Dr. Michael Johnson publishes updated edition of biology textbook

February 2009

Michael Johnson, PhD has crafted a textbook that
conveys the essential concepts of biology in terms to
which non-majors can relate.

The fifth edition of Dr. Michael Johnson’s popular textbook Human Biology: Concepts and Current Issues was released in bookstores and web retailers in January 2009. This is the first edition of Human Biology to be released since Dr. Johnson joined WCMC-Q as Associate Dean for Pre-Medical Education in the spring of 2008.

Like many biology professors, Dr. Johnson struggled for years with how to convey the basic concepts of the science using textbooks written from the viewpoint of trained biologists or even of educators outside the field. Viewpoints to which students often struggled to relate.

The need for change was driven home while Dr. Johnson served on a biology department scholarship committee some years back. When asked what biology course she would recommend for a non-major, one applicant replied, "I wouldn’t. It’s too hard. You have to take all the difficult courses before you get to anything interesting."

That truth jarred against Dr. Johnson’s own experience. "To me, biology has been interesting since I was young and spent time sitting outside observing nature," he said. He took this as a challenge:

The 5th edition of Human Biology features innovative new teaching
tools and updated content.

"I thought there must be a way to express what students should know that is both and honest and accurate, and yet not confounded by the jargon so often found in textbooks."

The result is a book that not only teaches the necessary terms and concepts, but also explains them through analogy and practical applications recognizable to students.

Previous versions of the book have been positively reviewed for its accessibility and for engaging students with a narrative style, interactive format, and tie-ins to current topics in medicine and public heath. This latest edition features updated content and an expanded selection of teaching tools.

Among those is a new web blog that highlights recent items in the news or medical journals that teachers can use for classroom discussions or springboards for student projects. The blog is updated frequently, and past entries are categorized for quick searches on specific topics.

The book design has also been enhanced to include a sleeker layout, attention-grabbing headline fonts, and rich graphics layered to add depth to the pages.

Know your endoplasmic reticulum: updates to the graphics
show how rich color and increased detail add visual interest to
the 5th edition(top).

In the competitive field of student textbooks, Human Biology has consistently been among the best selling on the topic of biology, and is widely used in classrooms. It is just one example of the broad range of research and scholarship conducted by WCMC-Q faculty who, in the last year, collectively published nearly 100 articles and book chapters. A comprehensive list of faculty publications is currently being compiled for posting on the WCMC-Q website in the very near future.

Report by Chris Gibbons