As shown in Figure 3, the ICB students performed better on these content knowledge questions than the students using a traditional textbook (68.8% vs. 55.8% correct).
Students using a traditional textbook did not show significant improvement over the course of the semester, with the regression line being indistinguishable from a horizontal line.
Students using ICB disagreed with this statement significantly more at the end of the Fall semester (change of −1.08) than students using a traditional textbook (change of −0.06, t = 3.46, df = 58, p < 0.001; Table 2).
We administered four sequential rounds of interpretation skills assessment over the course of the semester, denoted as quizzes 1 through 4. Students using ICB averaged 62.9%, 55.5%, 74.0%, and 68.1% on these quizzes, while those using a traditional textbook averaged 63.1%, 56.4%, 65.5%, and 63.8%, respectively.
After letting one full semester pass, during which most of our students took their second semester of introductory biology (Biology 112) using a traditional textbook, we assessed the students again, using modified versions of all three of the assessment components described above.
To address the concern that ICB's emphasis on interpreting original biological data to develop conceptual understanding (i.e., the scientific process) resulted in students learning less factual content compared with their peers using a traditional textbook, we asked both student populations a series of multiple-choice questions characteristic of a traditional introductory biology exam.
had used a traditional textbook and the study guide for the previous 16 years.
We compared our course outcomes with two sections that used a traditional textbook and were taught by different instructors.
The intervention used in this study was the ICB textbook, which students in the experimental section read, while students in the two comparison sections used a traditional textbook.
The data indicate that students do not develop analytical skills when they use a traditional textbook in which most ideas are delivered as "handed-down" knowledge.
For example, students using ICB self-assessed their ability to "understand the most central concepts of biology" with a significantly smaller increase over the semester (+0.12) than students who used a traditional textbook (+0.53, t = 1.71, df = 59, p < 0.05).
