Biological Science 7th Edition

Book Preface

Since its inception, Biological Science’s unique emphasis on the process of scientific discovery and guiding stu­dents to think like biologists has placed this book at the forefront of change in the way we teach biology. The Seventh Edition embraces this legacy and continues to exemplify the principles outlined in the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education report. As in previous editions, the cutting­edge biology in the Seventh Edition is pitched at exactly the right level for introductory students and is as accurate and exciting as ever for instructors and students alike. New findings from edu­cation research about ways to increase student engagement in the learning process continue to inform and inspire the coauthor team. The Seventh Edition introduces novel approaches that will allow instructors to attain an appropriate blend of both content and skill development in the classroom. Innovative features new to this edition offer students even more opportunities to actively apply concepts in new situations; evaluate experimental design, hypotheses, and data; synthesize results; and make and inter­pret models. For instructors, additional resources are provided to help align course activities and learning goals with their assessment strategies.

Core Values

In the Seventh Edition, the coauthor team has strived to extend the vision and maintain the core values of Biological Science-to provide a book and online resources for dedicated instructors who embrace the challenge of helping students achieve higher levels of learning, and to provide a book that helps students each step of the way in learning to think like scientists, regardless of their starting point in the process. The Seventh Edition provides tools to help students build their cognitive mastery in both trans­ferrable skills and biology content-to learn at the level called for by the National Academy of Sciences, the Howard Hughes Medi­cal Institute, the American Association of Medical Academies, and the National Science Foundation. Reports such as Biology 2010, Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians, and Vision and Change all place a premium on fundamental skills and concepts as well as connecting core ideas across all levels of biology.

What’s New in This Edition

Many of the new or expanded features in the Seventh Edition are designed to seamlessly intertwine delivery of cutting-edge biol­ogy content with development of students’ skills in data analy­sis and quantitative model-based reasoning, in an engaging and relevant way. Students will receive initial instruction in biology content and transferrable skills, followed by opportunities for lots of practice in applying knowledge and skills to new contexts. The ultimate goal is for students to learn to construct their own knowledge and think like biologists.

• Integrative End-of-Unit Case Study Introduced in Chapter 1 and then revisited throughout the book, the end-of-unit case study “Mystery of the Newt” features a cliff-hanger tale of poi­sonous newts and resistant garter snakes. The unfolding story illustrates how biology concepts and the various subdisciplines of biology (genetics, evolution, physiology, ecology, etc.) are connected across multiple levels from molecules and cells to ecology and evolution. Each unit concludes with a two-page spread that focuses on contemporary biological elements and poses questions relevant to the unit and the case study. By high­lighting the practice of science, we hope to encourage students to envision themselves as scientists. The end-of-unit case study is supported by Ready-to-Go teaching modules with instructional resources that include in-class clicker questions and activities and related Mastering™ Biology questions for pre- and post­class assignments to promote critical thinking and student engagement in the classroom.
• Interactive Figure Walk-through Videos Twenty-five figure walk-through videos have been added throughout the text to help students with unpacking complex figures and to cultivate better engagement with the text and other scientific sources. The videos will help students to better understand quantitative and modeling skills, as well as key concepts, by breaking down the information in figures step-by-step. Interactive figures are embedded in Pearson’s new and engag­ing eText for practice at the initial point of learning and included in assignable Mastering Biology activities to help students practice working with visuals.
• Three New Making Models Boxes Reports like Vision and Change cite the importance of developing model-based rea­soning skills. To help attain this goal, Making Models boxes were introduced in the Sixth Edition to explicitly teach stu­dents how to use visual models in learning and doing biol­ogy. In the Seventh Edition, three new Making Models boxes have been added: Tips on Drawing Carbohydrates (Ch. 5); Tips on Drawing Arrows (Ch. 40); and Tips on Drawing Immune System Processes (Ch. 48). Each Making Models box has three components: instruction in interpreting or creating a spe­cific type of model, an example of that type of model, and an application question so that students can immediately prac­tice their skills. Additionally, whiteboard-style videos allow students to watch and interact with a dynamic presentation of modeling. These videos are embedded in the eText, acces­sible in the Study Area of Mastering Biology, and integrated in assignable Mastering Biology activities that test students’ understanding of models. Lastly, there are test bank questions aligned with the Making Models activities.
• Enhanced Interactive eText New and expanded features in the Seventh Edition have been designed not only to enhance the print text but also to make full use of the new, embedded Pearson eText platform. The eText presents over 250 videos and animations that have been carefully selected to support content in the text. Resources include whiteboard Making Models videos, interactive Figure Walk-through videos, HHMI Biointeractive videos, and BioFlix® Animations and Tutorials that engage students, help them learn, guide them in complet­ing assignments, and bring biology to life.

• In-Text Learning Objectives To help students navigate content, a Learning Objective now appears at the beginning of each section of a chapter. Each Learning Objective makes it clear up front what fundamental content students should expect to learn in a particular section and what they should be able to do with what they’ve learned.
• Key New Content Introduced in the Sixth Edition, end-of­chapter Put It All Together case studies engage students by asking them to connect what they’ve learned in the chapter to an example of contemporary, relevant research. New case studies have been added that are updated for more recent developments, relevancy, and alignment with chapter con­tent: Ch 30: “Why aren’t comb jellies the most diverse animals on Earth?; Ch 31: “How could you count all the bees, beetles, and butterflies in one forest?; and Ch. 33: “How does Zika virus cause birth defects?” Also new to the Seventh Edition is a heav­ily revised Chapter 20, which includes expanded coverage of CRISPR-Cas gene editing and synthetic biology. In addition, coverage of climate change and other human impacts, as an important context for biological systems, is woven throughout relevant chapters, especially in the ecology unit. There is also an increased emphasis on systems biology and big data; for example, in the ecology unit students explore social networks and community networks.
• Expanded Assessment Matrix Introduced in the Sixth Edi­tion, an assessment matrix for each chapter identifies for in­structors how each question is related to learning objectives, Bloom’s level, common misconceptions, and Vision and Change core concepts and competencies. New to the Seventh Edition, all in-text and test bank questions are integrated and tightly aligned to two levels of learning objectives: broader “big pic­ture” objectives and more granular supporting objectives. We hope this tool will assist instructors in selecting the most appro­priate assessment items to align with the goals of their course.

Hallmark Features of the Text

While we are excited to introduce the new features of the Seventh Edition, we are committed to strengthening the hallmark fea­tures that make this book unique.

• Road Maps Each chapter opens with a concept map that visually groups and organizes information to help students anticipate key ideas as well as recognize meaningful relation­ships and connections among ideas.
• Big Picture Spreads While the Road Maps help students look forward as they engage with a chapter, Big Picture con­cept maps, typically found at the end of a unit, help students review content. Words and visuals are integrated to help • BioSkills Instructors recognize that biology students need to develop foundational science skills in addition to content knowledge. Since the Third Edition, Biological Science has pro­vided a unique, robust set of materials and activities to guide students who need extra help with the skills emphasized in the book. The BioSkills materials reside between Chapters 1 and 2 to emphasize their importance as a resource for success in doing biology, and to make it easier for students to access them throughout the course. The BioSkills are presented in five broad categories: Quantifying Biology, Using Common Lab Tools, Visualizing Biology, Reading Biology, and Monitoring Your Own Learning. BioSkills include practice questions, are cross-referenced throughout the text, and can be assigned online in Mastering Biology.
• Opportunities for Practice “Blue Thread” questions, inte­grated throughout the text, are designed to help students identify what they do and do not understand. Students are encouraged to think like biologists and practice engaging with content at a higher level. The idea is that if students really understand a piece of information or a concept, they should be able to do something with it. As in the Sixth Edition, all ques­tions in the text are assigned a Bloom’s taxonomy level to help both students and instructors understand whether a question requires higher-order or lower-order cognitive skills. A sub­stantial proportion of questions are higher order. In addition, skill-based question tags help students and instructors iden­tify opportunities to practice key skills. Questions are tagged to indicate the following: Process of Science questions explore the application of the scientific process; Model questions ask students to interpret or construct visual models; Society ques­tions explore the relationship between science and society; Quantitative questions help students perform quantitative analysis and use mathematical reasoning; and Think Carefully questions address topics that students often have common misconceptions about, and the answers to these questions include information that addresses the misconception.
• In-text “You Should Be Able To” questions These questions focus on topics and concepts that professors and students have identified as most key or difficult in each chapter.
• Caption questions and exercises Students are chal­lenged to examine the information in a figure or table critically-not just absorb it.
• Check Your Understanding boxes One to three tasks are presented that students should be able to complete in order to demonstrate a mastery of learning objectives.
• End-of-chapter questions Questions are organized in three levels: Test Your Knowledge, Test Your Understand­ing, and Test Your Problem-Solving Skills-so students can build from lower- to higher-order cognitive levels of assessment.

• Put It All Together Case Studies Case studies added in the Sixth Edition briefly introduce contemporary biology research in action, followed by questions that ask students to apply the chapter’s content and skills to the research topic. Instructor resources include clicker questions to give instructors the opportunity to use the case studies as discussion prompts in the classroom. An enduring feature of this text is its emphasis on experimental evidence-on teaching how we know what we know. The case studies expand this emphasis, requiring stu­dents to evaluate real data and to see how ongoing scientific research is related to core biological ideas.
• Focus on Real Data Students now have expanded oppor­tunities to develop skills in working with real data from the primary literature. Sources of the data presented in research boxes, graphs, end-of-chapter case studies, and the end-of­unit case studies are cited to model good practice for students and to provide a resource for students and instructors who wish to evaluate the original data more deeply.
• Illustrated Summary Tables The art program is enhanced by illustrated summary tables that deliver content in a stream­lined way and facilitate comparison and analysis by students. Photographic summary tables in Unit 5, for instance, illus­trate the diversity of life. These tables make subject areas more accessible to visual learners and reinforce a chapter’s key concepts.