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My Textbook Challenge

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Gene2memE

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AV1611VET said:
And if I deviate in my assignments, examinations, labs/practicals, tutorials, course work and other assignments, I'll be judged accordingly.

Is this correct?
Click to expand...

Can you define "deviate" in this regard?

In my experience - admittedly limited to economics and history degrees - no university level course requires rote answers from any particular textbook. Profs/lecturers want you to understand the fundamentals and then apply that understanding in response to novel questions.

It's immaterial what source a student draws on for their understanding of the fundamentals of molecular biology or cell biology. They could channel learning straight from the ghosts of Crick and Watson. What matters is that the understanding is there and can be demonstrated and applied.
 
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jacks

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Gene2memE said:
Can you define "deviate" in this regard?
Click to expand...
I know you're not asking me, but this is what he may mean.

Let's say the textbook has the following passage:
Biologists study the living world by posing questions about it and seeking science-based responses. Known as scientific method, this approach is common to other sciences as well. The scientific method was used even in ancient times, but England’s Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626) first documented it. He set up inductive methods for scientific inquiry. The scientific method is not used only by biologists; researchers from almost all fields of study can apply it as a logical, rational problem-solving method.

The student then gets a multiple choice question (Yes, they still used at times in college, they are easiest to grade and they are conveniently provided by the text book publisher...) That asks:
Who is accredited with setting up inductive methods of scientific inquiry? Sir Francis Bacon is one of the choices, but you select "None of the above" because you think it is Ibn al-Haytham. Now if you have a very open minded and lenient instructor (which is rare.) you may be able to make the case, however initially since you deviated from the text you will be marked wrong.

I believe that is what he means. He will correct me if I'm wrong, because one thing AV is not, is timid.
 
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AV1611VET

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jacks said:
I believe that is what he means. He will correct me if I'm wrong, because one thing AV is not, is timid.
Click to expand...

Thank you, jacks!

Correct you are!

You are a gentleman and a scholar!

(And I mean that in the good sense too! )
 
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DamianWarS

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Presumably the course, including examination, is designed around the content of the textbook so in that sense its a type of vacuum. If you went to a different school they may use a different book with contradictory information but have similar vacuum conditions.

but this is just how testing works. If a 3yr old sings me a song and then I'm asked to sing it back then to determine how accurate I was some sort of record of the song would serve as a base source for evaluation. If there was a disagreement the 3yr old in question could settle the dispute or a third party that witnessed the event. But none of this assigns value to the results of the evaluation, myself, the source content or the 3yr old.
 
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essentialsaltes

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The professor creates and grades the assessments.
Presumably she chose a text she likes, but she is in charge of the curriculum.
Presumably the text isn't completely irrelevant, so students are responsible for material in it.
 
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Tuur

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AV1611VET said:
If you take a molecular biology course that uses this textbook, will you be judged by what is written therein?
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I don't get your question. First, who will be doing the judging? The instructor or God? Second, if the One doing the judging is God, is it your contention that molecular biology teaches information contrary to the word of God?

Given that molecular biology is how cells and viruses work on a chemical level, I don't see what in it would be contrary to the word of God. Someone could likely be judged for misusing that information contrary to the word of God, but the information itself is neutral

A competent instructor would most certainly judge a student by how well they grasp the information contained in the book.
 
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AV1611VET

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Your last sentence answered your first question.
 
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Gene2memE

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Questions:

Suppose the Harvard molecular biology text was changed out for a different molecular biology text (say from another US university).

Do you think the content taught in the Harvard course would be substantially different?
Do you think the questions used to evaluate students knowledge would change substantially?
Do you think the learning outcomes of students would be substantially different?

I'm not a molecular biologist, but I would expect that text books - particularly introductory/undergraduate level - are going to line up in the broad brush strokes and really only differ in detail, emphasis and formatting/structure. Certainly that was the case with my economics texts and also with the anatomy texts of my wife.
 
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Tuur

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Chemistry books published in the same year will have the same information. Ditto physics. What will be different is the approach.
 
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