Data‐rich textbook figures promote core competencies: Comparison of two textbooks

Many molecular biology and biochemistry instructors have altered their classroom behavior in favor of evidence‐based, active learning instructional strategies. Overwhelming evidence confirms that lecture‐only classrooms are detrimental to student learning outcomes, but we know less about the impact textbooks have on students outside the classroom. Two influential projects, the AP Biology redesign and Vision and Change, called for extensive restructuring of course content and hoped that textbooks would be restructured accordingly. This study evaluated all figures and tables from two introductory biology textbooks to quantify how well they implement recommendations from Vision and Change and AP Biology redesign. We documented significant differences among figures and tables when looking for experimental data, questions for students to answer, and quantitative interpretation. Using think‐aloud interviews, we interrogated whether students engage differently with figures from the two textbooks. When figures provided take‐home messages, students relied on written text rather than analyzing the graphical information for their understanding. Students frequently employed words from summaries within the figures to construct “inflated explanations” that mimicked comprehension.