In Sandra and Brian Alters' years of teaching biology and training science teachers, they've worked to understand how to create the optimal learning environment and a buzz in the classroom. Biology: Understanding Life reflects this experience and dedication to teaching and learning by providing unique, classroom-tested examples, analogies, and explanations-along with pedagogy that points studens to the important ideas in biology. Some of these unique, highly praised pedagogical features include:
- Analogies throughout the text help students visualize and understand concepts and processes by comparing them with readily recognizable, real-life examples.
- Visual Thinking questions accompany many of the illustrations in this text, asking students to demonstrate understanding and application of what's being depicted in a figure or table.
- In The News chapter-opening stories, video clips, and end-of-chapter review questions place biology topics in the context of current events and students'lives.
- Just Wondering boxes placed throughout the text showcase and answer questions from students across the country. At the conclusion of each box, students are invited to submit their own question to the authors by visiting the texts companion Web site.
- Levels of Understanding review materials at the end of each chapter include questions structured according to a three-level system, providing different types of question designed to encourage students to think about different strategies for studying the chapter's material.
Part 1 An Introduction
Part 2 Cells and How They Transform Energy
Part 3 Genetics
Part 4 Principles of Evolution
Part 5 Biological Deversity and Its Evolution
Part 6 Plant Anatomy and Physiology
Part 7 Animal Anatomy and Physiology
Part 8 Interactions Among Organisms and with the Environment