Implementing Recommendations for Introductory Biology by Writing a New Textbook

Mark J. Barsoum, Patrick J. Sellers, A. Malcolm Campbell, Laurie J. Heyer, Christopher J. Paradise. 2013. Implementing Recommendations for Introductory Biology by Writing a New Textbook. CBE--Life Sciences Education. Vol 12(1): 106-116.

Using national recommendations, the authors of the ICB textbook designed the course to emphasize data interpretation while focusing less on memorizing a large amount of information. The authors did an experiment to test the effectiveness of their redesigned textbook in comparison to a traditional introductory biology course. During the semester-long experiment, assessments demonstrated no difference between students taking the traditional course and students taking the ICB course. A semester later, the ICB students had retained more content knowledge than traditional students, though the difference was not significant (p=0.06). In data interpretation, the ICB students significantly improved over time (p=0.015) and were significantly better at interpreting data by the end of the semester than the traditional students (p<0.01 and p<0.05 in the final two assessments of the semester). In addition, ICB students were more likely to have more accurate perceptions of biology as a discipline as well as of their own abilities as scientists.

take-aways for essay:

no difference in content knowledge (but better retained?)

better data interpreters (this was lost when they were no longer taking the ICB course)

more accurate perception of their abilities and biology