Campbell Biology in Focus

How does a streamlined text help students synthesize ideas and develop a deeper understanding of biological principles?

• The carefully chosen and thoughtfully crafted content of Campbell Biology in Focus emphasizes the core content of biology. For example:
  • Chapters 2 and 3 quickly review chemistry so that students get to the cell chapters sooner. If students need more review in chemistry, MasteringBiology^® offers 84 assignable chemistry tutorials and activities that are automatically graded.
  • Units 1-3 give students the solid foundation in cell biology, genetics, and evolution that they need in order to understand modern biology.
  • Unit 4 tells the story of the history of life by focusing on key events in the evolution of diversity, giving students an overview of life on Earth through time in four chapters.
  • Units 5 and 6 provide carefully selected examples and a more focused perspective on the interrelationship of form and function across diverse species of plants and animals.
  • Unit 7 applies the key themes of the text, including evolution, interactions, and energy and matter, to help students understand the fundamental principles and processes of ecology.
• Make Connections Questions relate the content of a chapter to material presented earlier in the course to help students see how the different areas of biology are connected, from molecules to organisms to ecosystems. Automatically graded Make Connections Tutorials are also available in MasteringBiology and include answer-specific feedback for students.
• Campbell Biology in Focus does not skimp on pedagogy.
  • Throughout the chapter, students are encouraged to interact with the content through Concept Check Questions, Make Connections Questions, Figure Legend Questions, Draw It Questions, and What If? Questions.
  • End-of-chapter Summary of Key Concepts Questions and Test Your Understanding Questions encourage higher-level thinking and prepare students for the kinds of questions they will see on exams. The Test Your Understanding Questions are organized into three levels based on Bloom’s Taxonomy: Knowledge/Comprehension, Application/Analysis, and Synthesis/Evaluation. Question types include multiple choice, Draw It, Scientific Inquiry, Focus on Evolution, and Focus on a Theme (Organization, Information, Energy and Matter, or Interactions).

 How does Campbell Biology in Focus help students focus on developing important scientific skills? 

• Scientific Skills Exercises in each chapter of the text use data from experiments to build key skills needed for biology, including data interpretation, graphing, experimental design, and math skills. Each Scientific Skills Exercise is also available as an automatically graded assignment in MasteringBiology with answer-specific feedback for students.
• Inquiry Figures highlight how researchers designed an experiment, interpreted their results, and drew conclusions. Each Inquiry Figure concludes with a What If? Question that asks students to consider an alternative scenario.
• Scientific Inquiry Questions in the end-of-chapter material ask students to practice scientific thinking by developing hypotheses, designing experiments, and analyzing real research data.

How does Campbell Biology in Focus help students focus on themes and concepts of biology?

• Five fundamental themes that run through all areas of biology--Evolution, Organization, Information, Energy and Matter, and Interactions--are introduced in Chapter 1 and recur throughout the text. End-of-chapter questions focus on these themes to help students see the common “big ideas” that run through all of biology.
• Evolution is the core theme of this text, introduced in Chapter 1. Every chapter has a section that focuses on evolution, highlighted by an Evolution banner. Every chapter ends with a Focus on Evolution Question. The evolutionary perspective at the core of Unit 3, Evolution, also permeates the novel approach to biological diversity taken in Unit 4, The Evolutionary History of Life.
• A visual unit preview introduces each unit of the text, showing how the material in those chapters fits together and into the larger context of biology as a whole.
• Each chapter is organized around a framework of 3 to 6 Key Concepts that provide a context for the supporting details. The Key Concepts serve as the headings for each major section of the chapter. After reading a concept section, students can check their understanding using the Concept Check Questions.
• Students can revisit each concept in the Summary of Key Concepts, where Summary Diagrams present key information visually and Summary Questions help students read the summary actively.

How do the carefully developed art and animations in Campbell Biology in Focus with MasteringBiology help visual learners?

• BioFlix^® 3-D Animations help students visualize biology with movie-quality animations that can be presented in class, reviewed by students on their own in the Study Area, and assigned in MasteringBiology. BioFlix Tutorials use the animations as a jumping-off point for MasteringBiology coaching exercises on tough topics.
• In the text, selected figures are rendered in a 3-D style to help students visualize biological structures.
• By integrating text, art, and photos, Exploring Figures help students access information efficiently.
• Guided Tour Figures use descriptions in blue type to walk students through complex figures like an instructor would, pointing out key structures, functions, and steps of processes.
• Visual Organizers emphasize the hierarchy of information in multi-part figures, helping students see important categories at a glance.
• Figure Legend Questions prompt students to delve into a figure’s content to make sure they understand it.
• Draw It Questions ask students to put pencil to paper and draw a structure, annotate a figure, or graph experimental data, deepening their understanding of the topic.
• Summary Diagrams help students visually recall what they learned in the chapter.
• Because text and illustrations are equally important for learning biology, the page layouts are carefully designed to place figures together with their discussions in the text.
• PowerPoint^® slides are painstakingly developed for optimum presentation in lecture halls, with enlarged editable labels. Complex figures are broken down into parts for step-by-step presentation. The slides also have links to animations and videos, enhancing the learning experience in class.
• Many Tutorials and Activities in MasteringBiology integrate art from the text, providing a unified learning experience.

How does the MasteringBiology online homework and assessment system help students learn essential content and scientific skills?

• Hundreds of self-paced MasteringBiology tutorials provide individualized coaching with specific hints and feedback on the toughest topics in the course. For example:
  • Scientific Skills Exercises, based on the exercises in each chapter of the textbook, are available as assignable activities in MasteringBiology.
  • BioFlix^® Tutorials use movie-quality 3-D animations and coaching exercises to help students master tough topics outside of class.
  • Make Connections Tutorials ask students to relate figures from two different chapters to make connections between topics covered in different parts of the course.
  • Experimental Inquiry Tutorials allow students to replicate a classic biology experiment and learn the conceptual aspects of experimental design. Students can critically evaluate the experiment and make decisions about how to set up, interpret, assess, and evaluate other experiments.
  • Interpreting Data Tutorials provide students with coaching on how to read and interpret data and graphs.
  • Data Analysis Tutorials connect students with real data from online databases and guide them in analyzing and interpreting data in a controlled environment.
  • Misconception Questions address common student misconceptions related to each chapter’s content, providing feedback to students to help them correct their understanding. The instructor can see which common misconceptions are proving most challenging for the class as a whole.
  • Video Tutor Sessions walk students through tough topics with clearly explained visuals and demonstrations.
  • MasteringBiology^® Virtual Labs online environment promotes critical thinking skills using virtual experiments and explorations that may be difficult to perform in a wet-lab environment due to time, cost, or safety concerns.
• In addition, Reading Quiz Questions and over 3,000 Test Bank Questions are available for assignment.
• Every assignment is automatically graded and entered into a gradebook. Instructors can check the gradebook to see what topics students are struggling with and then address those topics in class.