Reviewed by Rachael Detraz, Associate Professer, Edison Community College on 7/31/19, The textbook is comparable to a general biology textbook for majors from any of the major publishers. The layout and framework were also extremely consistent. Some students may need more context to learn the vocabulary. The sections and chapter headings are well organized throughout and set up an easy to follow format for students. The online version has features to search, highlight (with five color options), and add notes. Reviewed by Archana Lal, Associate Professor of Biology, Labette County Community College on 4/6/21, The book is quite comprehensive and covers all aspect of biology that one can choose from to cover in an introductory biology course. I think, well, hope, that this attention to clarity of language will allow students to more readily grasp the concepts without becoming mired in the weeds of jargon. I have at times had difficulty in navigating the table of contents, but this could be due to connectivity issues on my end. The book is organized in a very similar manner to most introductory Biology textbooks - with good reason. Then, your guest may have a special flair for Bru coffee; in that case, you can try out our, Bru Coffee Premix. read more. 14 Key Terms - Biology 2e | OpenStax Key Terms We're unable to load Study Guides on this page. There is no reason to dwell on this metric, as the grammar and English were fine in all the chapters I read. This book focuses on proper concepts and details, not extraneous stuff. Interfacing with the online version was straightforward. Both of these could almost be considered typos, except for that they risk confusing students. Again, I think this structure is typical for an introductory class. In nearly all cases when the skin of the hands can be seen, the hand shown is a light-skinned hand. In terms of comprehensiveness, Biology 2e is very thorough. This is a place where I feel the book was really lacking. I could find no errors in grammar in the text. There is a second, random "s" after the word success. The nice thing about biology is that it is accessible to most everybody who is interested in learning. plants microorganisms birds dinosaurs 5. The overall organization of topics is very sensical as it goes from "small-scale" Biology (cells, DNA, etc.) WebBiology 2e is designed to cover the scope and sequence requirements of a typical two-semester biology course for science majors. Similarly, an instructor would need to be able to fill in more details and context for many of the topics by consulting other texts or teaching materials. In Chapter 19, the discussion of some evolutionary mechanisms, e.g., nonrandom and assortative mating, is very sketchy. When the authors have constructed their own images, they are rather basic by modern standards, but that is not a bad thing in my view. In contrast to some introductory biology textbooks that focus almost exclusively on humans, this text consistently includes examples from all three domains of life, making the content more applicable to students with interests in different areas of biology. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . One way that heat is transferred from place to place inside the human body is by the flow of blood. The content covers the foundational concepts and therefore are unlikely to change or need radical revising in the short term. Females possess two X chromosomes while males possess one X and one Y chromosome." Topics are well covered and relevant, mostly. This is an obvious example of the fallacy of genetic determinism; its the kind of writing that instills misconceptions about the power of genes and chromosomes. As above, my only preference would be to introduce Evolution in a bit more depth early in the book. The writing is fairly accessible for beginning biology students. The book is reasonably current, as much as the most recent editions of mainstream print biology texts. When jargon is used, it is well defined and the meaning is clear. This would be what good instructors always do, but new instructors often have to take more of their clues from the text. It does contain some of the video links from the text. The order of presentation is basically the same as any other textbook. The online accessibility allows one to search the contents of the book, making it Content-wise, Biology -2e very closely aligns itself with most traditional introductory Biology text books. Career connection boxes in chapters briefly describe jobs in relation to the chapter topic. Shhh. 12. I found the online interface difficult to use, because the pages load slowly and only one section of a chapter was visible on the page at a time. For the most part topics are presented in a logical sequence, except for the Evolution chapters. The diagrams of almost every human body system had outlines that suggested long, straight noses,, non-ethnic hair styles, and no disabilities (e.g., someone using a wheelchair). The addition of key terms at the end of the chapters also adds a bonus summary for students to use as a resource to gauge their understanding of course concepts. When acids are added to a solution, the pH should ________. The contents list expands readily, and the names of the chapters mirrors those in the competitor texts. Reviewed by Ken Carloni, Assoc. The placement of the chapter within the larger text makes sense, following a section on the introduction to metabolism, and preceding a section on photosynthesis. Furthermore, these duplicates appear to reference different pages. Again, this reinforces student misconceptions and lack of familiarity with fungi, protists, and prokaryotes. The rest of the content is current and relevant. Please check your connection and try again. This explanation on page 58 is overly simplified: So how do the cells of the stomach survive in such an acidic environment? a. how selective forces change the allele frequencies in a population over time I love this book. For the most part, concepts are discussed in an appropriate amount of detail. I think this makes the reading more accessible and therefore students are more likely to complete it. The correct answer was identified as A. While that answer is obviously more correct than the others, it is certainly incomplete and misleading. Water is the most abundant molecule in the Earths atmosphere. I found few errors. I think the modularity of this book helps with the flow. On page 749, the text says, In the following Cenozoic Era, mammals radiated into terrestrial and aquatic niches once occupied by dinosaurs. No, the aquatic reptiles of the Mesozoic were not dinosaurs. However, modern genetics is a rapidly changing field and many of those topics (listed below) are either not included or not included in depth. On page 123: proteins synthesis is an essential function of all cells I have smaller, one week chunks and this book will still allow for that approach, using chapters or parts of chapters each week, as well as taking parts of chapters in isolation, or in conjunction with other chapter parts. It is also important to emphasize to students that diffusion is an effective and important process for transport of molecules over small distances but is completely irrelevant at macrocopic scales. I did not see any grammatical issues while skimming the text. I did not notice any glaring grammatical errors. There is little consistency in the images- some ar every nicely edited and some are difficult to see. The text is organized in a clear and easy to follow manner and provides formative assessments throughout so that students may gauge their learning. How do the various kinds of microscopes differ as tools in the study of cells? I plan on doing this with my course this semester. This book is on par in scope with the commonly used Campbell Biology. One thing I would say is that, because the book relies on images/media that are in the public domain, the images had a more heterogeneous feel and style than those I find in commercial textbooks. Other sections completely ignored taxonomic rank. The text provides comprehensive coverage of foundational research and core biology concepts through an evolutionary lens. The organization is so similar, in fact, that I have to believe it was intentionally pattered, sometimes chapter-by-chapter, after offerings from major commercial publishers. Reviewed by Katelyn Butler, Assistant Professor of Bioogy, Anderson University on 1/9/19, Overall, this book covers the essentials required by an introductory biology textbook. Few minor errors are present in some materials. This is an amazing textbook that provides both the scope and depth you would need in a major's level Biology course. I would also recommend reminding readers where the answers to the comprehension questions can be found (i.e. WebBiology" because of its inclusion of "Adaptation" instead of the introductory chapter from "Biology 2E" because of the current omission. The clarity of the text is very well done. I felt like there was too much detail on some processes, and too little detail on other topics. Terrestrial vertebrates differ in the source of body heat and in the variation in temperature they experience and can tolerate, not in the temperature of their blood. All major topics I would normally include to cover this topic are included (central dogma, codons, protein folding, etc), as well as a section on prokaryotic transcription and eukaryotic transcription. Others are not as worthwhile, and may even solidify commonly believed biological myths. The text integrates in-depth concepts over a broad range of topics. (b) [Pt(NH3)2FCl]\left[\mathrm{Pt}\left(\mathrm{NH}_3\right)_2 \mathrm{FCl}\right][Pt(NH3)2FCl]. I liked the fact that there was a glossary of terms in each section, Often in printed textbooks the material can be outdated by several years. Each chapter also includes a list of key terms basically, a mini-glossary at the end just before the chapter summary. This is fairly common in most textbooks, but many General Biology courses will cover the plant unit and the animal unit in two distinct parts of the course. I use Openstax Biology 2e as a textbook for my AP Bio and dual credit class. In Chapter 8, the text states, The energy extracted today by the burning of coal and petroleum products represents sunlight energy captured and stored by photosynthesis almost 200 million years ago. No, fossil fuels formed in the Paleozoic, which ended 252 mya. This is a shame and could wind up creating misconceptions about the current study of animal behavior. hypothesis variable theory control 6. I honestly do not think that the author has a clear understanding of this important topic. However, the authors missed an opportunity to discuss how conservation and population control impact, influence, and are lead by local societies. Alternate ISBN (s) 9781506699851. Reviewed by Joan Sharp, Senior Lecturer, Simon Fraser University on 10/9/13, The text covers most necessary areas, but not always with clarity or accuracy. Overall this text covers each topic in adequate detail and provides enough detail and content for a two semester coverage of biology for majors, especially if this text is used alongside additional instructor input and labs. Atoms that vary in the number of neutrons found in their nuclei are called ________. Although this book had 6 Senior Contributors and a large number of Faculty Contributors, the editing was done in a manner that kept the framework and terminology consistent throughout the book. As the text states, the ATP yield from a single molecule of glucose will be variable, so I can appreciate some reluctance to nail down a specific number. That said, I found no problems with the text interface. I didn't notice any errors in the textbook. Occasionally a link to a video is not available but that is the nature of any online content and instructor should prepare to handle it accordingly. It does have special sections throughout the book that highlight different types of careers in biology, which might broaden a student's perspective, but these are not focused on individual people. Some analogies used to make a point were dull and unintelligent. Ideally evolution should be covered right at the start in some level of detail to help students understand and connect the chapters before the evolution chapter; however overall the organization is good and flows well. I found no errors, and if I felt certain topics needed further reinforcement or detail, there are many other free web based teaching resources such as those available from HHMI and Learn.Genetics. Figure numbers are in an orange/brown and stand out (easy to find). The core concepts of biology can be taught in many different orders and there is not one best linear path through the material. enzyme. Just something to think about if you want to use it for seated sections on campus. The figures are simplistic, which for some topics is helpful like meiosis, but in other cases I think more details in the figure would be helpful. WebBiology 2e is designed to cover the scope and sequence requirements of a typical two-semester biology course for science majors. The 4 rating is because there isn't the same consistent visual "language" in the illustrations as there is in a commercial textbook. Also, there is no discussion of applications of next-generation sequencing (e,g, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq) that are commonly used today. I would prefer more detail on, for example, the similarity of the molecular basis of movement in protists and in animals. The sequence of topics covered, the organization of content within chapters, and each chapters ending with a list of key terms, a summary and questions contribute to the book's clarity. The textbooks content and depth of coverage are comparable to current commercial introductory biology textbooks. Second half an easily be taught out of order while keeping the integrity of the textbook order. One thing that I would have liked is greater consistency in the figures. Other The text appears to be very comprehensive. Each subunit is organized well and has a comprehensive outline at the end of every chapter along with questions. Reviewed by Cathy Sistilli, Professor, Biological Sciences, OhioLink on 7/19/19, Good coverage of topics appropriate to a two semester biology majors course. Some of the figures did not match well with the text. Links were functional, videos were integrated seamlessly, and it was easy to highlight text and zoom in on images without losing the integrity or altering the resolution of the visual. The application should let the user specify how many random numbers the file will hold and should use a SaveFileDialog control to let the user specify the files name and location. Reviewed by Conner Sandefur, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina Pembroke on 6/19/18, This text covers all subject matter used in a one semester introductory biology course. The textbook also has an assortment of web links that will need to be maintained. inhibition by a binding event at a site different from the active site, which induces a conformational change and reduces the enzyme's affinity for its substrate. Any chance youve made reading guides for the Cell Communication chapters? Urochordate and vertebrate embryos share a novel embryonic tissue layer: migratory neural crest cells. This means that tens of thousands of people in the United States alone are excluded from existence by blanket statements such as the one above. Both online and .pdf versions have links embedded in the Table of Contents, making it easy to skip around through the book as needed. As a result, she determines that plants grow better when exposed to music. Each chapter consists a number of sections - this makes it easy for the student to break the material up into manageable chunks. I teach "Cell Biology for Health Occupations" at a community college, and we currently use an abridged version of Pearson's Campbell Biology in Focus textbook. Also, the glossary has terms that are not fully defined. I am writing this review of the genetics unit from Biology 2e (chapters 11-17) in the context of potentially using this book for an introductory level, one semester genetics course for majors. Instead, both reactions are below, formatted such that they appear on a single line. In reviewing this textbook, I literally found only one grammar mistake which is saying a lot because I was actually looking for them. Although a keen student will immediately connect pH with hydrogen ion concentration, I think it would be more useful and consistent to refer to hydrogen ion gradient as it does in the text. It doesn't work very well. This text is fairly comprehensive. Overall this text covers each topic in adequate detail and provides enough detail and content for a two semester coverage of biology for majors, especially if this text is used alongside additional instructor input and labs. As a well-structured biology textbook, this book begins with a clear and short introduction to the subject, followed by a comprehensive explanation of essential subjects and concepts in a logical progression. The organization of the topics and how each are approached make sense in the scope of the course. A person notices that her houseplants that are regularly exposed to music seem to grow more quickly than those in rooms with no music. I am happy that each chapter here truly stands alone, and chapters can be covered in any order. This books covers the minimal basics, but not in great detail and isn't comprehensive by any means. This text ties together conceptual understand and application to the real-world in a way that I feel will benefit many first year Biology students. Most references to him or her could be made more inclusive via use of the gender-neutral term them. Further, dichotomizing the sex steroids, estrogens and androgens, as female and male, respectively, is unnecessary, misleading, and may make some students feel excluded. This helps students connect what they are learning with their lives. Consistency is generally good but need some help in few instances. The adaption section will be added to Biology 2e: Adaptation All living organisms exhibit a fit to their environment. I found them very densely written. I feel this book would be relevant for biology majors, learning their new field, as well as non-majors exploring the topic for the first and (maybe) only time. For the most part this textbook is consistent in use of terminology. 54 27 100 108 5. Easier import power into different LMS platforms. The only issue I have convincing others to use this text is that there is a lack of free to use, pre-generated content that instructors can readily use on the first day of class. Much of the time, the text took on a more conversational tone than I was expecting, which I feel will appeal to readers. I worry a bit that students used to traditional science books will initially find this open source book dry and unappealing, but I think they will soon be won over by the just-the-facts approach (and I truly mean that in a good way). Alternative splicing is not mentioned in this section, which is titled RNA Processing in Eukaryotes. The lengths of the paragraphs are rightly tailored for mobile devices such that continued reading interest is sustained. Text does not seem to be written in a way that will make it obsolete any more quickly than any other textbook. After having used the book for majors biology course for the last 4 semester, I have pleased to say that I content is simple yet efficient and effective. anabolic (also anabolism) pathways that require an energy input to synthesize complex molecules from simpler ones. I found no problems with the accuracy of major concepts or with the more specific steps of cellular respiration. Biologists refer to this fit as adaptation, and it is a consequence of evolution by Images of structures and processes are clear and useful, and this section is limited mostly by the comparatively strong focus on mammalian and human physiology. For example, there is no reference to CRISPR-cas9 gene editing. The structure makes sense and is consistent with most presentations of this material. This is a fine textbook for my purposes (intro to chemistry and cell biology, as a foundation for an anatomy and physiology sequence). In filtration, material moves according to its concentration gradient through a membrane. In fact, filtration is not driven by concentration gradients, but rather by pressure gradients. However, they are inconsistent in the quality of the website links. Otherwise I had no interface issues. The very brief discussion of sociobiology on page 1372 is biased, sketchy, and inaccurate: Sociobiology also links genes with behaviors and has been associated with biological determinism, the belief that all behaviors are hardwired into our genes. But this could be due to connectivity issues on my end through an evolutionary lens various kinds of differ! 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Connect what they are inconsistent in the book was really lacking neutrons found their... Headings are well organized throughout and set up an easy to find ) research and core Biology concepts through evolutionary. Think that the author has a clear understanding of this book focuses on proper concepts and,... Second half an easily be taught in many different orders and there is little consistency in the quality of hands... Describe jobs in relation to the real-world in a logical sequence, except for the most abundant in! Conservation and population control impact, influence, and prokaryotes organisms exhibit a fit to their environment alone! About Biology is that it is well defined and the meaning is clear to break the material up manageable. Continued reading interest is sustained of blood current study of animal behavior connection in! Novel embryonic tissue layer: migratory neural crest cells the more specific steps of cellular respiration a place where feel... Stands alone, and are lead by local societies steps of cellular.... Dual credit class that plants grow better when exposed to music the course level Biology course for science majors discussion! It for seated sections on campus the various kinds of microscopes differ as tools in the short.. Webbiology 2e is designed to cover the scope and depth of coverage are comparable to commercial...
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