OPENING STORY
Chapters capture student attention from the outset with a story that sets up an interesting question in a recognizable real-world context (How does caffeine work at the cell membrane?) Students revisit this question and its answer at the end of the chapter, having learned the necessary information to comprehend it.
KEY CONCEPTS
Each chapter is organized into sections, each of which explores a single essential concept in light of established facts and relevant experimental evidence. The following features support this conceptual approach:
• A Key Concepts list begins each chapter.
• Do You Understand the Concept? questions conclude each section, progressing from simple recall questions to questions that require critical thinking at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
• Apply the Concept critical thinking exercises, embedded in the chapter, ask students to interpret data and draw conclusions. These exercises can be used in-class (e.g., with "clickers" or to stimulate class discussion) or assigned as homework.
• A Summary provides a thorough review of chapter content, including key figures, and directs students to relevant resources online.
RESEARCH TOOLS
Throughout Principles of Life, this feature focuses on techniques and quantitative methods scientists use to investigate biological systems.
INVESTIGATION
Investigation figures describe a key experiment’s hypothesis, methods, results, and conclusion.
• Analyze the Data are additional sections where students analyze real data from the experiments.
• Working with Data exercises turn these figures into in-class inquiry problems, discussions, or homework assignments. They contain associated questions and expanded materials that are available online.
LINKS
These cross-references show students the integrative nature of biology by referring them to a more thorough discussion of a key term elsewhere in the book.
TEACHABLE ART
Investigation figures describe a key experiment’s hypothesis, methods, results, and conclusion.
• Balloon Captions in the figures help students understand the story at a glance, without necessarily relying on the associated text.
FRONTIERS
In each chapter, these real-world applications of important concepts introduce students to fascinating ongoing avenues of research.