. Education Committee Chair Jane Ellis, Purdue University crop physiologist Suzanne Cunningham, Purdue’s soil specialist Sherry Fulk-Bringman, and Education Foundation assistant Katie Engen engaged booth visitors in hands-on experimentation tailored to their teaching interests and dispensed free classroom-ready materials for them to take along. The ASPB booth was shared with Paul Williams, Hedi Baxter, Mary (Supaporn) Porntrai, and Dan Lauffer of Wisconsin Fast Plants.

Suzanne Cunningham kept a steady pace throughout the three days presenting enzyme assays and related experiments adaptable to all age groups. One experiment demonstrated how starch is converted to sugar through enzyme production. Sherry Fulk-Bringman’s erosion display, using water bottles and various soil amendments, caught the interest of many booth visitors. Her odd-looking clump of clay clinging to a wire attached to a battery triggered many chats with teachers, who were shocked to learn that soil has a charge and curious about the science behind this gooey demonstration.

As usual, the many teachers who use Fast Plants flocked to the booth looking for new classroom ideas. Veterans and new recruits alike were pleased with the newest additions, including the launch of Fast Plants Network (FPN) at www.fastplants.org. This online exchange provides a means of engaging teachers, students, scientists, parents, and the interested public in discussion relating to their uses of rapid-cycling brassicas (Fast Plants). Booth visitors were particularly impressed with the easy and affordable plant growth chambers and the clever methods for propagating and studying the many available plants. Many conference attendees returned to the booth multiple times with colleagues in tow to learn more about the inquiry-based learning style that Paul and his team promote so effectively. (For more on this topic, please read “Inquiring Minds Want to Know: What Are Schools Doing About Inquiry-Based Learning?”).

NSTA proved once again to be fertile soil for ASPB’s efforts to germinate healthy plant science ideas with proactive science teachers from all over the United States. Hundreds of visitors came to the booth during the four days. Jane Ellis noted that such effective outreach was possible thanks to our many hard-working volunteers and to the continued support of the ASPB Executive Committee for the ASPB and Fast Plants exhibits via the Society’s Good Works Fund.