Natural Sciences

The teaching of General Botany falls, as a characterizing teaching, within the curriculum of the Bachelor of Science in Natural Sciences and is aimed, in particular, at 1st year II semester students. The 'main educational objective is to provide the student with general knowledge related to the organization and functioning of the organisms under study in Botany (prokaryotes, photoautotrophic eukaryotes and fungi) as well as their modes of growth and reproduction, evolved relationships and structural organization in tissues and organs, as far as vascular plants are concerned. At the conclusion of the learning process, the student will be able to understand the functioning and importance of plant organisms in relation to the exchanges of matter and energy occurring on Earth, as well as learn the reasons/events behind their diversification. Participation in frontal and laboratory teaching included in the curriculum will enable the student to obtain the basic skills to recognize the major groups of plant organisms in a broad sense and to understand the relative organization into plant tissues and organs in relation to their functioning. Knowledge and understanding skills: students will be able to describe the main characteristics of the plant prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell as well as the main differences from the animal cell. They will also be able to understand the differences in the reproductive cycles of the main groups of organisms studied and to describe the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Through the use of micrographs, students will be able to recognize the plant organs and the different tissues of which they are composed, and to understand their structure-function relationship. In addition, the student will demonstrate the ability to recognize the major groups of plant organisms and to relate them to each other based on evolutionary processes. Application skills: students will be able to apply knowledge of botany to understand the importance of plant organisms for life on Earth and for human activities, also with respect to issues of global concern such as climate change, biodiversity reduction and resource exploitation. In addition, through the participation in the laboratory teaching planned, students will make biological preparations for microscopic observation and successfully use standard tools in science such as the light microscope. Autonomy of judgment: the necessary tools will be provided to enable students to independently formulate their own evaluation and/or judgment regarding adaptations and/or modifications of plant structures in relation to the environment and to interpret observed diversity from an evolutionary perspective. Students will develop their critical ability in being able to recognize, through the observation of macroscopic images but also of histological preparations and micrographs, the main groups of plants studied and their main characteristics in relation to their evolutionary history and ecology. Communication skills: students at the end of the teaching course will be able to expound with clarity, synthesis skills and language property the acquired skills while maintaining their own vocabulary. They will, in addition, be able to know how to choose the form and medium of communication appropriate to the interlocutor, both specialist and non-specialist, objectives entirely consistent with those of the CdS. Learning skills: students will learn to increase the knowledge acquired during teaching independently, through the consultation of textbooks, scientific articles and audio/video resources made available through the e-learning platform by the lecturer. The acquisition of these skills will be ascertained by students through self-assessment questionnaires and application activities provided during laboratory teaching activities.