Body Physics: Motion to Metabolism

Reviewed by Nathan Tompkins, Assistant Professor, Wabash College on 3/7/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text contains most of the content needed for a one semester introductory course on mechanics with additional content on thermodynamics and heat transfer. If used as a standalone text the reading will be light on quantitative content which could be fine for a physics course for non-science majors. If paired with a supplemental text this book could serve as the primary reading for a physics course for life sciences majors especially pre-medical students.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content is accurate but the book contains numerous typos and missing images. Many of the typos are simply Greek characters not rendered as such which is a minor issue. The quantity of missing images is a larger problem but should be easy to correct in an updated version.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The book is written from the perspective of the human body in a way that is currently relevant and not likely to change in the near future.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is easy to read with all terms described in accessible language.

Consistency rating: 5

The writing, terminology, and format of the book is consistent throughout.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is extremely modular, almost to the point of being excessively so. The content is divided across over 100 chapters, many only a few pages long or fitting on a single computer screen.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization is clear, but for those with a traditional physics education highly unusual. This book is not structured from a historical perspective or a first principles perspective. Instead, the text starts by making simple measurements of the human body at rest and then dives deeper into both the accuracy of the measurements and the content of the body itself. The book starts with the scientific method and uncertainty and then moves into free body diagrams, springs, universal gravitation, and buoyancy. Topics such as kinematics aren't introduced until much later. This format takes getting used to but is likely more natural for students who are more accustomed to the human body than they are physical principles.

Interface rating: 5

The online interface is excellent with numerous interactive teaching aids embedded in the text. The pdf version is far inferior with many awkward page breaks and placeholders for content only available online.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text does not contain noticeable grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is not noticeably culturally insensitive or offensive. The writing makes efforts to be inclusive across gender, race, ethnicity, and background.

Comments

This book is likely to be a highly valuable text for a one semester physics for life sciences majors course, especially for pre-medical students. This text is quantitatively light but could serve as an inspiration for the overall structure of the course and as a first reading on many topics with a more traditional text serving as a supplement for additional quantitative rigor.

Reviewed by Sean Jones, Instructor, Lane Community College on 7/31/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This text seems to cover exactly what it advertises. It provides an adequate foundation in Physics, then translates those principles to movement and metabolism. This would be quite helpful for Kinesiology students, particularly those who wish to work in Physical/Occupational Therapy, Clinical or Sport research, or even medicine.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content seems to be accurate and free of academic bias. The same can be said about the additional materials that are linked to.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

To my knowledge, the principles and their application to the body are up to date. I do not foresee the information changing.

Clarity rating: 5

While there is obvious technical jargon, it is necessary given the subject, and the authors have done a good job keeping the text easy to understand. The “Everyday Examples” provide clarify to the sometimes-confusing concepts, then demonstrate their use. Furthermore, the “Reinforcement Exercises” provide an external link to online media resources (typically a word problem) which I think students will really appreciate. This feature also provides the opportunity for the Instructor to check for understanding and award points.

Consistency rating: 5

Each section seems be consistent in how they organize and present information. The terminology is also consistent, building on previously learned terms and concepts.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is divided into logical sub-sections, which include Physical principles (e.g. Temperature Units) and those principles applied to the body (e.g. Hypothermia), which are paired together in each main section. If necessary, later sections could be re-arranged as necessary, while still providing a logical structure by which to learn the overall subject matter.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization and flow of the content is overall very good and easy to follow.

Interface rating: 5

I really enjoy how easy this resource is to use. Rather than the traditional textbook reading followed by lab, I think that students will really enjoy this format of reading, practical examples, checking for understanding, and interactive media. I think this course would work especially well for online or hybrid courses.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No obvious grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not find the material to be in any way insensitive or offensive. The included pictures and external links (YouTube, etc.) provide multicultural examples.

Reviewed by James Rittenbach, Science Instructor (mostly physics), Rogue Community College on 7/16/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Electricity as a specific topic is treated only in the context of electrical conduction and its relation to the same atomic properties of thermal conduction. That is, things that are good electrical conductors tend to also be good thermal conductors. Magnetism isn’t treated specifically at all. (Using the search feature in a PDF is handy for checking this sort of thing.) However, electromagnetism (e.g., sunlight) and electromagnetic waves are treated. An introductory physics course in 11 weeks necessarily covers fewer topics than a general physics sequence of 33 weeks and something has to be cut. In my OER introductory text (https://legacy.cnx.org/content/search?words=Rittenbach&allterms=weakAND&search=Search&weights.author%3Aint%3Arecord=50&subject= ), I cut a lot of the fluid stuff and have electrical circuits and the creation of magnetic fields due to any moving charge. So I would say this text is as comprehensive as mine with some difference choices in what content was cut.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Not only is the material accurate as to what is known now, the nature of the electronic version is such that it is easily updated and will easily allow student interactive testing on the updates via the H5P.org content. Examples can, of course, be seen in the text but are also highlighted on the OpenOregon site: https://openoregon.org/body-physics-h5p/

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Some aspects of this is addressed in the Accuracy section but the relevance aspect is particularly well done in this text. Every student has a human body so having this system as an overlying theme for an introductory physics text necessarily makes it relevant to the student.

Clarity rating: 5

Not only are terms introduced well but the key terms are hyperlinked. After the jargon is introduced, students are given a short interactive H5P quiz on it for immediate feedback.

Consistency rating: 5

The material is consistent not only in terminology but also the use of additional materials such as YouTube videos and H5P quizzes.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is broken into small sections. This is true not only of the written text but also the multimedia aspects incorporated into it.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

It is very much presented in a logical and clear fashion. That’s hard to mess up in a physics text, though. You pretty much have to talk about speed before you talk about kinetic energy (the energy an object has due to its speed).

Interface rating: 5

This text has a wonderful interface of seamless text, multimedia and interactive quizzes that all look great. I’m inspired to improve my OER physics text in a similar way.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Use of multicultural descriptions/uses of/etc. of physics is well done, especially in the YouTube linked content.

Comments

This is so very well done. I'm going to be using this layout in my next major edit of my OER physics text.