Poster: Education

Abs # 31: Textbook reviewing as an educational experience and teaching tool

Presenter:	Shinkle, James , jshinkle@trinity.edu
Authors	Shinkle, James  (A)   Browder, Erin  J. (A)   Coster, Stephanie  (A)   Errera, Reagan  (A)   Kuhne, Kurt  (A)   Marshall, Mindy  (A)   McLaughlin, Richard  (A)
Affiliations:	(A): Trinity University

The above Plant Physiology class members had unusual assignments related to 3 chapters of Taiz & Zeiger’s Plant Physiology 2nd edition (Sinauer): How can these chapters be improved in accuracy, readability and art work? Class meetings were restructured to generate a collaborative review for the 3rd edition. The instructor gave a brief lecture on essential concepts that should be made clear by the chapter (but did not attempt to clarify them at this stage). Each student was assigned an alternate text covering the same material for comparison. At the following class meeting each student was asked to present one aspect of the alternate text they were assigned that was an improvement. Students also described passages of the text that were difficult to understand. The instructor provided an explanation and asked for comments on how the passage could be improved to make the point(s) clearly. The relationship between each experiment presented and the broader themes of the chapter was assessed, and recommendations made to retain, clarify or omit each experiment. Artwork was evaluated and compared for utility and aesthetics. For each chapter, a student rapporteur was elected to compile the comments and references to written materials and illustrations from alternate texts. The summary was distributed and revised at the following class session. The instructor then wrote a cover letter that was read and approved by the students and the review was submitted. The presentation will include sample reviews and observations by the participating students on the values and difficulties of this learning process. A representative of Sinauer Associates and possibly the text authors will be available to discuss opportunities for future applications of textbook reviewing as a teaching tool.