Genetics: A Conceptual Approach Sixth Edition

Book Preface

The main goals of Genetics: A Conceptual Approach have always been to help students uncover and make connections between the major concepts of genetics. Throughout the five preceding editions of this book, its accessible writing style, simple and instructive illustrations, and useful pedagogical features have helped students develop a fuller understanding of genetics.

Hallmark Features

Key Concepts and Connections Throughout the book, I’ve included features to help students focus on the major concepts of each topic.
Concepts boxes throughout each chapter summarize the key points of the preceding section. Concept
Checks allow students to quickly assess their understanding of the material they’ve just read. Concept Checks are in multiple-choice or short-answer format, and their answers are given at the end of each chapter.
Connecting Concepts sections compare and contrast processes or integrate ideas across sections and chapters to help students see how different genetics topics relate to one another. All major concepts in each chapter are listed in the Concepts Summary at the end of the chapter.

Accessibility The conversational writing style of this book has always been a favorite

feature for both students and instructors. In addition to carefully walking students through each major concept of genetics, I invite them into the topic with an introductory story. These stories include relevant examples of diseases or other biological phenomena to give students a sample of what they’ll be learning in a chapter. More than a third of the introductory stories in this edition are new.
Clear, Simple Illustration Program The attractive and instructive figures have proved to be an effective learning tool for students throughout the past five editions and continue to be a signature feature of the new edition. Each figure has been carefully rendered to highlight main points and to step the reader through experiments and processes. Most figures include text that walks students through the graphical presentation. Illustrations of experiments reinforce the scientific method by first proposing a hypothesis, then pointing out the methods and results, and ending with a conclusion that reinforces concepts explained in the text.

Emphasis on Problem Solving One of the things that I’ve learned in my 36 years of teaching is that students learn genetics best through problem solving. Working through an example, equation, or experiment helps students see concepts in action and reinforces the ideas explained in the text. In the book, I help students develop problem-solving skills in a number of ways. Worked Problems walk students through each step of a difficult concept. Problem Links spread throughout each chapter point to end-of-chapter problems that students can work to test their understanding of the material they have just read, all with answers in the back of the book so that students can check their results. I provide a wide range of end-of-chapter problems, organized by chapter section and split into Comprehension Questions, Application Questions and Problems, and Challenge Questions. Some of these questions, marked by a data analysis icon, draw on examples from published, and cited, research articles.

New to the Sixth Edition

NEW SaplingPlus for Genetics: A Conceptual Approach The sixth edition is now fully supported in SaplingPlus. This comprehensive and robust online teaching and learning platform incorporates online homework with the e-Book, all instructor and student resources, and powerful gradebook functionality. Students benefit from just-in-time hints and feedback specific to their misconceptions to develop their problem-solving skills, while instructors benefit from automatically graded homework and robust gradebook diagnostics.
NEW Active learning components One of my main goals for this new edition is to provide better resources for active learning. In this edition, I have added Think-Pair-Share questions, which require students to work, and learn, in groups. These questions not only focus on the genetics topics covered in the chapter, but also tie them to genetics in medicine, agriculture, and other aspects of human society. An online instructor guide provides resources for instructors leading the in-class discussion.
Chapter Opening Think-Pair-Share Questions get students to discuss the chapter opening story itself and to connect it with what they know about genetics.
End-of-Chapter Think-Pair-Share Questions provide more challenging problem solving for students to work on in groups and encourage them to discuss the bigger-picture aspects of the material they learned in the chapter. They also allow students to connect the material they have learned to broader genetics topics.