Towards an informed public

1992 ◽  
Vol 99 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 121-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. S. Ingram
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Plant Breeding ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Plant Biotechnology ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Royal Botanic Garden ◽  
Plant Science ◽  
Experimental Plant ◽  
Botanic Garden

SynopsisThe successful utilisation of recent advances in plant biotechnology for the benefit of mankind, with the avoidance of fundamental mistakes that could lead to environmental disaster, requires wise and balanced legislation. In addition, the conservation of the habitats and germplasm so essential to plant breeding requires carefully planned management of resources. These, however, depend upon an informed public with a sensitivity to, and knowledge and understanding of, the issues at stake. It is the people, after all, who influence decision making by governments, through the ballot box or through the pressure of public opinion. Botanic Gardens have a vital role to play in public education, and have the capacity to become the shop windows for the whole of plant science.Four examples of public education in plant biology being developed at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh are considered, as follows:(i) Public information, as exemplified by the provision of information about plants, lectures about plants and the development of ecological plantings and displays relating to agriculture, plant breeding and conservation.(ii) Contact through art, as exemplified by the Andy Goldsworthy retrospective exhibition of 1990 and the 1991 exhibitions of the work of Redouté and Margaret Stones, in which the media of sculpture and painting inspired by the natural world have been used to build bridges between plant science and the wider public.(iii) Education in primary schools, as exemplified by the ‘Living in a Rainforest’ project, in which young people and their teachers spend periods of time in a replica of a Bornean longhouse and through this experience develop an understanding of the importance of the balance between people and the complex ecosystem of the rainforest.(iv) Education in secondary schools, as exemplified by the Science and Plants for Schools project in which rapid cycling Brassica rapa and other materials are used in the development of new and exciting approaches to the teaching of experimental plant science, genetics and breeding.The ways in which projects such as these can be designed to convey important messages concerning plant breeding, genetic engineering, germplasm and habitat conservation and the role of plants in the world economy are discussed, and ideas for other approaches to public education in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh are outlined.

Isaac Bayley Balfour, Sphagnum moss, and the Great War (1914–1918)

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Ayres
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
The United States ◽  
Royal Botanic Garden ◽  
Wound Dressings ◽  
Sphagnum Moss ◽  
Botanic Garden ◽  
Working Model ◽  
Sphagnum Bog ◽  
The Great War

Isaac Bayley Balfour was a systematist specializing in Sino-Himalayan plants. He enjoyed a long and exceptionally distinguished academic career yet he was knighted, in 1920, “for services in connection with the war”. Together with an Edinburgh surgeon, Charles Cathcart, he had discovered in 1914 something well known to German doctors; dried Sphagnum (bog moss) makes highly absorptive, antiseptic wound dressings. Balfour directed the expertise and resources of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (of which he was Keeper), towards the identification of the most useful Sphagnum species in Britain and the production of leaflets telling collectors where to find the moss in Scotland. By 1918 over one million such dressings were used by British hospitals each month. Cathcart's Edinburgh organisation, which received moss before making it into dressings, proved a working model soon adopted in Ireland, and later in both Canada and the United States.

Data Capture Project at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

2009 ◽  
pp. 77-82
Author(s):  
Natacha Frachon ◽  
Martin Gardner ◽  
David Rae
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Royal Botanic Garden ◽  
Data Capture ◽  
Plant Biodiversity ◽  
Botanic Gardens ◽  
Botanic Garden ◽  
The World ◽  
Plant Collections ◽  
Field Notes

Botanic gardens, with their large holdings of living plants collected from around the world, are important guardians of plant biodiversity, but acquiring and curating these genetic resources is enormously expensive. For these reasons it is crucial that botanic gardens document and curate their collections in order to gain the greatest benefit from the plants in their care. Great priority is given to making detailed field notes and the process of documentation is often continued during the plants formative years when being propagated. However, for the large majority of plants this process often stops once the material is planted in its final garden location. The Data Capture Project at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is an attempt to document specific aspects of the plant collections so that the information captured can be of use to the research community even after the plants have died.

Plant Biotechnology Workshop for High School Students

HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 504e-504
Author(s):  
Erika Szendrak ◽  
Paul E. Read ◽  
Jon S. Miller
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Medical Science ◽  
Plant Biotechnology ◽  
Plant Science ◽  
High School Biology ◽  
School Students ◽  
Subsequent Transformation ◽  
Set Up

Modern aspects of many subjects (e.g., computer science and some aspects of medical science) are now taught in many high schools, but the plant sciences are often given short shrift. A collaboration was therefore established with a high school biology program in which pilot workshops could be developed to enable advanced students to gain insights into modern plant science techniques. A successful example is the workshop on plant biotechnology presented in this report. This workshop is simple and flexible, taking into account that most high school biology laboratories and classrooms are not set up for sophisticated plant science/biotechnology projects. It is suitable for from 10 to 30 students, depending upon space and facilities available. Students work in pairs or trios, and learn simple disinfestation and transfer techniques for micropropagation and potential subsequent transformation treatments. Students gain insights into: sterile technique and hygiene; plant hormones and their physiological effects; plant cell, tissue and organ culture; the influence of environmental factors on response of cells and tissues cultured in vitro; and an understanding of the phenomenon of organogenesis and resulting plant growth and development. This workshop has been tested on several classes of students and following analysis, several refinements were included in subsequent iterations. Results of the students' experiments have been positive and instructive, with student learning outcomes above expectations. Further details of the workshop techniques and approach will be presented.

6.—John Graham Dalyell and some Predecessors in Scottish Marine Biology

1972 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-97
Author(s):  
C. M. Yonge
Keyword(s):  
Marine Biology ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Royal Botanic Garden ◽  
Botanic Garden ◽  
Significant Figure ◽  
Charles Ii ◽  
Natural Historian

The beginnings of marine biology in Scotland, to a greater extent than in England, are intimately connected with interests in antiquarian remains. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which saw the birth of modern science, there is greater interest in the earlier activities of man than there is in nature. However, the first significant figure in Scotland, that of Sir Robert Sibbald, somewhat transcends this definition. Born in Edinburgh, he was trained in medicine at Leyden and in Paris and began practice in his native city in 1662, just after the restoration of Charles II, who was later to nominate him as King's Physician, Geographer-Royal and Natural Historian, revealing Sibbald as a veritable Admirable Crichton of his time. He was concerned with the foundation in this city of the Royal Botanic Garden, which has recently celebrated its tricentenary, and also with the establishment of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh, an activity which led to his knighthood.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND EDUCATIONAL LEVEL OF TEACHERS OF THE UZBEKISTAN SSR

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 34-43
Author(s):  
Muysin Dusaliev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Education System ◽  
Educational Level ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Current Problem ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Religious Schools ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Public Education System ◽  
The Impact

The article highlights the problems and needs of the population for education as a result of the concentration of the Soviet government on the formation of a public education system in the spirit of its socialist ideas by creating new Soviet schools and increasing their number.In November 1918,the Soviet government of Turkestan decided to separate church from state and school from church. Although the existing private old religious schools were not completely banned by this decision, the creation of new Soviet schools and the increase in their number became more and more important. It is clear that this is a sign that the system is completely politicized. The schools were divided into two levels: the first level educational institutions included the first three classes, and the second level consisted of four classes. There was also a high school with three classes. Under the conditions of that time, more primary schools were opened in the country.This article discusses the current problem in the Soviet-era public education system under the Soviet government from 1994 to 1991, as well as the impact of this problem on today's education system

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