How to Use This Textbook
Our online textbook uses a number of formatting options and interactive features.
Some textboxes are color coded in various ways to help highlight or separate out material for further study.
Learning Objectives
At the beginning of each chapter, you will find the learning objectives listed. By the end of the chapter, you should have learned enough to have fulfilled these goals.
- You will find the learning objectives after bullet points.
- At the end of the chapter, you will often find questions that directly relate to these objectives.
Summary – takeaways
In parallel with the Learning Objectives, at the end of the chapter you will find summary and takeaway boxes which will let you identify what was learned in the chapter.
- The bulleted points should identify the main concepts and big ideas explained in the chapter.
- If the summary ideas are still unclear, this might be an indication to reread relevant parts of the chapter.
Want To Know More?
You will find some textboxes color-coded in this fashion which will give extra information about ideas related to the main text with increasing detail.
Sometimes, you will find side notes that include extra information similar to the Want to Know More? boxes, but in smaller, easier-to-digest portions.
How do we know?
Some facts included in the text are based on scientific advances and reasoning that may be more complex and extensive than what there is room for in the main text. Those wishing to understand exactly how such facts were discovered and what evidence exists for them may find them explained in these shaded boxes.
Extraordinary Claims
Some ideas related to astrobiology are heavily contested or rejected by the scientific community. The principle “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” is often invoked as a skeptical check for such points and in instances where such ideas should be carefully interrogated in this fashion, this kind of box will be used.
Worked Examples
Some problems in astrobiology require careful reasoning and applied mathematical skills to come up with an answer. Worked examples give a demonstration of how this can be done.
Concept Check
In some situations, new concepts will be presented more carefully in boxes like this to make sure they are clearly explained.
Thinking Habits
Certain techniques for understanding scientific ideas are emphasized in boxes like this as “Thinking Habits”, giving a glimpse into the ways scientists organize their thoughts around such subjects.
