The organization is consistent with mainstream biology textbooks, and can easily replace them. Likewise, instructor materials such as lecture slides, end-of-chapter answer keys, etc., are available. The level of content varies depending on section. Instructors may benefit from remixing the book with chapters from OpenStax’s non-major’s biology textbook Concepts of Biology. This will allow for fine-tuning of content depending on the course prerequisites (i.e., whether students have taken chemistry).
Diverging from traditional biology texts, Biofundamentals fills in many of the “gaps” that these texts leave. Perennially misunderstood concepts such as the Scientific Method and nature of science, and Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium are addressed with careful consideration for comprehension. The text is also organized in an engaging manner. Instructors following Vision and Change guidelines may appreciate the structure of this text. Reviewers noted a lack of media and interactives.
Incorporates many elements from Biology published by OpenStax. It augments that with other resources such as Wikimedia and its subsidiaries (e.g., Wikipedia, Wiktionary, etc.). The organization of this text might be more palatable for students. For example, LumenLearning provides the text split by semester (e.g., Biology I and Biology II). Content in Boundless Biology is collected from various sources with their own licensing type, which may not be open; care needs to be exercised when remixing content to ensure that only OER content is being used in the newly created content.
Includes 31 laboratory exercises with numerous additional, optional ones. This collection fits very nicely into a 2-semester Major’s Biology sequence. Ancillaries such as preparatory sheets, safety guidelines, and lab report rubrics are included to make this lab manual easy to adopt. A non-accessible PDF is also included for instructors who want students to have physical copies of the lab.
A comprehensive collection of laboratory exercises for students. Accessible PDFs and Word versions are available for ease of use. Each exercise is prefaced by an introduction which allows for the lab manual to stand on its own independent of a textbook. However, there are no pre/post-labs, or preparation sheets for laboratory technicians. While the laboratory manuals are licensed under Creative Commons, there appears to be use of copyrighted images. In addition, attributions and licenses for individual images is not clear. Caution is advised when remixing the content or utilizing its laboratory exercises.
While intended for a 3 quarter (2 semester) major’s biology sequence, this text focuses much more heavily on cellular and molecular biology. In turn, it makes for a good text for BIOL 190. The inclusion of some chapters on evolution ensure that the text meets the C-ID descriptor’s content requirements.
While billed as a “basic” overview of the topic, the text is quite advanced and covers the content of BIOL 190 thoroughly. The updated text means that newer topics such as CRISPR are included. However, the advanced nature of the text means that there are topics that may go beyond the scope of BIOL 190 (e.g., mechanisms of retrotransposon copying, enzyme kinetics, etc.). Curation of the text content may be necessary. One critical feature of the text is its focus on experimental history in cellular and molecular biology; this might make it well-suited for instructors who focus heavily on scientific thinking.
Biology, anatomy, and botany images published by CA community college faculty under a CC license.
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