NSCC Open Textbook Catalogue

A guide to using Pressbooks at NSCC.
Everything you need to know about locating, using, adapting, and creating open textbooks at NSCC.
Note: Work in progress -- some chapters not finished.

The goal of this textbook is not to make you an expert. True expertise in any field is a years-long endeavor. Here I will survey some of the basic topics of chemistry. This survey should give you enough knowledge to appreciate the impact of chemistry in everyday life and, if necessary, prepare you for additional instruction in chemistry. Throughout each chapter, I present two features that reinforce the theme of the textbook—that chemistry is all around you. The first is a feature titled, appropriately, “Chemistry Is Everywhere.” Chemistry Is Everywhere” focuses on the personal hygiene products that you may use every morning: toothpaste, soap, and shampoo, among others. These products are chemicals, aren’t they? Ever wonder about the chemical reactions that they undergo to give you clean and healthy teeth or shiny hair? I will explore some of these chemical reactions in future chapters. But this feature makes it clear that chemistry is, indeed, everywhere. The other feature focuses on chemistry that you likely indulge in every day: eating and drinking. In the “Food and Drink App,” I discuss how the chemistry of the chapter applies to things that you eat and drink every day. Carbonated beverages depend on the behavior of gases, foods contain acids and bases, and we actually eat certain rocks. (Can you guess which rocks without looking ahead?) Cooking, eating, drinking, and metabolism—we are involved with all these chemical processes all the time. These two features allow us to see the things we interact with every day in a new light—as chemistry.

An introduction to tourism. The NSCC edition has been adapted to include Nova Scotia specific content and examples.

Teaching strategic management classes can be a very difficult challenge for professors. In most business schools, strategic management is a “capstone” course that requires students to draw on insights from various functional courses they have completed (such as marketing, finance, and accounting) to understand how top executives make the strategic decisions that drive whether organizations succeed or fail. Many students have very little experience with major organizational choices. This undermines many students’ engagement in the course.

Our book is designed to enhance student engagement. A good product in any industry matches what customers want and need, and the textbook industry is no exception.

This open textbook is designed for post-secondary learners who want to improve their knowledge about substance use in Canada. Using a constructivist approach, with a critical eye on the intersectionality of the social determinants of health and substance use, learners will have the opportunity to critically explore their own beliefs and improve their understanding of a complex topic. Reflecting current trends in Canada as well as evidence based policies, this text offers learners reflective activities, classroom discussions and individuals assignments.