Thursday, February 26, 2009

Reading the textbook

Many students have difficulty reading their A&P textbook.

Duh-uh. This isn't news to you, is it?

Right. My point exactly!

What can we as teachers do? I mean besides our typical strategy of lamenting about how both poor readers and good readers simply do not read their A&P books . . . at least not enough to satisfy us . . . and certainly not enough to get a lot out of their reading.

One option is to strongly encourage them to use specific strategies to make reading the textbook easier and more efficient. "More efficient" means "less time reading" so they should like this idea, eh?

I just posted an article at my blog for students The A&P Student that you can send your student to for some specific tips on reading their textbook:


Another option is to think about adopting an A&P textbook that is specifically designed for reading efficiency.

Our newly revised Anatomy & Physiology has been developed with this concern about reading in mind. Using the advice of learning specialists, reading teachers, study skills instructors, and ESL experts, we have have applied what is known about reading efficiency to the design of our book as well as to the style of writing.

It's not "dumbed down" but is written in uncommonly clear language that improves the flow of reading--and the ease of comprehension. We've also split several of the longer chapters found in most A&P textbooks into smaller chunks that are easier to "digest" because there are fewer new concepts per chapter. Within chapters, we've also made the individual sections smaller and therefore more comprehensible. An added benefit is that the additional section headings make it easier for the reader to put all the parts into an organized context as they read.

For more information about our new edition, contact your Elsevier representative or check out the brochure. Or chat with me! kevin@theAPprofessor.org

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