The second in a two-course sequence, this gateway biology course provides a strong foundation in principles of biology for students majoring in life science, medical, and healthcare fields. Primary topics include the history of life; viruses, prokaryotes, protists, and fungi; plant diversity, structure and functions; animal diversity and body systems (nervous, endocrine, reproductive, sensory, circulatory, respiratory, immune, digestive, excretory, musculoskeletal, and integumentary), and the ecology of life. The course incorporates Cerego practice sets to aid students as they learn relevant vocabulary.

This course was developed by Lumen Learning, with contributing work from Shelli Carter and Monisha Scott. The course is based on the first edition of the OpenStax textbook Biology, supplemented with relevant materials from Khan Academy and videos from multiple sources. Original practice activities were authored by Shelli Carter and Lumen Learning in the development of this course.

This course is available at no cost to SUNY students.

Lumen OER courses apply learning science to engage students and better support the learning process. Lumen materials aim to deliver an active learning experience. They include text, images, videos, assessments, directed feedback, practice questions, simulations, and other interactives that invite students to apply their knowledge, improve their understanding, and perform better. Term over term, Lumen’s Waymaker courseware makes it possible to use learning data to identify where content improvements are needed. We work collaboratively with faculty and subject matter experts to develop and test iterative, continuous improvements aimed at increasing efficacy and learning.