Open Textbooks

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Abstract Algebra: An Inquiry-Based Approach, Second Edition, Supplemental Material

Jonathan K. Hodge, Steven Schlicker, and Ted Sundstrom

This text is a supplement to Abstract Algebra: An Inquiry-Based Approach, Second Edition. It includes applications of algebra to RSA encryption, check digits, the games of NIM and the 15 Puzzle, and the determination of groups of small order. In addition, reference material that could be useful for some students appears in the appendices, such as background material on functions, methods of proof (including the equivalencies of the Well-Ordering Principle and different versions of mathematical induction), and complex roots of unity. The appendices also contain a complete proof that polynomial rings are rings, a proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, and a derivation of the formula for solving any cubic equation.
Active Calculus 1.0

Matthew Boelkins, David Austin, and Steven Schlicker

Active Calculus is different from most existing calculus texts in at least the following ways: the text is free for download by students and instructors in .pdf format; in the electronic format, graphics are in full color and there are live html links to java applets; the text is open source, and interested instructors can gain access to the original source files upon request; the style of the text requires students to be active learners — there are very few worked examples in the text, with there instead being 3-4 activities per section that engage students in connecting ideas, solving problems, and developing understanding of key calculus concepts; each section begins with motivating questions, a brief introduction, and a preview activity, all of which are designed to be read and completed prior to class; the exercises are few in number and challenging in nature.
Active Calculus 2.0

Matthew Boelkins, David Austin, and Steven Schlicker

Active Calculus is different from most existing calculus texts in at least the following ways: the text is freely readable online in HTML format and is also available for in PDF; in the electronic format, graphics are in full color and there are live links to java applets; version 2.0 now contains WeBWorK exercises in each chapter, which are fully interactive in the HTML format and included in print in the PDF; the text is open source, and interested users can gain access to the original source files on GitHub; the style of the text requires students to be active learners — there are very few worked examples in the text, with there instead being 3-4 activities per section that engage students in connecting ideas, solving problems, and developing understanding of key calculus concepts; each section begins with motivating questions, a brief introduction, and a preview activity, all of which are designed to be read and completed prior to class; following the WeBWorK exercises in each section, there are several challenging problems that require students to connect key ideas and write to communicate their understanding. For more information, see the author's website and blog.
Active Calculus 2.1

Matthew Boelkins, David Austin, and Steven Schlicker

Active Calculus is different from most existing calculus texts in at least the following ways: the text is freely readable online in HTML format and is also available for in PDF; in the electronic format, graphics are in full color and there are live links to java applets; there are live WeBWorK exercises in each chapter, which are fully interactive in the HTML format and included in print in the PDF; the text is open source, and interested users can gain access to the original source files on GitHub; the style of the text requires students to be active learners — there are very few worked examples in the text, with there instead being 3-4 activities per section that engage students in connecting ideas, solving problems, and developing understanding of key calculus concepts; each section begins with motivating questions, a brief introduction, and a preview activity, all of which are designed to be read and completed prior to class; following the WeBWorK exercises in each section, there are several challenging problems that require students to connect key ideas and write to communicate their understanding. For more information, see the author's website and blog.
Active Calculus Multivariable

Steven Schlicker, David Austin, and Matthew Boelkins

Active Calculus Multivariable is the continuation of Active Calculus to multivariable functions. The Active Calculus texts are different from most existing calculus texts in at least the following ways: the texts are free for download by students and instructors in .pdf format; in the electronic format, graphics are in full color and there are live html links to java applets; the texts are open source, and interested instructors can gain access to the original source files upon request; the style of the texts requires students to be active learners — there are very few worked examples in the texts, with there instead being 3-4 activities per section that engage students in connecting ideas, solving problems, and developing understanding of key calculus concepts; each section begins with motivating questions, a brief introduction, and a preview activity, all of which are designed to be read and completed prior to class; the exercises are few in number and challenging in nature.
Active Calculus Multivariable: 2018 Edition

Steven Schlicker, David Austin, and Matthew Boelkins

Active Calculus Multivariable is the continuation of Active Calculus to multivariable functions. The Active Calculus texts are different from most existing calculus texts in at least the following ways: the texts are freely readable online in HTML format (new in this version of Active Calculus Multivariable) and are also available for in PDF; in the electronic format, graphics are in full color; the texts are open source, and interested instructors can gain access to the original source files on GitHub; the style of the texts requires students to be active learners — there are very few worked examples in the texts, with there instead being 3-4 activities per section that engage students in connecting ideas, solving problems, and developing understanding of key calculus concepts; each section begins with motivating questions, a brief introduction, and a preview activity, all of which are designed to be read and completed prior to class; each section contains a collection of WeBWorK exercises (with solutions available in the HTML version, new in this version) followed by several challenging problems that require students to connect key ideas and write to communicate their understanding.
Active Prelude to Calculus

Matthew Boelkins

Active Prelude to Calculus is designed for college students who aspire to take calculus and who either need to take a course to prepare them for calculus or want to do some additional self-study. Many of the core topics of the course will be familiar to students who have completed high school. At the same time, we take a perspective on every topic that emphasizes how it is important in calculus. This text is written in the spirit of Active Calculus and is especially ideal for students who will eventually study calculus from that text. The reader will find that the text requires them to engage actively with the material, to view topics from multiple perspectives, and to develop deep conceptual understanding of ideas. Many courses at the high school and college level with titles such as “college algebra”, “precalculus”, and “trigonometry” serve other disciplines and courses other than calculus. As such, these prerequisite classes frequently contain wide-ranging material that, while mathematically interesting and important, isn't necessary for calculus. Perhaps because of these additional topics, certain ideas that are essential in calculus are often under-emphasized or ignored. In Active Prelude to Calculus, one of our top goals is to keep the focus narrow on the following most important ideas. Those most important ideas include: functions as processes; average rate of change; a library of basic functions; families of functions that model important phenomena; the sine and cosine are circular functions; inverses of functions; exact values versus approximate ones; and long-term trends, unbounded behavior, and limits of functions. See more in the preface of the text at https://activecalculus.org/prelude/preface-our-goals.html. The text is available in three different formats: HTML, PDF, and print, each of which is available via links on the landing page at https://activecalculus.org/. The first two formats are free.
Beginning Algebra Made Useful

Charlene E. Beckmann

Beginning Algebra Made Useful addresses the needs of learners to make sense of algebra by quantifying and generalizing everyday occurrences such as commuting to work, buying gas or pizza, and determining the better deal. It requires learners to actively engage with algebraic concepts through physical and thought experiments in ways that help them connect ideas, representations, and contexts, and solve problems that arise in their daily lives. The text helps learners grow their brains and develop growth mindsets as they learn algebra conceptually. Problem sets continue the process, extending work begun in each lesson, applying new understandings to new contexts, and considering ideas that arise more fully in upcoming lessons. Longer assignments that can be used as group projects are included in the text. Group work is encouraged throughout the text; suggestions for orchestrating group work are included.

The text is open access and free for download by students and instructors in .pdf format. In the electronic format, graphics are in full color and there are live html links to resources, software, and applets.
Bent Not Broken: A Family Remembers the War in Liberia and Sierra Leone

Robert Rozema, Matilda Davies, Amie Tucker, Kadie Seiwoh, Kadie Tucker, Josephine Tucker, and Holly Hoover

This interactive story follows the life of a family trying to survive a brutal war in West Africa. The war took place in in Liberia and Sierra Leone during the 1990s. All wars are cruel, but this one was particularly brutal—fought by warlords and their death squads of child soldiers, the war saw the deliberate targeting of civilians. Murder, rape, torture, and abduction were common tactics used by all factions, and the signature atrocity of the war, amputation, left thousands without hands and legs.

Through a rich multimedia presentation that includes personal testimonies, images, maps, found artifacts, video, audio, and animations, Bent not Broken shows how one family survived the war and came to America in 2005.

More than just an ebook, this highly interactive and compelling account of human endurance and cultural adaptation will appeal to young adult and adult readers who are willing to enter into the life of a family under the extreme duress of war.
Beyond Lean: Simulation in Practice

Charles R. Standridge Ph.D.

Lean thinking, as well as associated processes and tools, have involved into a ubiquitous perspective for improving systems particularly in the manufacturing arena. With application experience has come an understanding of the boundaries of lean capabilities and the benefits of getting beyond these boundaries to further improve performance. Discrete event simulation is recognized as one beyond-the-boundaries of lean technique. Thus, the fundamental goal of this text is to show how discrete event simulation can be used in addition to lean thinking to achieve greater benefits in system improvement than with lean alone. Realizing this goal requires learning the problems that simulation solves as well as the methods required to solve them. The problems that simulation solves are captured in a collection of case studies. These studies serve as metaphors for industrial problems that are commonly addressed using lean and simulation.
Beyond Lean: Simulation in Practice, Second Edition

Charles R. Standridge Ph.D.

Lean thinking, as well as associated processes and tools, have involved into a ubiquitous perspective for improving systems particularly in the manufacturing arena. With application experience has come an understanding of the boundaries of lean capabilities and the benefits of getting beyond these boundaries to further improve performance. Discrete event simulation is recognized as one beyond-the-boundaries of lean technique. Thus, the fundamental goal of this text is to show how discrete event simulation can be used in addition to lean thinking to achieve greater benefits in system improvement than with lean alone. Realizing this goal requires learning the problems that simulation solves as well as the methods required to solve them. The problems that simulation solves are captured in a collection of case studies. These studies serve as metaphors for industrial problems that are commonly addressed using lean and simulation.
Business Communication for Success - GVSU Edition

Unnamed Author, Mark Schaub, Jenniffer Eckert, Anessa Fehsenfeld, Rhonda R. Hoffman, Adam Krusniak, Tami McCoy, Rachel Jean Norman, and Julian Toscano

About the GVSU Edition

This text is an adaption of Business Communication for Success, an open textbook produced by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing in 2015.

Chapters 9, 18, and 20 of Business Communication for Success: GVSU Edition were revised and rewritten by student authors in 2017, as part of a course in the Writing Department at Grand Valley State University. All other chapters retain the content and formatting of previous editions.

Note about the 2015 edition:

The edition produced by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing was itself adapted from a work distributed under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA) in 2010 by a publisher who requested that they and the original author not receive attribution.

This adaptation reformatted the original text, and replaced some images and figures to make the resulting whole more shareable. The 2015 adaptation did not significantly alter or update the original 2010 text.
Citizen Social Science: Qualitative Data Training

Amanda Buday, Anna Hammersmith, and Rachel Campbell

The Citizen Social Science Training Program is designed to be implemented by residents in their own community, equipping local citizens to build capacity and develop industry-standard data management skills at the grassroots level. Industry standards ensure integrity and value of data, an important quality for findings to be accepted and leveraged, both near and far. This qualitative data training will help you learn best practices to collect, analyze, and report textual data collected from interviews or focus groups.
Citizen Social Science: Quantitative Data Training

Amanda Buday, Anna Hammersmith, and Rachel Campbell

The Citizen Social Science training program is designed to be implemented by residents in their own community, equipping local citizens to build capacity and develop industry-standard data management skills at the grassroots level. Industry standards ensure the integrity and value of data, important qualities for findings to be accepted and leveraged, both near and far. This quantitative data training will help you learn to collect, analyze, and report numeric data collected from community surveys.
Constructing and Writing Mathematical Proofs: A Guide for Mathematics Students

Ted Sundstrom

This little book is not intended to be a textbook for a course dealing with an introduction to constructing and writing mathematical proofs. It is intended to be a reference book for students who need to construct and write proofs in their upper division mathematics courses. So it is assumed that students who use this as a reference have already taken an “introduction to proofs” course.

With the exception of Chapter 1, each chapter in the book has a description of a proof technique along with some justification as to why it is a valid proof method. There are then one or two completed proofs written according to the writing guidelines for mathematical proofs in Appendix A. The intent is to illustrate a well-written proof for that particular proof method. Each chapter then ends with three to five practice problems, most of which deal with mathematical proofs. Completed proofs (or solutions) for the practice problems are contained in Appendix B. So, students can check their work or see other examples of well-written proofs. Chapter 1 contains most of the definitions used in the first six chapters of this book and a short summary of some logic that is pertinent to constructing mathematical proofs.

The proofs in this book primarily use the concepts of even and odd integers, the concept of one integer dividing another, and the concept of congruence in the integers. Most of this book is based on material in chapter 3 of the book Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof, Version 2.1 by Ted Sundstrom, which is a textbook for an “introduction to proofs” course. It is free to download as a pdf file at https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/books/9/.

A printed version of this book is also available on amazon.com for $22 at http://gvsu.edu/s/16z.

Finally, there is a website for Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof, Version 2.1. Please visit www.tedsundstrom.com and click on the TEXTBOOKS button in the upper right corner. This website contains useful resources for an introduction to mathematical proofs course, and some of these resources could be useful for students in upper division mathematics courses.
Home Range Creation and Analysis using Geospatial Modeling Environment and ArcGIS Software

Alexandra Locher and Matt Lindenberg

Many analyses in natural resources or ecology-related fields, specifically wildlife-focused disciplines, investigate wildlife habitat use and movement patterns for population and habitat management. Kernel density estimates and home range analysis are commonly used by wildlife biologists for such investigations. Methods to conduct home range analyses are often complex and require use of multiple software programs. In the literature and on the web, it is difficult to find comprehensive instructions on how to create home ranges and proceed with analyses. The purpose of this manual is to describe the process of synthesizing raw location point location data, creating home ranges (kernel density estimates), and begin initial analyses involving habitat selection
Innovative Lesson Plans for Active Learning: Teaching Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice

Susan M. Strouse PhD, RN; Genevieve B. Elrod PhD, RN, OCN; Karyn Butler PhD, RN, FPMHNP-BC, CNM; Chibwe Caroline Powell BSN, RN; and Afokoghene Odhu BSN, RN

Innovative Lessons Plans for Active Learning: Teaching Research and Evidence-Based Practice is a resource in research and evidence-based practice for active learning in the undergraduate nursing classroom. It is meant to supplement any nursing research text. Designed to provide educators with creative teaching ideas, this text includes a variety of lessons on nursing research topics. Topics include bias, measurement, sampling, theory and more. Lessons provide active learning for in-class, hybrid, and online formats. Each lesson includes objectives, overview, and detailed steps. As an open access resource, the text is continuously in-process. Designed to be independent of any published text, the book compliments any nursing research and evidence-based course. This text is also a suitable resource for introductory research in other disciplines.

Each chapter is an activity designed to supplement didactic andragogy. The activities develop creativity and facilitate engagement in the nursing research content. Through creative engagement, students access learning areas of the brain that otherwise remain unstimulated. Organized by the order in which they might be discussed in class, each chapter builds upon previous learning. In chapter two students are introduced by creating puppets to develop research questions and study ideas. Chapter three focuses specifically on generating problem and purpose statements. Culture shots in chapter five engages students in understanding theory generation, qualitative research and ethics in data collection. Chapters six and seven build upon and strengthen theory understanding through creating concepts and challenging assumptions. In chapter eight, biases and threats to validity are investigated through the use of parody. Sampling is addressed in chapters nine through eleven. Chapter twelve reinforces learning on measurement error. The last four chapters use creative games to help students pull it all together. Chapters thirteen and fourteen utilize existing free resources to enhance the learning experience. Chapters fifteen and sixteen allow students to work together to create understanding for themselves and other students.

We hope you enjoy the book as much as we enjoyed creating it. We would love to hear your comment and ideas for improvement. Please also view our video introduction at https://youtu.be/x9NDv2H_Cdg.
Interprofessional Education Lab Manual And Workbook

Geraldine Terry

This laboratory manual was designed to educate and develop integrated healthcare practices essential in delivering person-centered care. Participants will develop their ability to distinguish the role of their own profession and other healthcare professionals collaborating in the care coordination and case management of patients. The content and team-oriented activities in this manual provide guidance on advancing leadership and communication principles necessary for effective interprofessional communication and team collaboration. The well-researched material is tailored to build on the strengths of participants, while also identifying and encouraging areas for improvement.
Introduction to Human Osteology

Roberta Hall, Kenneth Beals, Holm Neumann, Georg Neumann, and Gwyn Madden

This text was designed for use in the human osteology laboratory classroom. Bones are described to aid in identification of skeletonized remains in either an archaeological or forensic anthropology setting. Basic techniques for siding, aging, sexing, and stature estimation are described. Both images of bone and drawings are included which may be used for study purposes outside of the classroom. The text represents work that has been developed over more than 30 years by its various authors and is meant to present students with the basic analytical tools for the study of human osteology.
Introduction to Production: Philosophies, Flow, and Analysis

Charles R. Standridge

Production is a fundamental societal and economic activity. Production has to do with the transformation of raw materials into useful objects and includes the knowledge to complete the transformation effectively. Thus, production is a board topic ranging from philosophies about how to approach production such as lean and quick response manufacturing, how to organize production facilities, how to analyze production operations, how to control the flow of materials during production, the devices used to move materials within a facility, and strategies for coordinating multiple production facilities.

An integrated introduction to production is presented in a set of learning modules. In significant part, these learning modules are based on over 20 years of interactions with the professional production community in the West Michigan region where Grand Rapids and Holland are the principal cities. This community consists almost exclusively of small and medium size companies engaged primarily in high mix, low volume manufacturing. Students in the Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Master of Science in Engineering programs at Grand Valley State University often work in production for these companies. Thus, interactions are facilitated particularly though master’s degree capstone projects, several of which are referenced in the learning modules.

The learning modules are well-grounded in established production concepts. Emphasis is placed on proven procedures such as systematic layout planning, factory physics, various production flow control techniques such as kanban and POLCA, and discrete event simulation.

Professional practice is a focus of the learning modules. Material from processional groups such as the Lean Enterprise Institute and the Material Handling Institute (MHI) is integrated. The opportunity to read and discuss professional publications presenting production improvement projects is provided. Students are referred to professional videos and web sites throughout the learning modules.

All materials provided are referenced are open access and free of charge.

When downloading the main file, it is important to also download and use the "Main File Support" as it contains supplemental materials.
Linear Algebra and Applications: An Inquiry-Based Approach

Feryal Alayont and Steven Schlicker

Linear Algebra and Applications: An Inquiry-Based Approach provides a novel open-source inquiry-based learning approach to linear algebra. The emphasis is on active learning and developing intuition through investigation of examples. The content is introduced through inquiry-based activities, starting with experimentation with hands-on concrete examples and continuing on to developing a deep understanding of the topics through working with conceptual questions. To provide motivation and context for the linear algebra content, the text includes 35 real-life applications projects. While working through all of this material in the text, readers are actively DOING mathematics instead of being passive learners. Although it is difficult to capture the essence of active learning in a textbook, this book is our attempt to do just that.
Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof

Ted Sundstrom

Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof is designed to be a text for the ﬁrst course in the college mathematics curriculum that introduces students to the processes of constructing and writing proofs and focuses on the formal development of mathematics. The primary goals of the text are to help students:

• Develop logical thinking skills and to develop the ability to think more abstractly in a proof oriented setting.

• Develop the ability to construct and write mathematical proofs using standard methods of mathematical proof including direct proofs, proof by contradiction, mathematical induction, case analysis, and counterexamples.

• Develop the ability to read and understand written mathematical proofs.

• Develop talents for creative thinking and problem solving.

• Improve their quality of communication in mathematics. This includes improving writing techniques, reading comprehension, and oral communication in mathematics.

• Better understand the nature of mathematics and its language.

Another important goal of this text is to provide students with material that will be needed for their further study of mathematics.

This type of course has now become a standard part of the mathematics major at many colleges and universities. It is often referred to as a “transition course” from the calculus sequence to the upper-level courses in the major. The transition is from the problem-solving orientation of calculus to the more abstract and theoretical upper-level courses. This is needed today because many students complete their study of calculus without seeing a formal proof or having constructed a proof of their own. This is in contrast to many upper-level mathematics courses, where the emphasis is on the formal development of abstract mathematical ideas, and the expectations are that students will be able to read and understand proofs and be able to construct and write coherent, understandable mathematical proofs. Students should be able to use this text with a background of one semester of calculus.
Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof (PreTeXt Edition)

Ted Sundstrom

Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof is a text for the ﬁrst college mathematics course that introduces students to the processes of constructing and writing proofs and focuses on the formal development of mathematics.

Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof (PreTeXt Edition) was developed as part of the Accelerating Open Educational Resources Initiative at Grand Valley State University , with support from the University Libraries and the President's Innovation Fund.

Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof was written by Ted Sundstrom, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Grand Valley State University. This textbook was converted into PreTeXt by Ian Curtis, Editorial Assistant for the GVSU Libraries, with expert guidance and support from Oscar Levin, Associate Professor, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, and David Farmer, American Institute of Mathematics.
Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof, Version 2.1

Ted Sundstrom

Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof is designed to be a text for the ﬁrst course in the college mathematics curriculum that introduces students to the processes of constructing and writing proofs and focuses on the formal development of mathematics. The primary goals of the text are to help students:

· Develop logical thinking skills and to develop the ability to think more abstractly in a proof oriented setting.

· Develop the ability to construct and write mathematical proofs using standard methods of mathematical proof including direct proofs, proof by contradiction, mathematical induction, case analysis, and counterexamples.

· Develop the ability to read and understand written mathematical proofs.

· Develop talents for creative thinking and problem solving.

· Improve their quality of communication in mathematics. This includes improving writing techniques, reading comprehension, and oral communication in mathematics.

· Better understand the nature of mathematics and its language.

This text also provides students with material that will be needed for their further study of mathematics.
Mathematical Reasoning Writing and Proof, Version 3

Ted Sundstrom

Mathematical Reasoning: Writing and Proof is a text for the ﬁrst college mathematics course that introduces students to the processes of constructing and writing proofs and focuses on the formal development of mathematics. Version 3 of this book is almost identical to Version 2.1. The main change is that the preview activities in Version 2.1 have been renamed to beginning activities in Version 3. This was done to emphasize that these activities are meant to be completed before starting the rest of the section and are not just a short preview of what is to come in the rest of the section.

The primary goals of the text are to help students:
- Develop logical thinking skills;
- develop the ability to think more abstractly in a proof-oriented setting;
- develop the ability to construct and write mathematical proofs using standard methods of mathematical proof including direct proofs, proof by contradiction, mathematical induction, case analysis, and counterexamples;
- develop the ability to read and understand written mathematical proofs;
- develop talents for creative thinking and problem solving;
- improve their quality of communication in mathematics, which includes improving writing techniques, reading comprehension, and oral communication in mathematics;
- better understand the nature of mathematics and its language.
- Another important goal of this text is to provide students with material that will be needed for their further study of mathematics.
Important features of the book include: Emphasis on writing in mathematics; instruction in the process of constructing proofs; and an emphasis on active learning.