Abstract Detail

Historical Section

Sundberg, Marshall [1].

Botanical Education in the United States. Part IV. The role of the Botanical Society of America during its second half century.

The Botanical Society of America (BSA) celebrated its 50^th anniversary the year before Sputnik was launched. There already were several national movements promoting science education in which BSA participated, such as the American Institute for Biological Sciences (AIBS) and the A.A.A.S. Cooperative Committee on the Teaching of Science and Mathematics, but reaction to Sputnik brought national interest to a new level. Botanists were involved in several major efforts including: the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS) and the Commission on Undergraduate Education in the Biological Sciences (CUEBS). The BSA itself included occasional education symposia in its meeting program, but the overall efforts of the teaching section and education committee were sporadic until the late 1970s. During these years the BSA met annually with AIBS and beginning in 1981, and for most of the next20 years, there was a close association between the AIBS Education Committee and the BSA. In 1981 a workshop subcommittee was established by the BSA Teaching Section and although this subcommittee no longer operates, teaching workshops have been a feature of every annual meeting since. This was also the inaugural year for the BSA slide exchange - now part of the on-line image collection. The following year an arrangement was made with AIBS to permit the Teaching Section to have a cost-free booth in the exhibit area in which slides and laboratory exercises for exchange,as well as BSA promotional materials, were displayed. The BSA booth has been a constant feature of every subsequent annual meeting. Most importantly, one or more educational symposia, along with teaching section papers and posters, became a fixture at annual meetings. A high point, from 2002-2007 was the annual Educational Forum held before the annual meeting. The BSAs most successful educational program,PlantingScience, was begun in response to a challenge by Bruce Alberts, the2003 Forum keynote speaker.

Broader Impacts:

1 - Emporia State University, Department of Biological Sciences, 1200 COMMERCIAL, EMPORIA, KS, 66801, USA, 620/343-7808

Keywords:
Botany Education
Education Forum
Education Workshop
PlantingScience
AIBS
CUEBS
BSCS.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 9
Location: Newberry/Riverside Hilton
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2013
Time: 10:15 AM
Number: 9001
Abstract ID:152
Candidate for Awards:None