The Fern Flower Chase

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There are three main groups of land plants: moss plants, fern plants, and seed plants. If asked about these phylogenetic relationships, i.e., evolutionary trajectories, how would you respond? According to most individuals who have studied lower secondary school science in Japan, plants were initially divided into seed-producing and spore-producing plants from their common ancestor, followed by the division of the latter into ferns, which have a root, stem, and leaf distinction, and mosses, which have no distinction. However, molecular phylogenetic analysis has shown that the ancestor of moss plants diverged first from the common ancestor of land plants, followed by the diversification of ferns and seed plants. Therefore, the commonly held scenario is incorrect. This paper begins by acknowledging the problem of why this misconception is widespread. Next, I reported on a classroom practice in the lower secondary school science category. The practice involves creating molecular phylogenetic trees based on the comparison of genetic information to gain insight into the phylogenetic relationships of organisms. Based on my analysis, I have concluded that even if the textbooks “say nothing wrong,” the way they are written is “wrong” in a way that many people misunderstand.

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