By: Kendall Hunt RPD with contributions from the writing and review team of ByDesign Biology

Welcome back to our two-blog series featuring the thoughts of Brianna Johnson, one of the first educators across the country to implement our brand-new ByDesign Biology program!

In our last blog, we shared how Brianna appreciates the faith-based foundation of our high school biology program, along with the way in which the textbook balances both creationist and evolutionary theories. Today, we take a look at the nitty-gritty: the structure of ByDesign Biology and the many ways it’s helped Brianna’s students succeed!

Starting with the textbook itself, the ByDesign Biology textbook is more than 700 pages long and features 27 chapters of quality, research-backed scientific information written and developed by Kendall Hunt staff and contributing authors who are mostly PhDs in their fields. But our program goes beyond the textbook, including all the lab resources you need to complete the experiments and activities, plus a master materials list.

These labs and activities are some of Brianna’s favorite aspects of the curriculum. She said they help students to apply the content they learn.

“I really have to say that I like the labs a lot,” she said. “There’s great coherency in the labs between what they’re learning about in the class, what they’re being asked to make predictions about, and what they’re collecting data on.”

The way in which the labs and activities are integrated within the curriculum is also user-friendly, she added.

“I really have enjoyed the small ‘Try This’ activities that are embedded (in the textbook),” she said. “And I love that the labs aren’t in the textbooks; they’re ancillary items.”

Student and Teacher Lab Resources are available digitally, in detailed eBooks featuring more than 300 and 400 pages, respectively. Printed manuals are also available by request. These valuable resources provide educators with all the information necessary to implement labs with confidence!

The Teacher Lab Resources also contain additional instructions and answers to the questions that appear in the labs. The Teacher Edition, too, includes answers to questions posed in the Student Edition, something that Brianna loves.

“I think the lesson reviews are good. The level of questions they ask are good, [and] it really crystalizes for the student what they’re supposed to take away.”

She said she also enjoys the fact that there are some questions that the textbook doesn’t answer.

“This has a few good questions there at the end that make the students think and realize, ‘I can’t just copy the information out of the textbook.’ I really appreciate that,” she said.

While she acknowledged, with a chuckle, that the challenging questions may not be her students’ favorite feature of the curriculum, she added that the students have so far enjoyed their experience with ByDesign Biology.

“They like how readable it is,” she said. “They like the graphics—it’s got good illustrations.”

For teachers preparing to implement ByDesign Biology in their high school classroom, Brianna urges them to take their time perusing the curriculum and learning about all of its unique features.

“Spend some time looking at the resources in it,” she said. “There [are] so many great activities, and there’s so much good information that you’re not going to even be able to do everything that it gives you. I love that there’s a number of options.”

We thank Brianna for sharing her story with the Kendall Hunt Religious Publishing team, and we’re so glad to hear that she and her students have enjoyed our new high school biology curriculum!

For more information on bringing ByDesign Biology to your district, school, or classroom, contact Lynn Molony at lmolony@kendallhunt.com today!