This book is an adaptation of the CK-12 Foundation textbook “College Human Biology” (which can be found at https://www.ck12.org/book/ck-12-human-biology/) and was authored by Jean Brainard, Ph.D., Rachel Henderson, Ph.D in 2016. College Human Biology by CK-12 Foundation is licensed as CC BY NC. I would like to wholeheartedly thank Dr. Brainard and Dr. Henderson as well as the CK-12 Foundation for their tremendous work in this area of open educational resources.
The following changes were made to this book as a whole:
- Canadian spellings were used.
- Imperial measurements were changed to metric.
- American statistics and examples were replaced with Canadian statistics and examples.
- References to American governmental organizations were removed and replaced with Canadian organizations when appropriate.
- Eurocentric/colonial images were replaced with images more representative of the diversity in student population.
- Names in case studies were replaced to better represent the diversity in student population.
- Images and diagrams were replaced with more appealing or higher quality graphics where applicable.
- The supplementary videos at the end of each section were updated and expanded.
- A selection of existing review questions were converted to self-marking H5P activities.
- H5P activities/multimedia were inserted into sections to reinforce concepts.
- Chapters that did not align with the British Columbia ABE Provincial Level Biology Curriculum were removed.
- A glossary function was added, which shows definitions when students hover their mouse over a term.
- The glossary section was expanded to include more vocabulary.
- Learning objectives, review questions and summaries were colour-coded.
- The following hyperlinks were created in the text:
- People of note were linked to their page on Wikipedia.
- Diseases and disorders were linked to a reliable information page (Mayo Clinic, CDC, etc.).
The following chapter sections were created or substantially expanded:
- 1.6 Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
- 5.4 DNA Replication.
- 7.4 Tissues.
The following additions have been made to these chapters:
Chapter 3
Section 3.5: Addition of Cultural Connection: Fats in Tanning
Chapter 4
Section 4.4: Inclusion of vaping in the Feature: My Human Body about smoking
Section 4.10 Addition of transition reaction as an intermediate step in aerobic cellular respiration
Section 4.11 Addition of paragraph about fermentation in food production
Section 4.11 Addition of Cultural Connection: Fermentation of Oolichan (candle fish) by Indigenous people in British Columbia
Chapter 5
Section 5.3 Addition of Interactive Timeline of Pivotal Events in DNA Research
Section 5.7 Addition of the paragraph Processing RNA
Section 5.10 Addition of Cultural Connection: Agricultural Management of Corn by Indigenous People
Chapter 8
Section 8.5 Organization of the structures of the brain into the regions of the hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain.
Section 8.5 Addition of sections on the pons, medulla oblongata, reticular activating system, limbic system, hippocampus, and amygdala.
Chapter 9
Section 9.2 Changed introductory paragraph to “Your Body the Chemist”
Chapter 16
Section 16.3 Changed introductory paragraph to “Surprising Uses of Pee”
Chapter 18
Section 18.8 Addition of paragraph “Bringing It All Together”
