Introducing the life sciences
Scott Freeman (University of Washington) and colleagues
Designed for majors, Introducing the Life Sciences provides a highly-structured framework in which students develop stronger study habits and metacognitive skills while meeting key learning objectives for content knowledge and skills development.
Introducing the Life Sciences replaces expensive textbooks and online homework systems. Its main goals are to help students learn how to study, learn to think like a scientist, and prepare themselves for upper-division courses and careers in the life sciences.
978-1-964854-00-7, $48 per semester
978-1-964854-01-4, $40 per quarter
4-year access
See pricing policies
““Before Codon, no one had ever designed a teaching and learning platform that implemented backward design and high-structure course design, much less insights from the cognitive science literature on metacognition and self-regulated learning.” ”
Themes and features
Students receive the foundation of knowledge and skills they need to succeed in upper-division courses.
Every element of the Codon Learning curriculum aligns with measurable learning objectives that were evaluated by over 800 instructors in the National Science Foundation sponsored project: Nationally endorsed learning objectives to improve course design in introductory biology recently published in PLOS ONE.
Students develop more effective study habits and metacognitive skills by engaging in rounds of self-testing in a personalized Study Path.
Students learn from streamlined and active Readiness Readings to effectively engage in class. Readiness Readings eliminate the need for overpriced textbooks.
Instructors rely on course design frameworks to create high-structure courses that match their teaching style and approach.
Instructors can customize every element of the learning platform, including learning objectives, assessment questions, Readiness Readings, and in-class activities.
Instructors can gauge students’ progress in our analytics dashboards to intervene with individual students or the class as a whole.
meet The Course director
Scott Freeman is Lecturer Emeritus at the University of Washington. The recipient of a UW Distinguished Teaching Award, he has published research on how innovative approaches to teaching science benefit all students, but particularly students from disadvantaged backgrounds. He is the author of the textbooks Biological Science and Evolutionary Analysis, which have sold over 500,000 copies and been translated into multiple languages, and the popular book Saving Tarboo Creek, which is for general audiences.