Using Student-Produced Time-Lapse Plant Movies to communicate concepts in Plant Biology

Abstract

Why do students think plants are “boring”? One factor may be that they do not see plant movement in real (i.e., their) time. This attitude may negatively impact their understanding of plant biology. Time-lapse movies of plants allow students to see the sophistication of movements involved in both organ development and orientation. The objective of this project was to develop simple methods to capture image sequences for lab analysis and for converting into movies. The technology for making time-lapse movies is now easily attainable and fairly inexpensive, allowing its use for skill levels from grade school through college undergraduates. Presented are example time-lapse movie exercises from both an undergraduate plant physiology course and outreach activities. The time-lapse plant exercises are adaptable to explore numerous topics that incorporate science standards core concepts, competencies, and disciplinary practices as well as to integrate higher order thinking skills and build skills in hypothesis development and communicating results to various audiences.