Life on this Rock: Biology
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Life on this Rock: Biology
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Along the way, Life on this Rock shows how scientists who made major key discoveries achieved success by bringing together knowledge from fields other than science.
Crafted from the authors’ 20 plus years experience teaching biology to students of all majors and all levels, Life on this Rock: Biology is specifically written for students majoring in fields other than science. Unlike competing textbooks that offer diluted versions of biology written originally for science majors, the Life on this Rock series is full-fledged biology designed to capture and nurture your students' interest and understanding by showing them that science and the scientific method is actually relevant to their careers and their lives outside a lab. While still actively helping them learn all the core concepts required of biology majors.
The Life on this Rock series succeeds by taking students, in a narrative documentary style, through a step-by-step journey of discovery that accelerates learning and enables any student to fully grasp even complex biological topics. Students receive a solid foundation in science that they can draw from throughout their academic and professional careers, and a desirable base of understanding to advance from for those enticed to switch to a life sciences track. Use Life on this Rock: Biology as a standalone one-semester course or pair it with Life on this Rock: Form and Function for a complete two-semester program. Benefits to using Life on this Rock for your class:
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Silver Sponsors
We will be featuring the Life on this Rock: Biology series at the NABT Conference on Nov 9-12..
Meet with Kimberly Gonzalez, one of the authors, at our Trubooks booth or at her poster session: An Interactive E-Text: Advantages for the Student and for the Instructor. We will be demoing the books on our new T3 Digital Learning Platform and giving away prizes! |
Life on this Rock
Biology An introduction to biology written for students majoring in fields other than science.
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Life on this Rock
Form and Function of Living Things An introduction to physiology for students majoring in fields other than health science.
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Life on this Rock
Biology with Physiology Expanded edition that includes all material from LOTR Biology and Form and Function of Living Things.
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Life on this Rock
Biology (High School) An active learning approach that aligns to NGSS Life Science for high school.
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The text is written in a narrative style, reminiscent of a documentary, which improves readability and comprehension for students majoring in other fields. Not only does this approach better engage students with diverse interests and academic backgrounds, it also provides instructors new to teaching this course a ready-made “script” for class lectures.
A complete course, ready for immediate use, but customizable as desired with over 750 Power Point lecture slides featuring all text figures as a downloadable supplement and over 500 illustrations and real-world examples. Instructors can easily customize the textbook and course, re-arranging the learning sequence, adding their own content or removing unneeded items, and even mixing/matching with content from other Trubook textbooks. Self-assessment questions and “Learning Goals”: self-assessment questions, with accessible answers, in each chapter to help students focus. A list of goals included in each chapter (“After reading this chapter, I can…”). “Claim, Evidence and Reasoning” worksheets, which can be used as assignments or self-help exercises. Test banks and online gradebook: includes test bank of quiz/exam multiple choice, true-false and short-answer questions, over 500 questions in all. Simply select the chapters and numbers of questions and the bank generates tests that are delivered to students with the assessment engine built into the book; an Instructor’s Gradebook tallies all scores from assessments and assignments and maintains a running average. Questions can be identical for each student or automatically randomized. |
Built-in glossary and highlighting/annotation tools: your student will appreciate the convenience of click on key words the first time it appears to get definitions and the full searchable glossary appearing at the end of each chapter. Students can easily highlight text and add their own annotations.
Accessible both on and offline: Life on This Rock is accessible online via any modern web browser on any device, as well as offline via the free Trunity iPad app and upcoming Android tablet app. Live updates: any changes you make (adding content, assignments, tests, etc.) to the book are immediately available the next your students log on. Plus, and changes (errata, etc.) from the publisher are automatically made available to you and your students. Easily re-use what you’ve built: after your course is completed, you can easily clone the textbook with all the customizations for the next time you teach the course. You can make further customizations to the clone, and even share your customizations with other instructors. |
Chapter 1:
Thinking Like a Scientist Why Care About Science The Scientific Method The Null Hypothesis: A Safeguard for Good Science More Safeguards How Science is Conducted and Reported Science and Faith Science Beyond the Classroom Chapter 1 Multiple Choice Test Bank v1 Chapter 1 Multiple Choice Test Bank v2 Chapter 1 Multiple Short Answer Test Bank Chapter 1 Multiple True/False Test Bank Chapter 2: Living Things are made of Cells, and Cells are made of Molecules Some Basic Chemistry Want Life? Just Add Water! The Molecules of Life Cells: Self-Replicating, Self-Sustaining Machines Chapter 2 Multiple Choice Test Bank v1 Chapter 2 Multiple Choice Test Bank v2 Chapter 2 Multiple Short Answer Test Bank Chapter 2 Multiple True/False Test Bank Chapter 3: Living Things Survive by Gathering, Storing and Using Energy What is Energy? ATP: the “Money” Molecule Enzymes Give Metabolism a Boost Moving Things Across Membranes Photosynthesis: Solar Power Rules! Respiration: “Break It Down, Now!” Chapter 3 Multiple Choice Test Bank v1 Chapter 3 Multiple Choice Test Bank v2 Chapter 3 Multiple Short Answer Test Bank Chapter 3 Multiple True/False Test Bank |
Chapter 4:
The Genetic Code: Instructions to Build Living Things Meiosis: How to Make New Organisms Mendel and Genetics: Thinking Outside the Box Putting Our Genes to Work Gene Regulation Biotechnology Human Genetic Disorders Chapter 4 Multiple Choice Test Bank v1 Chapter 4 Multiple Choice Test Bank v2 Chapter 4 Multiple Short Answer Test Bank Chapter 4 Multiple True/False Test Bank Chapter 5: Life has Evolved and Continues to Evolve Evolution: An Idea Whose Time Had Come Natural Selection in Action Evolution of New Species: Many Small Steps Cover a Long Distance Evolution of Animal Behavior Chapter 5 Multiple Choice Test Bank v1 Chapter 5 Multiple Choice Test Bank v2 Chapter 5 Multiple Short Answer Test Bank Chapter 5 Multiple True/False Test Bank Chapter 6: Living Things and the World Ecology and the Dynamics of Populations Communities and Ecosystems: Who Lives Where, and How? For Better or Worse: Humans and the Biosphere Chapter 6 Multiple Choice Test Bank v1 Chapter 6 Multiple Choice Test Bank v2 Chapter 6 Multiple Short Answer Test Bank Chapter 6 Multiple True/False Test Bank Student Resources
Teacher Resources
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The Basics + Online access, on any browser, on any device + Offline access to content as needed with iPad app + Glossary definitions pop-up with a click + Highlight and annotate any text + Customize the textbook to your teaching needs + Quizzes and exams can be taken within the textbook + Assignments can be completed within or uploaded + Built-in gradebook linked to assignments & assessments + Self-Assessments are interactive, ungraded section review Wherever it is possible you will have auto-grading and can set personalized auto-feedback! You will love how easy and efficient it is to manage even a class of 300 students. Your students will appreciate getting your feedback to their assignments and assessments directly in the context of the content. Question Pools & Assessments + Add to existing question pools or create your own + T/F, multiple choice, multiple answer, short and long answer + Develop new and even randomized assessments + Publish to class the moment you wish to make it available + Self-Assessments can be taken any number of times Gradebook + Student profiles auto-populate on purchase/given access + Automatically tied to student submissions + Set grading weight for each assignment and assessment |
You'll find it easy to adapt this book to fit your syllabus and your teaching style. Or, you can simply use it as it is. Adapt to Fit + Keep everything you need in one place + Authoring tools allow you to create or add resources + Add your tried-and-true lessons and favorite assignments + Add content from other Trubooks, YouTube, etc. + Reorder/remove original textbook content segments + Add current event or local interest material anytime + all new content is automatically integrated with the LMS Easy prep and readiness for this semester and the next. + Improve, modify, add to your course as you go or over time + Easily manage large or multiple classes of students + Easy management of all your teaching resources New class, new semester + We clone your Trubook along with your customizations + You can relax Sharing the good stuff... + Make resources you create available for others to adopt! |
Life on this Rock: Biology was originally developed by Professor Thomas B. Shea to meet a specific need – to allow college students, regardless of their prior exposure to science, to gain a critical understanding of aspects of Biology that affect their lives now and will continue to do so in the future. Professor Shea recognizes that he may be the last scientist such students will ever hear from, and strives to leave them well-versed in the Scientific Method, in order to provide them with the ability to evaluate headlines and claims with a scientific approach, and to call for evidence.
His unique ability to present complex science in a manner accessible to students majoring in all fields resulted in a >4-fold increase in enrollment in Life Science classes at his University, and adoption of Life on this Rock by multiple other institutions. Remembering his High School years, when not all students were headed to college, and most of those that were uncertain of their college major, Shea considered the potential utility of Life on this Rock: Biology for High School students. To develop a High School version of his text, Professor Shea partnered with Kimberly A. Gonzalez, a certified high school science instructor with a Masters Degree in Education. Like Professor Shea, Ms. Gonzalez takes an active approach to learning, and recognized the appropriateness of the student-friendly language and accessibility of complex scientific processes provided by Life on this Rock. Ms. Gonzalez developed the modifications and supplements that align Life on this Rock with the Next Generation High School Life Science Standards. Modifications for the Special High School version of Life on this Rock include:
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Professor & Director
Laboratory for Neuroscience Department of Biological Sciences UMass Lowell |
Assistant Professor,
Middlesex Community College |
[email protected]
781-280-3815 |
Dr. Shea has published over 300 scientific articles, trained 16 doctoral students, 30 Master’s degree recipients, and supervised over 35 undergraduate research projects. While he’s enjoyed teaching at all levels for 20 years, he particularly likes teaching Life Science to students majoring in other fields, where he has “the opportunity to present important aspects of science to the voters of the future.”
Dr. Shea holds his Ph.D. degree in Biology from Northeastern University, and earned his M.S. and B.A. degrees in Biology at the University of Massachusetts. He has obtained over 5 million dollars in funding for his research, from sources including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Army Research Labs, the Alzheimer’s Association, the ALS Association, and the American Federation for Aging Research. Dr. Shea and his team have demonstrated that certain combinations of vitamins and nutritional supplements not only delay the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, but if started early enough, can actually improve memory and mood in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease as well at adults without dementia. He frequently presents a wide range of seminars and workshops on the benefit of nutrition for age-related loss of memory. When not at work, Dr. Shea studies karate, where he holds a 6th degree black belt, and tends to his Japanese Garden. |
Kimberly Gonzalez is currently an assistant professor at Middlesex Community College, where she teaches General Biology and Microbiology courses to life science and health science majors.
Prior to her community college appointment, Ms. Gonzalez taught high school biology, microbiology, and general biology, at various levels, for 12 years at Lowell High School. Before becoming a teacher, Ms. Gonzalez worked as a clinical microbiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, MA. She holds a B.S. in biology, and an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction, both from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She will complete an M.S. in biology from the University of Nebraska Kearney in the Spring of 2017. Her teaching passion centers around the area of microbiology and student-led inquiry explorations. At her previous school, Ms. Gonzalez mentored approximately 20 high school students in conducting microbiology experiments of their choosing; an endeavor she hopes to continue at Middlesex Community College. Her student's work has been published in the Journal of Emerging Investigators. Ms. Gonzalez developed the modifications and supplements that align Life on this Rock: AP Biology with the NGSS Life Science standards. |
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