Anatomy and Physiology

Reviewed by Jennifer Mraz-Craig, Lecturer, Southern Utah University on 8/2/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5

I found the text to be comprehensive, covering the same topics of information as other Anatomy & Physiology textbooks I have seen, and in approximately the same order (smallest levels to larger levels of organization). There is not a section I feel is missing, and I am happy with the overall level of detail given in the text. The table of contents is clearly organized. However, I do think Chapter 16 is oddly inconsistent with the rest of the textbook. Why is there a chapter on neurological exams, but no other such chapters for other systems? Does it need to be its own chapter, or can it be incorporated into the nervous system chapters for consistency? As an instructor, you can of course just omit the chapter or cut/paste what you want of that chapter into other chapters. Also, many of the chapters end with a development section, except for urinary and digestive. Again from a consistency standpoint, I would have liked to see these included here. The Pedagogical Foundation and Features I think are a great addition to the content of this textbook, and will be beneficial to the students.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I have yet to find any inaccuracies in the content. There are some areas where I would have liked a little more detail (i.e., physiology of muscle contraction), but it would be easy to add in extra information. I have seen extra information that I do not currently teach in my classes (i.e., certain muscles), but I have not found a structure I would teach about to be missing or in the wrong place.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The basic content in the textbook will not change over time as science progresses, so I believe this textbook has longevity. However, the interactive links will have to be checked and potentially updated as time passes. For example, I wonder if links to YouTube videos will always be accurate, and what will happen if the video is removed from YouTube in the future. I imagine it would be too difficult to have an OpenStax Youtube channel with all the videos for each textbook, but that might help guarantee the videos stay accessible. Otherwise, the content would be easy to update or add to in the future to keep pace with scientific discovery.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written in as clear a way as a scientific textbook can be. There is a LOT of terminology that, for the most part, is explained adequately. It also helps that these terms are bolded to call attention to them, and that there are lists of key terms at the ends of chapters to give students an easy to access list along with definitions of terms they should know.

Consistency rating: 5

I found the textbook to be consistent throughout. Each section is really its own separate entity, so there is not a much overlap between chapters that would lend to inconsistency. The text from chapter to chapter is easy to read, so I do not detect any sort of inconsistency in voice or areas the students should struggle with more based on the sentence phrasing.

Modularity rating: 5

A PDF editor can easily be used to separate chapters/sections of this textbook. You can also easily edit the text and figure placement as well. The chapters/sections themselves are pretty self-contained, so you can also reorder them or leave things out completely that you do not teach.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The table of contents, as well as the chapters themselves, are clearly organized and formatted in an easy to read way. The links in the table of contents that will allow you to jump to the start of each chapter are good to have. Students would not struggle to find their way around this book. The chapters themselves are formatted well with headings and are easy to view. It is not difficult to find what you are looking for. There seems to be excessive white space when there are images too large for the current page where the text ends. I would have liked to see the elimination of this extra space. Students tend to stress when they see a book having such a large page number count, so getting rid of the white space would make it less intimidating. I love the tables throughout the textbook, as they summarize important information in a clear and concise way for the reader. The end of chapter resources are great for students to use for review, so I am happy to see those included. The index is extensive and also allows you to jump to the page(s) where the terms are located, which is a plus to using this textbook.

Interface rating: 5

Figures are extremely important to me when choosing a textbook. I am happy to see in this textbook that the figures are nice and clear when you zoom in on them. They are also of good quality and accuracy; I have not been wishing to have a different image that what is provided in the text. A lot of free content out there tends to have cartoon-like figures that are not entirely accurate, but the figures included in this textbook I am extremely happy with (i.e., the skeletal and muscular system figures). They are or are very near the same quality as what you would get in a textbook you would pay for. The links to animations and videos are also nice to have for students. When I clicked on the web URL to view the animation on metabolic processes (pdf p.25), it opened and played just fine (you will need Adobe Flash enabled). However, when I used my barcode scanner to scan the QR code, it did not open the animation on my phone (it looks like it is the wrong web address compared to the URL link listed). The next QR code and URL link on text p. 22 opened the YouTube video just fine on both computer and phone. The interactive micrographs are a definite plus to using this textbook, I think they are awesome. Students struggle so much when it comes to the tissues, so having more potential practice images that they can zoom in on to great detail will be really helpful.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I tried my best to find grammatical errors, but alas, I came across none!

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

From what I have seen, general Anatomy & Physiology textbooks do not include examples of differences in races/ethnicities, and this OpenStax textbook does not either. I think including this information (i.e. differences in hair, bone structure) would be a benefit, and make more students feel included. I found nothing within the textbook to be offensive or insensitive, though I would have thought the section on inheritance would have included information on how XX and XY are not the only aspects that genetically can make your sex be male or female.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this textbook. I found it to be very thorough and well organized. I look forward to adapting it to use in my courses!