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Peer Review

Methods in Plant Histology

Reviewed:

Dec 19, 2018 by Biology
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Ratings

Overall Rating: 4.5 stars
Content Quality: 4.8 stars
Effectiveness: 4.2 stars
Ease of Use: 4.2 stars
Overview:

This is a transcription of excerpts from an early 20th century plant histology methods book. The excerpts describe various research techniques and methodologies. The text appears to be hosted on Publicbookshelf.com, which mostly hosts romance novels, but has a science section. This text appears to be the only entry for science.

Type of Material:

The website provides reference material and instructions for experiments which can be completed in a classroom setting.

Recommended Uses:

The material is created to be used in a classroom laboratory.

Technical Requirements:

The website requires a basic browser.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The website teaches students how to use histological techniques to further their understanding of plant tissues and structures.

Target Student Population:

College General Ed, Professional, Graduate student.

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

The pre-requisite knowledge would include a basic understanding of aseptic technique and a previous understanding of basic biology. Knowledge of older scientiic terminology (especially chemistry).

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:

  • This is a historical source and as such it is not appropriate to judge it by modern standards--it was valid about 100 years ago, and remains of interest for historical reasons
  • Contains some techniques no longer used today which may be of interest to some researchers or students
  • The material provides the adequate information needed to perform the experiments listed
  •  
Concerns:

  • The information is not always presented in a logical manner to easily set up the tasks that it promotes
  • Some material can be hard to follow due to archaic terms and diction
  •  
  • The information is dated and might not translate into a modern setting

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:

  • Material promotes concrete understanding of techniques
  • Material is presented in such a way that it can be used in lecture
  • Very useful as a historical source
  •  
Concerns:

  • The website itself is archaic (with features of an early 2000s site), complete with a clip-art background
  • The exerpts do not seem to be in any order (they may follow the order they appear in the book, but this is not clear)
  • The actual contents of the book from which the excerpts are taken is not given
  • A full citation for the text is not given

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:

  • No defective links or major bugs were found all parts of the site seem to be working correctly
  • Very easy to navigate to the different major sections of site
  • Topics were clearly labeled
Concerns:

  • The links were presented in list form with no obvious ordering scheme
  • Every link to an excerpt had a 404 not found error message at the top of the page, suggesting something is not working--perhaps an image?
  • No search function is given
Other Issues and Comments:

The information provided was first published in the early 1900s some of the techniques have changed and do not reflect how modern laboratories conduct these procedures. Nonetheless these techniques can still be used in a classroom setting to help better the understanding of plant tissue structures.

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