High School Biology Textbook

As a follow-up to the fun and learning Kendall Hunt Publishing employees were a part of on the inaugural National Lab Day, there’s something I really want to get off my chest. Yes, Kendall Hunt is an educational publishing company, we sell educational materials and solutions. Books for gifted students, high school chemistry textbooks, teacher edition textbooks, online learning solutions, and more…we make it, and yep, we want to sell it.

But as I saw my fellow employees participate in and react to their National Lab Day experiences, it made me feel really good. Because for us, it really is about the kids. It’s about them learning, and growing, and, eventually, making the world a better place. And we know we can influence that, we can help them along the way, we can make a difference for them. We’ll never be a giant monolithic publisher who sells more high school biology books that everyone else combined. But we don’t want to be that. We want to help teachers, real classroom teachers, from kindergarten through college, find the best solution for their students.

I think it’s just that we care about the kids, we believe in what we do, and we hope to make a difference. It’s what keeps each of us going every day. As loyal readers, I just thought you might like to know what drives us.

What did you do for National Lab Day? As Charley pointed out in his stint as guest blogger here the other day, Kendall Hunt Publishing took a leading role in supporting National Lab Day by volunteering in local classrooms. By all accounts, it was a big success. But we want it to be a bigger success next year.

Sure, there is some method to our madness, we have a whole bunch of inquiry based science products, from elementary school science textbooks to high school biology textbooks and everything in between, but beyond that, we really believe in the value and importance of inquiry based science. There’s nothing like getting kids “doing” science to help them learn. This is what’s behind our strong support of National Lab Day.

So start planning right now for next year. Here are some places you can find more information and plenty of ideas of how to get your students doing science:

• National Lab Day website www.nationallabday.org (Read the success stories and follow NLD on Twitter)
• Read the White House press release on NLD
• Read the Dept. of Education press advisory on NLD
• Read the Scientific American article on NLD
• National Science Foundation launches website in support of NLD

And watch for a story about Kendall Hunt Publishing’s participation in National Lab Day on the NLD website…we submitted our NLD “success story” to them, so hopefully they’ll feature us soon!

I don’t travel much for work, and I’m okay with that at this point in my life, but I live vicariously through those who do travel far and wide for Kendall Hunt Publishing. Most recently, last week, in fact, we had a pack of KH staffers in the City of Brotherly Love for the NSTA National Convention. I understand our booth had tons of traffic and our inquiry based science workshops were quite popular.

The people staffing our booth said the interest in inquiry based science products, not just high school physics textbooks or high school biology textbooks, but in engaging, hands-on programs was really high and they were quite excited about it. Did you go? Did you stop to see my road-tripping colleagues? Tell me about it!

Kendall Hunt has some really good workshops coming up at NSTA National Convention at Philadelphia in March.  If you are headed there, make sure to check these out:

I guess it’s not THAT big a sale, but we do have some special pricing on classroom combo packs for our BSCS Science Track and Insights, our elementary school science textbooks and programs. Most classroom packs include a teacher’s guide, some student books, sometimes a lab kit; it varies by program and module. You can find them here: http://www.kendallhunt.com/insights and here: http://www.kendallhunt.com/tracks. Check them out and save some money!

NSTA’s NCSE (National Science Teachers Association’s National Conference on Science Education is getting closer! NSTA events always offer great opportunities for those of us in science text book publishing to share our outstanding inquiry based science programs. The NCSE is no exception. Whether it’s a high school biology textbook, a high school physics textbook, teacher edition textbooks, or any other science resource, we’ll be there ready to share our best work. See you there!
 

If you have begun looking at elementary school science textbooks, many publishers create programs which have the illusion of inquiry in an effort to meet NSES. Few truly understand that inquiry is more than providing a hands-on activity. Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS) developed the 5e learning cycle, found in most of its Prek-12 curriculum, in an effort to prove student the opportunity to learn science through true inquiry.  

The 5e learning cycle is an instructional design model that defines a learning sequence based on the on the experiential learning philosophy of John Dewey and the  experiential learning cycle proposed by David Kolb. Attributed to Roger Bybee of BSCS , the model presents a framework for constructivist learning theories and can be effectively used in teaching science.

The model

Engage

Here the task is introduced. Connections to past learning and experience can be invoked. A demonstration of an event, the presentation of a phenomenon or problem or asking pointed questions can be used to focus the learners' attention on the tasks that will follow. The goal is to spark their interest and involvement.

Explore

Learners should take part in activities that allow them to work with materials that give them a 'hands on' experience of the phenomena being observed. Simulations or models whose parameter can be manipulated by learners, so that they can build relevant experiences of the phenomena, can be provided. Questioning, sharing and communication with other learners should be encouraged during this stage. The teacher facilitates the process.

Explain

The focus at this stage is on analysis. The learner is encouraged to put observations, questions, hypotheses and experiences from the previous stages into language. Communication between learners and learner groups can spur the process. The instructor may choose to introduce explanations, definitions, mediate discussions or simply facilitate by helping learners find the words needed.

Elaborate/Extend

Using the understanding gained in the previous stages, now learners should be encouraged build and expand upon it. Inferences, deductions, and hypotheses can be applied to similar or real-world situations. Varied examples and applications of concepts learned strengthen mental models and provide further insight and understanding.

Evaluate

Evaluation should be ongoing and should occur at all stages, in order to determine that learning objectives have been met and misconceptions avoided. Any number of rubrics, checklists, interviews, observation or other evaluation tools can be used. If interest in a particular aspect or concept is shown, further inquiry should be encouraged and a new cycle can begin that builds upon the previous one. Inquiries may branch off and inspire new cycles, repeating the process in a spiraling fractal of interrelated concepts, where instruction is both structured and yet open to investigation.

What does inquiry science mean to you and your students? How does it differ from, say elementary school science textbooks to high school science textbooks? Obviously the levels, intensity, etc. are vastly different. But do you do inquiry based science differently in third grade than tenth? These are some questions I’d love to hear from teachers about.

I was looking at A Human Approach, one of our high school biology textbooks the other day and thinking about my high school biology textbook, which I happen to remember because I LOVED biology, and wondering how much textbooks had changed over the years. It seems like today’s high school science textbooks, and I guess, textbooks in general, have much more visual organization and interest, for one thing. And it’s obvious that the activities and the pedagogy are so much more engaging to students. I found myself being drawn in pretty quickly. Offhand, I would think that’s all good, right?

Have you ever reviewed a high school biology textbook and liked what you examined but wished a few things with the layout could be changed? Whether it's a high school physics textbook, a primary textbook, or anything in between, talk to your sales rep about a custom textbook. Kendall Hunt is willing and able to do custom publishing for schools or districts.

Why not adopt a high school science textbook that you're comfortable using and is published the way you want it to be? Talk to us and we'll develop solutions to your school's textbook needs.
 

In my last post, I talked about the cover design process that school textbook publishers, like Kendall Hunt Publishing, use on products. Additionally, whether it is books for gifted students, high school science textbooks, or textbooks for elementary school, the interior of the book must be designed. We submit to a designer a portion of the manuscript that contains the majority of the elements we want to incorporate: unit/chapter opener, different levels of headings, art/photos, tables, listings, and so on. We give the designer some instruction on the grade level and type of theme we want to achieve. The or subject is important as the cover of a high school physics textbook would obviously differ in many ways from a high school biology textbook. If the cover is in advanced stages, we may also submit that as a reference. Again, we begin with a few different choices and narrow it down. It's important to create a design that enhances the pedagogy and readability. Additionally, in the case of, high school science textbooks, we want to draw the student in, but don't want to overwhelm or confuse them. The designer usually submits about eight two-page spreads. In addition, they submit a general color palette for the project. We sometimes go through several proofs, making additional suggestions to get to the point that we are satisfied with the design.

Again, the design phase happens at the same time as the copy-editing and art package preparation phases. Hopefully, they all come together around the same time so that we can proceed with composition, which I write about the next time...

It’s almost that time of year, the time we all look longingly forward to in the summer.  No, not Christmas, the start of school!  Kids back on a schedule and in a routine, that’s always a good thing, right?  My son seems ready for fourth grade.  Yesterday I came home to find a note on my desk, it said, “Mom, can you please get me a high school biology textbook, a high school chemistry textbook, and any other high school science textbooks you have at your company?  Thank you.” 

When he came in from outside I asked him why he needed them.  “Well,” he said, “at football camp this week they told us about one of the seniors from last year who made the Academic All American team.  They said he’s really good in science so I thought if I got ahead in science then I’ll be able to make the Academic All American team too.”  You have to love the innocence of kids, it never occurred to him that he will have to make the football team first.  And who am I to discourage?  I love that he wants high school science textbooks in fourth grade.  But I think we’ll just go to the bookstore this weekend and find something closer to the level of elementary school science textbooks.  It’s a start!

You can preview most of our K12 textbooks at Kendall Hunt Publishing Company's website.

In the previous article, I spoke about the beginning stages of creating a high school science textbook: acquisition and planning, as well as the development of the manuscript and art package. In this article, I'll introduce the design process that we, as an educational publishing company, use.

Around the same time that the copy-editing is being done, we coordinate with a designer to develop the cover image/design. When selecting a cover image for a high school biology textbook, high school chemistry textbook, or any of our textbooks, we look for a good balance of gender and ethnicity in an photos of people that we use. We also consider age-appropriateness for grade-level, whether it’s a primary school textbook vs. secondary school textbooks and whether it’s a product targeted to a specific ability, such as a curriculum for high ability learners.

The cover image needs to be strong and eye-catching and express the concept that we are trying to project for our target market. We want to draw the student into the content. The text/logo-type needs to be nicely balanced and eye-catching as well. We usually request 3-4 choices and may go through several "proofs" to complete the front/spine/back panels of the cover. The text on the back cover is another tool used to interest and draw students into the content. The saying, "you can't judge a book by its cover" is certainly true, however, we need to show something dynamic in order to have potential customers review our products in the first place!

This weekend I was speaking with a friend of mine who is a high school science teacher and we were talking about high school science textbooks. She was bemoaning the lack of teacher resources in the high school biology textbook her school uses. Sure, she has the teacher edition textbooks that go with the program, but she’s looking for something more. At the private school where she teaches, they’ve been using the program for a number of years and are hoping to change soon. 

She had no idea the inquiry based science resources that are available online now. When I told her about the virtual autopsies that are available with our Forensic Science for High School program, she was so excited. That got me thinking, are you happy with the resources that school textbook publishers are providing for you as teachers? Does your high school physics textbook give you online resources for experiments & interactive learning exercises? Is your high school chemistry textbook robust enough to keep your students engaged? I’d love to have a conversation about this!