Teachers from Pickerington Local School District will visit The Ohio State University’s Center for Applied Plant Sciences and Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC). Facilitators will lead the group through a variety of hands-on activities and experiments that can be integrated into middle and high school science curriculum. Activities will demonstrate how plants can be used as a model system to teach a variety of science concepts including genetics, growth and development, and global environmental problems. This session will include an overview of best practices for growing research plants. Additional activities include a tour of the centers’ laboratories, growth chambers and greenhouse, as well as an overview of the research being conducted by interdisciplinary teams of scientists using plants to solve real world problems related to sustainability. Participants will be introduced to the Greening the Classroom activities, which are available for free via ABRC’s education website.
