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Abstract
Students often prefer to study animals rather than plants, because they see plants as passive, less interesting organisms. This paper proposes a simple hands-on laboratory exercise for high-school students (grade 12) to arouse their interest in learning about plants and to demonstrate to them that plants are active organisms capable of defending themselves. In this classroom exercise, students investigate how a plant responds to an invader. As a model for study, the exercise uses three organisms: red chilli fruit, the yeast biological control agent Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the pathogenic fungus Rhizopus stolonifer. Students gain basic knowledge about how plants defend themselves against pathogens by observing the physical changes of an infected wound site and by investigating the chemical compounds produced by plants in response to pathogen invasion; they are also encouraged to think critically about using biological control as a means to promote environmentally friendly agricultural practices.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the students and teachers of class 6/4 at Princess Chulabhorn’s College, Pathumthani, for giving us the opportunity to carry out this research. We wish to thank Dr Joseph Chappell, University of Kentucky, USA, for providing the capsidiol standard used for developing the activity. Thanks also to Dr Theerada Wongsomboondee, Dr Arun Chanchaichaovivat, and Dr Rina Patramanon for useful comments and suggestions. We thank Prof. Dr Charles Barman, Indiana University School of Education in Indianapolis, USA, for helpful suggestions and critical review of the manuscript. We thank the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST) and Mahidol University Research Grant for financial support.