Sylvia S. Mader has authored several nationally recognized biology texts published by McGraw Hill. Educated at Bryn Mawr College, Harvard University, Tufts University, and Nova Southeastern University, she holds degrees in both Biology and Education. Over the years she has taught at University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Massachusetts Bay Community College; Suffolk University; and Nathan Mayhew Seminars. Her ability to reach out to science-shy students led to the writing of her first text, Inquiry into Life, that is now in its thirteenth edition. Highly acclaimed for her crisp and entertaining writing style, her books have become models for others who write in the field of biology. Although her writing schedule is always quite demanding, Dr. Mader enjoys taking time to visit and explore the various ecosystems of the biosphere. Her several trips to the Florida Everglades and Caribbean coral reefs resulted in talks she has given to various groups around the country. She has visited the tundra in Alaska, the taiga in the Canadian Rockies, the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, and tropical rain forests in South America and Australia. A photo safari to the Serengeti in Kenya resulted in a number of photographs for her texts. She was thrilled to think of walking in Darwin's steps when she journeyed to the Galapagos Islands with a group of biology educators. Dr. Mader was also a member of a group of biology educators who traveled to China to meet with their Chinese counterparts and exchange ideas about the teaching of modern-day biology. As an educator, Dr. Michael Windelspecht has taught introductory biology, genetics, and human genetics in the online, traditional, and hybrid environments at community colleges, comprehensive universities, and military institutions. For over a decade he served as the Introductory Biology Coordinator at Appalachian State University where he directed a program that enrolled over 4,500 students annually. He currently serves as an adjunct professor of biology at ASU where he teaches nonmajors biology and human genetics in the online and hybrid formats. He was educated at Michigan State University and the University of South Florida. Dr. Windelspecht is also active in promoting the scientific literacy of secondary school educators. He has led multiple workshops on integrating water quality research into the science curriculum, and has spent several summers teaching Pakistani middle school teachers. As an author, Dr. Windelspecht has published five reference textbooks, and multiple print and online lab manuals. He served as the series editor for a ten-volume work on the human body. For years Dr. Windelspecht has been active in the development of multimedia resources for the online and hybrid science classrooms. Along with his wife, Sandra, he owns a multimedia production company, Ricochet Creative Productions, which actively develops and assesses new technologies for the science classroom.

New Features

• Tutorial Animations: This series of videos was developed and narrated by the author to help students visualize and understand difficult chapter concepts.

Key Features

• DIGITAL STORY:
  The authoring team recognizes that today¡¦s students are digital learners. Therefore, not only has the content been developed in tandem with the text, but the author team has been actively involved at all levels of digital content development.
• Media Integration and Media Study Tools: Multimedia, including MP3 files, animations and videos are integrated into every chapter. At the end of each chapter, a media table lists each of the media assets.
• LearnSmart—ü is the market leading adaptive study tool proven to strengthen memory recall, increase class retention, and boost grades. LearnSmart moves students beyond memorizing, allows instructors to align content with their goals, and allows instructors to spend more time teaching higher level concepts. SmartBook—ü is the first¡Xand only¡Xadaptive reading experience designed to transform the way students read.
  It engages students with a personalized reading experience and ensures students retain knowledge.
  • PEDOGOGICAL TOOLS:
    Learning Outcomes/Check Your Progress: The author has identified 3-4 Learning Outcomes for each heading. These have been constructed using Bloom's Taxonomy and will allow assessment of key concepts. At the end of each section there are questions to help students assess and apply their understanding of the material in that section.
  • Before You Begin: Allows the students to assess whether they have mastered prerequisite key concepts before proceeding further into the chapter material.
  • Media Integration: Today's students are primarily digital and visual-based learners. Vibrant media icons throughout the chapter indicate where relevant animations, video and MP3 files are available to students through Connect.
  • Following the Themes/Connecting the Concepts With the Themes: Each chapter begins with Following the Themes, which provides a brief summary of how the chapter content is linked to the book¡¦s three main themes. The chapter closes with Connecting the Concepts With the Themes, a more detailed synopsis of how each theme was integrated into the chapter. This helps the student to link related concepts more easily and illustrates the interconnectedness of the topics throughout the text.
  • Thematic Readings: These feature readings engage students in the three major themes of the textbook: evolution, nature of science, and biological systems. Each reading ends with ¡§Questions to Consider¡¨ that may be used to stimulate class discussion.
  • Hallmark Mader Art Program: The highly acclaimed artwork in Biology 12e is the hallmark of this flagship text. The creative paging process retains the functional page spreads but enhances the role of art and photos in creating the most effective and appealing pages possible