Rethinking biology means rethinking the text, the visual program, and assessment.
Ordinarily, textbooks are developed by first writing chapters, then making decisions about art and images, and finally, once the book is complete, assembling a test bank and ancillary media. This process dramatically limits the integration across resources, and reduces art, media, and assessments to ancillary material, rather than essential resources for student learning.
Biology: How Life Works is the first project to develop three pillars—the text, the visual program, and the assessment—at the same time. All three pillars were developed in parallel to make sure that each idea is addressed in the most appropriate medium, and to ensure authentic integration. These three pillars are all tied to the same set of core concepts, share a common language, and use the same visual palette. In this way, the text, visual program, and assessments are integral parts of student learning, rather than just accessories to the text.
RETHINKING THE TEXT
Integrated
Biology: How Life Works moves away from a focus on disparate topics, towards an integrated approach. Chemistry is presented in context, structure and function are covered together, the flow of information in a cell is introduced where it makes the most conceptual sense, and cases serve as a framework for connecting and assimilating information.
Selective
Biology: How Life Works was envisioned not as a reference book for all of biology, but a resource focused on foundational concepts, terms, and experiments. This allows students to more easily identify, understand, and apply critical concepts, and develop a framework on which to build their understanding of biology.
Thematic
Biology: How Life Works was written with six themes in mind. Introduced in Chapter 1 and revisited throughout, these themes provide a framework that helps students see biology as a set of connected concepts. In particular, the theme of evolution is emphasized for its ability to explain and predict so many patterns in biology.
RETHINKING THE VISUAL PROGRAM
Integrated
Across Biology: How Life Works—whether students are looking at a figure in the book, watching an animation, or interacting with a simulation—they always see a consistent use of color, shapes, and design.
Engaging
Every image—still and in motion—engages students by being vibrant, clear, and approachable. The result is a visual environment that is expertly designed to pull students in, deepens their interest, and helps them see a world of biological processes.
A Visual Framework
To help students think like biologists, the visual program is designed to be a framework for students to hang the concepts and connect ideas. Individual figures present foundational concepts; Visual Synthesis figures tie multiple concepts across chapters together; animations bring these figures to life; and simulations let students interact with the concepts. Collectively, this visual framework allows students to move seamlessly back and forth between the big picture and the details.
RETHINKING THE ASSESSMENT
Range
Developed by a broad community of leading science educators, the assessments for Biology: How Life Works address all types of learning, from recall to synthesis. They are designed to be used in a variety of settings and come in a wide range of formats (multiple choice, true/false, free response).
Integrated
Assessment is seamlessly integrated into the text and the visual program (both in print and interactive). Each time an instructor asks a student to engage with Biology: How Life Works—whether it
James R. Morris is Associate Professor in the Biology Department at Brandeis University. He teaches a wide variety of courses for majors and non-majors in evolution, genetics, genomics, anatomy, and health sciences. In addition, he teaches a first-year seminar focusing on Darwin's On the Origin of Species. He is the recipient of numerous teaching awards from Harvard and Brandeis. His research focuses on the rapidly growing field of epigenetics, making use of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism. He currently pursues this research with undergraduates in order to give them the opportunity to do genuine, laboratory-based research early in their scientific careers. Dr. Morris received a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. In addition, he was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University, gave talks to the public on current science at the Museum of Science in Boston, and works on promoting public understanding of personal genetics and genomics.
Daniel L. Hartl is the Higgins Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He has taught highly popular courses in genetics and evolution at the introductory and advanced levels. His lab studies molecular evolutionary genetics and population genetics and genomics. Dr. Hartl is the recipient of the Samuel Weiner Outstanding Scholar Award and the Medal of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohm Naples. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has served as President of the Genetics Society of America and President of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. Dr. Hartl's Ph.D. was awarded by the University of Wisconsin, and he did post-doctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty, he served on the faculties of the University of Minnesota, Purdue University, and Washington University Medical School. In addition to publishing more than 350 scientific articles, Dr. Hartl has authored or coauthored 30 books.
Andrew H. Knoll is the Fisher Professor of Natural History in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is also Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Dr. Knoll teaches introductory courses in both departments. His research focuses on the early evolution of life, Precambrian environmental history, and the interconnections between the two. He has also worked extensively on the early evolution of animals, mass extinction, and plant evolution. He currently serves on the science team for NASA's mission to Mars. Dr. Knoll received the Phi Beta Kappa Book Award in Science for Life on a Young Planet. Other honors include the Paleontological Society Medal and Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society, London. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He received his Ph.D from Harvard University and then taught at Oberlin College before returning to Harvard.
Robert A. Lue is Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Director of Life Science Education at Harvard University. He regularly teaches in Harvard's first-year Life Sciences program and upper-level courses in cell biology. He has a longstanding commitment to interdisciplinary teaching and research, and chaired the faculty committee that developed an integrated science course to serve multiple science majors and premedical students. Dr. Lue has also developed award-winning multimedia, including the animation 'The Inner Life of the Cell.' He has coauthored undergraduate biology textbooks and chaired education conferences on college biology for the National Academies and the National Science Foundation, and diversity in science for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health. He also founded and directs a Harvard life sciences outreach program that serves over fifty high schools. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Andrew Berry is Lecturer in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and an undergraduate advisor in the Life Sciences at Harvard University. He teaches in Harvard's first-year Life Sciences program, as well as courses on evolution and Darwin. His research interests are in evolutionary biology and the history of science. He has coauthored two books: Infinite Tropics, a collection of the writings of Alfred Russel Wallace, and DNA: The Secret of Life, which is part history, part exploration of the controversies swirling around DNA-based technology.
Andrew Biewener is the Charles P. Lyman Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, and Director of the Concord Field Station. He teaches introductory and advanced courses in anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics. His research focuses on the comparative biomechanics and neuromuscular control of mammalian and avian locomotion, with relevance to biorobotics. He is currently Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Experimental Biology. He also served as President of the American Society of Biomechanics.
Brian D. Farrell is Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, and Curator of Entomology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. He has collaborated with Los Niños de Leonardo y Meredith in the Dominican Republic to teach children about native insects, and participates in an All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory of the Boston Harbor Islands national park area. His research focuses on the interplay of adaption and historical contingency in species diversification, particularly beetles.
Noel Michele Holbrook is the Charles Bullard Professor of Forestry in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. Among other courses, she teaches an introductory course on biodiversity, as well as advanced courses in plant biology. She studies the physics and physiology of vascular transport in plants with the goal of understanding how constraints on the movement of water and solutes between soil and leaves influences ecological and evolutionary processes.Noel Michele Holbrook is the Charles Bullard Professor of Forestry in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. Among other courses, she teaches an introductory course on biodiversity, as well as advanced courses in plant biology. She studies the physics and physiology of vascular transport in plants with the goal of understanding how constraints on the movement of water and solutes between soil and leaves influences ecological and evolutionary processes.
Naomi Pierce is the Hessel Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, and Curator of Lepidoptera in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. She teaches and studies animal behavior and behavioral ecology. Her lab focuses on the ecology of species interactions, such as insect-host plant associations, and on the life history evolution and systematics of Lepidoptera. She has also been involved in reconstructing the evolutionary 'tree of life' of insects such as ants, bees, butterflies.
Alain Viel is the Director of Undergraduate Research and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. He teaches research-based courses, as well as courses in molecular biology and biochemistry. He is a founding member of Biovisions, which focuses on science visualization. Dr. Viel worked with his colleague and Biology: How Life Works coauthor Robert Lue on the animation 'The Inner Life of the Cell.'
