Insights in Biology: An Introductory High School Biology Curriculum (2nd edition)

Insights in Biology coverInsights in Biology is a comprehensive first-year high school biology curriculum that emphasizes cellular and molecular biology as well as genetics, ecology and evolution.

Insights in Biology represents an innovative approach to teaching and learning introductory biology. This new approach incorporates the traditional discipline-specific concepts with an emphasis on presenting concepts in depth and in context.

This program not only develops conceptual connections through a storyline that is relevant to students' lives, but also uses inquiry-based activities that focus on process-thinking skills students will use for a lifetime.

What's New in the 2nd Edition?

Insights in Biology is organized into four units:

  1. Cell Biology
  2. Genetics
  3. Molecular Biology
  4. Ecology

Unit 1: The Matter of Life (Cell Biology)

What are the characteristics that define life? This unit explores the universal characteristics and processes that all living things share. Students observe organisms and identify the characteristics of living things. They investigate and identify the resources required by organisms and determine how these resources are used to sustain life and how living organisms affect their environment. Students relate scientific explanations of the origins of life to their understandings of the universal nature of the biomolecules and the metabolic processes found in all organisms. They model cell structures and determine how these structures enable the life processes to occur. Finally, students evaluate their own understandings of life and explore the biological, social, legal and economic definitions of death.

Unit 2: Traits and Fates (Genetics)

Who am I? How have I become me? What about me might change in the future? This unit explores traits, the mechanisms by which they are expressed, how they vary, and how they are inherited. Students examine DNA as the genetic legacy and determine that the segments of DNA (genes) code for proteins, which result in traits. This unit challenges students to apply their understanding of genetic principles to assess the impact and the value of new genetic research and technologies on their lives.

Unit 3: The Blueprints of Infection (Molecular Biology)

This unit uses the topic of infectious diseases as a vehicle for students to explore the cellular processes of information transfer, to investigate how disruption of basic cellular processes can manifest itself as a disease, to investigate the immune system response to infection, and to examine the personal and social ramifications of infectious disease.

Unit 4: What on Earth (Ecology)

How are organisms interrelated with one another and with the environment? How did such complex ecosystems and the diverse organisms in them come to be? What is the future of life on Earth? What on Earth examines the basic concepts that underlie the interactions of organisms, including humans, with the resources in the environment. It introduces the following concepts: the components of ecosystems, how nutrients and energy move through ecosystems, the factors that influence population growth, and how evolutionary forces have caused the diversity of ecosystems and of the species within them.

Different Stages Through the Ages coverAvailable Separately:

Different Stages Through the Ages (Developmental Biology)

This separate module follows one of biology's greatest mysteries, the growth and development of a single, undifferentiated cell into a complex, functioning organism. Students explore the universal principles of growth and development and investigate external factors which may alter the course of this process.

Ordering and Additional Information

For ordering information and order placement, please access the Kendall/Hunt website at http://www.kendallhunt.com, or call 800-KH-BOOKS.For additional information about the Insights in Biology curriculum, please direct your inquiries to Jacqueline S. Miller at jsmiller@edc.org