Assessment of the Link between the Plant Classification and Biodiversity in Textbooks of Morocco

Today’s threats to species and ecosystems are increasing day by day with alarming rate and virtually
all of them are caused by human mismanagement of biological resources. To ensure intra and
intergenerational equity, it is important to conserve biodiversity, but to protect biodiversity we need to
understand it. An informed understanding of plant diversity and resources has never been more
important. Environmental surveys and effective conservation strategies depend upon detailed
knowledge of plants. To communicate such knowledge accurately and effectively, training is required
in plant taxonomy, the discipline devoted to plant diversity, relationships and nomenclature. In
Morocco, plant taxonomy is addressed in different levels of primary and secondary education.
Textbooks, didactical reference tool for pupils and teachers, also address this issue. The purpose of
this paper is to present the results of the analysis of pedagogical approaches used by these
textbooks. The methodology used is content analysis both in the text and in images. The analyzes
show that there is dominance of the functionalist classification and negligence of the utility of species.
In textbooks, there is use of ecological criteria, relating to reproductive and vegetative and negligence
of genetic and biochemical criteria. The pedagogical styles are often informative and explanatory. The
classification of plants is not linking in an explicit way with biodiversity. Results show that pedagogical
approaches fail to develop the necessary skills to classify plants include in particular the kinship
between species and to classify living species in their taxa. Such pedagogical approaches does not
allow the development of critical thinking required in any action of the Environmental education.