A Review of Open Access Textbooks for Introductory Organismal Biology
Overview
This is a review of open access textbooks that could be used for the organismal, environmental, and evolutionary biology half of introductory biology for biology majors.
A Review of Open Access Textbooks for Introductory Organismal Biology
Katherine S. LaCommare, PhD
Lecturer IV, University of Michigan Dearborn
Aspiring biology majors take Introductory Biology as a two-course sequence - one semester on cellular and molecular biology and a second on organismal and environmental biology. In addition, one or both courses are required as prerequisites for a variety of degrees and careers. For example, pre-health professional, pre-veterinary medicine, biochemistry, biophysics, bioengineering and environmental biology degrees all require introductory biology. Because the sequence can be taken in any order, both semesters are considered “gateway courses” – high enrollment foundational courses in which students struggle to succeed and persist. Non-persistence then, can stymie equity in the pipeline to a vast array of careers.
One feature of the biology curriculum within each course is that it is both standardized and varied - standardized because most courses cover the same basic material, varied because institutions and individual instructors will tailor their course to their specific college curriculum as well as personal tastes. This is a challenge for textbook creators, whether commercial or open access, because the books need to contain a sufficient breadth of topics to accommodate variation among institutions and instructors but simultaneously be streamlined and digestible for students. This has resulted in expensive commercial textbooks because they often include the proverbial kitchen sink of introductory biological concepts to accommodate every possible scenario of the introductory curriculum.
One strategy that I would like to use to improve equity in my course, Introduction to Organismal and Environmental Biology, is to reduce student costs by replacing my current commercial text with one that is freely available to students. Here, I review freely available biology textbooks. Because some texts are designed for both semesters and some only one semester. My review is restricted to books that can be used for the organismal, environmental, and evolutionary biology half of introductory biology.
In this review, I will describe: Comprehensiveness, structure, organization and modularity, pedagogy, relevance (including cultural relevance), accessibility and navigability, readability and clarity, as well as the availability of accompanying resources for the open access textbooks listed below. Each review begins with a summary of the book and its strengths and weaknesses.
Title: Biology 2e
Available: OpenStax; Link: https://openstax.org/details/books/biology-2e
Authors (Senior): Clark, Douglas (GRCC), Choi
Date: Web Version Last Updated – 2023; PDF Version Last Updated: 2020
License: Creative Commons Attribution License v4.0
Summary: Biology 2e is a comprehensive textbook that is highly consistent and organized. It includes many instructor resources and is easily adoptable due to the consistency and modularity of the chapters and sections. One strength of this textbook is that each section is short and digestible and the book adheres nicely to modern pedagogical techniques. However, one weakness is that instructors may find some concepts either not covered or too brief – this is particularly true for the evolution concepts. Because this text is published by OpenStax, if instructors adopt it, they can take advantage of the wide range of instructor and student resources that are available with the text.
Access: Students can access the text online, through an app, by downloading a PDF, ordering a print copy ($30-$50 dollars), or by downloading the book on iBooks.
The Book:
This book covers the full-range of concepts that could be taught in the typical two-semester sequence of introductory biology. It is divided into 8 units ranging from the study of life through ecology. Topics covered within each unit are comprehensive and would meet the needs of most instructors teaching either the first or second semester in the introductory sequence. The topics included are presented in a clear and logical fashion. Each unit is divided into chapters that cover a specific concept. For example, Unit 4: Evolutionary Processes is divided into 3 chapters – Evolution and the Origin of Species, Evolution of Populations, and Phylogenies and the History of Life. Each chapter has a consistent set-up. They start with an introductory page that includes an overview and outline of the chapter. Chapters are typically divided into three to six sections depending on the chapter and topic. For example, the Evolution and the Origin of Species chapter has 3 sections. Each section contains up-to-date pedagogical features. For example, each section begins with learning objectives and includes call-out boxes labeled - Everyday Connections, Career Connections, Link to Learning, and ends with a list of key terms, a summary, visual connection questions, review questions and critical thinking questions. The Everyday and Career Connection boxes make the content relevant by helping students connect the concept to current events and career trajectories. For example, in the evolution chapter, the Everyday Connection box discusses evolution and flu vaccines. The Career Connection box describes the life of a field biologist. The Link to Learning boxes provide links to videos or other information that elaborate and illuminate the concepts of the section. The Link to Learning boxes in the Understanding Evolution section send students to information on misconceptions in evolution and a video on human bones. Key words are bolded. Illustrations are included to illuminate key ideas. The structure of each unit, chapter and section results in a highly organized and modular text that is easy for students to follow and navigate. This modularity, consistency, and pedagogy makes it easy for faculty to adopt the specific sections they need. Within the chapters that I reviewed, I didn’t find any issues with clarity, errors, or cultural relevance.
Consistency, organization, pedagogy, navigability are great features of Biology 2e. Each chapter is written to be concise and digestible for students. The downside to reducing content is that instructors may find some concepts that they teach missing – see below. Because the text is produced by OpenStax, there are a plethora of instructor resources available or in development. Biology 2e is one of the books that can be assigned in Canvas through the Beta version of a tool called Assignable. There is a Canvas course cartridge that allows adopters to import the text into Canvas; there are PowerPoint slides as well as student facing resources on reading, notetaking, and time management.
My biggest concern about the text, at least with respect to the evolution chapters, is that the text is so condensed that it lacks some foundational information that students need to develop a full understanding of the concepts. For example, the book briefly discusses phenotypic variation with respect to evolution. This seems to be a simple concept but for students to fully understand and appreciate the role of variation in evolution and natural selection they need an understanding of discrete vs quantitative variation, genetic variation, heredity, genotypic variation, the relationship between phenotypic and genotypic variation, and the interaction between variation and the environment. The book doesn’t elaborate on these concepts. The penultimate challenge for textbook creators is balancing digestibility and streamlining with depth of content. In this case, the evolution chapters of Biology 2e might be too streamlined. Of lesser concern but worth noting is that in some chapters, illustrations could be improved to enhance clarity of the topics for students – this is particularly true in the Population Genetics section. The Link to Learning videos could be more directly connected to the specific concepts that are being illustrated. For example, in the Understanding Evolution and Formation of New Species sections, the videos don’t directly connect to the concept in the chapter and don’t necessarily provide an enhanced illustration of the concept.
Overall, the text is comparable in breadth to commercial textbooks and contains many modern pedagogical components as well as student and instructor resources that users will appreciate.
Title: Introductory Biology - Evolutionary and Ecological Perspective
Available: https://pressbooks.umn.edu/introbio/
Authors: Various – see each chapter for attribution
Date: n.d.
License: Creative Commons Attribution License v4.0
Summary: Introductory Biology: Evolutionary and Ecological Perspectives is a streamlined, attractive textbook for the Organismal and Environmental Biology course of the introductory biology sequence. It is largely the Biology 2e book but has been reorganized and edited to reframe and expand some sections. Many instructors may find these reframed and expanded sections to be the book’s strength. However, it lacks the consistency, pedagogical features, and extra resources that accompany Biology 2e. This is its biggest weakness.
Access: Students can access the book online or download it as a pdf or epub. Other formats are also available.
The Book
This book covers the topics that would typically be covered in the Organismal and Environmental Biology course in the introductory biology sequence. It doesn’t include cellular and molecular biology. It is divided into 26 chapters or sections with each of these divided into subchapters or subsections. Much of the content of the book is the OpenStax Biology 2e textbook remixed and reorganized. Because much of the book is a variation of Biology 2e, it is highly readable, digestible, and clear for students. Content, illustrations, videos are largely the same as Biology 2e with some changes and additions. Key differences include changes to navigability, reorganization and restructuring of content (in some cases reframing and expanding it), and a change to pedagogy.
First, navigability is a bit easier. When reading the book online, there is a content link available on every page that allows for a more streamlined experience jumping from chapter to chapter or section to section.
While the content is largely the same as Biology 2e, the chapters are organized and structured differently. This results in the loss of consistency and the loss of some key pedagogical features but improves the framing of the content. In Biology 2e the organization is very consistent. Each chapter has an introduction. Each section starts with defined learning outcomes. The chapters end with a glossary, summary, and review items. Introductory Biology lacks this consistency and pedagogy, not all chapters start with an introduction. Learning objectives have been removed. The glossary is now embedded into the section (which is fine) but the review items have been removed. However, because some sections have been reorganized and re-labeled, the reframing of the content improves its presentation and adds back in content that many instructors teach. For instance, in Biology 2e, Chapter 18.1 -Understanding Evolution has four topics: Charles Darwin and Natural Selection, Patterns and Process of Evolution, Evidence of Evolution, and Misconceptions of Evolution. In Introductory Biology, the topic Charles Darwin and Natural Selection has become Chapter 6: Section 24. It has been edited and updated to reflect the role of Charles Darwin’s ideas in the history of evolutionary thought and the development of the theory of natural selection. In Introductory Biology, Chapter 7: Section 25 expands the natural selection content. This chapter elaborates on natural selection and adaptation and its different modes – content many instructors include when teaching natural selection.
Overall, the writing is clear, easily digestible, and error-free. The book maintains the boxes on Everyday and Career Connections which maintains the relevancy, cultural relevancy, and longevity of the text.
Title: An Interactive Introduction to Organismal and Molecular Biology
Available: Open Textbooks; Link - https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/an-interactive-introduction-to-organismal-and-molecular-biology
Authors: Andrea Bierema, Michigan State University
Date: 2021
License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v4.0
Summary: An Interactive Introduction to Organismal and Molecular Biology is a highly interactive text that covers the basic concepts of the nature of science, organismal biology, and molecular biology. Each section has several chapters, and each chapter is a mix of text, videos, and interactive activities. Its strength is the interactive nature of the book. The book covers many of the topics that would be covered in the organismal and environmental biology semester of most introductory biology sequences, it doesn’t cover these concepts in depth. Its biggest weakness is this lack of depth and that it lacks topics that are staples of this course in most curricula - history of life, evolution of diversity, and the structure and function of organisms – plants and animals specifically.
Access: The book is available as a PDF, Online, ebook or and ODF.
The Book
An Interactive Introduction to Organismal and Molecular Biology is a 3-section, 24-chapter book that covers – An Introduction to Science, Organismal Biology, and Molecular Biology. Each section has a set of chapters. For example, the Organismal Biology section has 9 chapters covering ecology, biodiversity, climate change, evolution, and phylogenetic trees. It lacks comprehensiveness because it doesn’t contain chapters on the history of life on earth, the evolution of diversity, or the structure, function, and diversity of organisms. Many instructors may find the lack of these topics problematic because they are common concepts taught in the organismal and environmental biology semester of the Introductory Biology sequence. In addition, the topics that are covered lack the depth of content that would typically be covered in an introductory major’s biology course. The treatment of evolutionary concepts is more similar to a non-major’s biology curriculum than major’s biology course. This is problematic for most biology majors who require a more comprehensive understanding of evolutionary mechanisms and concepts than is provided by this book.
Navigation and flow through the book is very easy with a “Contents” tab on every page for easy navigation to other sections.
Each chapter is consistently structured. All chapters begin with a list of learning objectives that describe what students will be able to accomplish after completing the chapter. The chapter then proceeds with a mix of text, videos, interactive questions, and activities to help the students learn and understand the material. This gives the book a very modern feel with respect to pedagogy. This also gives the book significant modularity.
The content that I reviewed is accurate. The writing is straightforward. Although, some sections could be improved with editing for grammatical clarity.
One of the highlights of this text is the freshness of the examples, figures and illustrations. It results in a text that would be highly relevant to students and is not so narrowly focused that it lacks longevity. This is particularly true of the entire first section: Introduction to Science. It covers the topic in depth and is highly interactive and engaging.
Title: Principles of Biology
Available: LibreTexts; Link: https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_
Biology/Book%3A_Principles_of_Biology
Authors: Bartee, Shriner, Creech
Date: 2017
License: Creative Commons Attribution License v4.0
Summary: Principles of Biology is a general biology text designed for major’s biology. It is largely based on the OpenStax Biology 2e, which is its strength, but is missing some key topics that are often covered in an Introduction to Organismal and Environmental Biology course – History of Life, an overview of biological diversity, evolution of plants and animals and overview of plant and animal diversity, physiology and structure and function, which is its weakness.
Access: The book can be accessed through LibreTexts. Students can download a PDF, buy a print copy or print sections of the book. Instructors can import sections into their LMS.
The Book:
The book is organized as three main sections: Cell biology, Genetics and Ecology and Evolution. Each section is described as a course and starts with a list of course outcomes. Each section is further divided into chapters. The Ecology and Evolution section has 6 chapters on evolutionary and ecological concepts. Each chapter is further divided into sections. The book is well structured and organized with each chapter having a consistent feel as each other chapter. The structure and organization is like a traditional text. The flow of topics is consistent with traditional texts and navigability is straightforward with the content button on the side menu to easily navigate between sections.
One main issue with this textbook is its comprehensiveness. It doesn’t contain chapters or sections on history of life, evolution of biodiversity, evolution of plants and animals, physiology, and structure and function which are all topics that are a frequent component to introductory organismal and environmental biology. The material covered in the book is accurate but because the book is largely based on Biology 2e it prioritizes streamlining and digestibility over depth of content and this can, in some cases, be problematic. See my review and comments on Biology 2e for a more thorough discussion on the depth of content in this book.
The book is based on basic biological principles and therefore has longevity. The content and career connection boxes of Biology 2e have been removed which reduce the relevancy for students. The book doesn’t contain videos or other multimedia content which can also be helpful for improving the relevancy to students. Boxes and multimedia and links to videos are a nice way to improve cultural relevance because these links can point to such wide variety of resources.
With many of the LMS integration features in LibreTexts the texts has an easily navigable interface and a high degree of modularity. The writing is clear and free of grammatical errors.