Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Telling the story of plants
James Mauseth, professor in the Section of Integrative Biology, has published the fourth edition of his textbook, “Botany: An Introduction to Plant Biology.” Daniel Oppenheimer, a writer in the College of Natural Sciences, talked to Mauseth about the book and the interview is excerpted below. For the rest of the interview, click here, and click here to see a slideshow about cactus, Mauseth’s research interest.
Daniel Oppenheimer: What pushed you to write the textbook in the first place?
Dr. Jim Mauseth: I was teaching BIO322, the Structure, Physiology, and Reproduction of Seed Plants, and was unhappy with the text I was using. It was all terms and definitions. It wasn’t explaining why it was important to learn the material. What I realized is that there are stories to tell the students about why plants are the way they are. Why does a particular plant evolve this way, and not that way? Why does this tree have simple broad leaves but this other one has compound leaves with tiny leaflets?
I always teach my students, and I’ve tried to get this across in the textbook, that the two most important questions are: What are the alternatives? And what are the consequences?
