Textbook Toss

I teach two introductory non-major courses: Bio 101 and PHS 111. The physical science course covers astronomy, geology, and weather. I have never been pleased with the textbooks for either course. They are well-written and all but my students rarely read them. Plus they are getting pricier every year. A few months ago I had the idea of modeling my class like a literature course and use popular science books as the required texts. There are some excellent books out there that are engaging, informative and cheaper than a traditional textbook. In treating each course like a lit class, I envisioned the following: class discussion rather than lecture, small group work, and problem-based team learning.

Just to see how a literature class is taught, I asked a colleague of mine to let me sit in on his two lit classes he is teaching this summer. I was a little disappointed that it turned out more like a lecture than a discussion. We had a frank talk afterwards and tomorrow I am returning to observe his class again. He said he was going to try again.

So far I have chosen two books for my BIO 101 course: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson and The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins. Although Bryson's book covers all the sciences, the last 200 pages are devoted to biology. Published in 2003, some of the information is out of date but that makes a perfect entry into a problem-based learning opportunity. Of course, it is hard to do better than Dawkins in explaining evolution so picking his latest book was easy. I am looking for two more to round out the semester. There are some very good candidates. When starting my search I began by perusing the Listmania lists on Amazon but came up with any that were helpful. I then found that the Royal Society, since 2000, has been awarding a best popular science book prize each year. Jackpot! In my next post I will reveal my candidates.