SimBio Ecology

SimBio Ecology
Ask. Experiment. Learn.

More effective than a traditional textbook, SimBio Ecology teaches notoriously difficult topics with an interactive, inquiry-driven approach.

Think Outside the Book

Replace passive reading assignments with active inquiry and real learning.

Active Learning is Better Learning

Simulated experiments, interactive animations, and reinforcing feedback help students understand complex mechanisms and models.

Supports Student Success

Instant-feedback and auto-graded questions promote comprehension and accountability while helping instructors identify where students are struggling.

Affordable Textbook Replacement

Mix & match content to create an $89 textbook replacement or use individually to help students with challenging topics. View Pricing

Flexible & Easy to Implement

The SimUText System helps instructors create and manage assignments, track student performance, and access supplemental teaching materials.

Interactive Chapters

Looking for more Ecology?

Interactive Tutorials & Labs
Instructors often find that a combination of interactive Chapters and Tutorial/Labs work well for their ecology courses. Tutorial Labs feature interactive, simulated experiments to promote critical thinking about challenging topics. These tutorials are auto-graded, and instant-feedback questions provide critical guidance throughout.

Explore Tutorials/Labs

Teaching with SimBio Ecology

Need some ideas how SimBio Ecology can fit your curriculum? Dr. John Roach is lead author and architect of Climate Change and several other SimBio Ecology chapters and tutorial labs. He periodically teaches Ecology using SimBio's materials at the University of Montana.

Course-wide Learning Outcomes:

Demonstrate how a systems-thinking approach in which the structures, functions, relationships, and properties of living systems are explicitly described help explain ecological patterns and processes.
Show how models—including mathematical, graphical, and conceptual models—can be used to generate testable, often quantitative predictions about system dynamics.
Employ the scientific method in the investigation of ecological patterns and processes.
Demonstrate how predictions derived from clear hypotheses can be evaluated with ecological data.

John Roach's Course materials:

Syllabus Course Schedule

Questions? John leads small-group webinars to demo content and share/brainstorm teaching strategies. 20-30 minutes, depending on questions.

SimBio Ecology supports a comprehensive approach to ecology education

SimBio Ecology is well suited to classes built on the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education Framework (4DEE), recently endorsed by the Ecological Society of America.* The 4DEE goes beyond the core concepts covered in traditional textbooks to strengthen eco-literacy through the integration of ecology concepts, ecological practices, and human-environment interactions. Like 4DEE, SimBio’s interactive chapters emphasize ecology’s hierarchical structure, ranging from individuals to the biosphere, as well as the existence of cross-cutting themes such as evolution, structure and function, energy flows, and material cycling. The chapters highlight our reliance on the environment for ecological services and how our actions accelerate environmental changes like global warming and species loss. In addition, the interactive nature of SimBio Ecology lets students practice quantitative skills, learn about experimental design, and to develop critical thinking.

* The Ecological Society of America does not officially endorse materials.