Sacred Heart Prep Teacher Diane Sweeney Named Lead Author for Campbell Biology Teacher's Guide

ATHERTON, Calif., Nov. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Sacred Heart Preparatory (SHP) AP Biology teacher Diane Sweeney has been selected as the lead author of the forthcoming Teacher's Guide to Campbell Biology, 13th Edition, the world's most widely used college- and AP-level biology textbook.

A veteran educator with 30 years of AP Biology teaching experience and a prior career as a molecular biologist, Sweeney will bring her signature creativity, practical classroom insight, and deep curriculum experience to a resource that will reach educators worldwide. Her contributions will be drawn directly from her own daily practice.

"I'll be sharing the exact useful activities, labs, and teaching tricks I use with my students," said Sweeney.

Sweeney is part of a select cohort of AP Biology "movers and shakers," as she describes it, invited to consult on the new edition slated for publication in summer 2026. Her path to textbook authorship began in the late 1990s, when she received a teaching award at the National Association of Biology Teachers conference. There, renowned biology textbook author Neil Campbell—who attended many of her workshops—encouraged her to write for Pearson's Biology: Exploring Life, which marked her first foray into curriculum development.

In the new Teacher's Guide, Sweeney will highlight the hands-on, memorable approaches for which she is known. From play-acting cellular processes and using choreographed hand motions to teach molecular structures, to baking carbohydrate-rich bread in SHP's teaching kitchen, her methods reinforce complex concepts through practical, sensory learning.

"I used to call them 'visual tattoos'—a way of engaging students' brains in a way they won't soon forget," said Sweeney.

For Sweeney, this project marks a meaningful capstone to a long career as an educator. She has written for numerous publications and co-created Author of Life—a series of seven short documentary films along with companion curricula for BioLogos Integrate, a faith and science education program that promotes the view that Christian faith and modern science are compatible.

"I am delighted to share this legacy of my 30 years' teaching AP Biology with a larger audience."

ABOUT SACRED HEART SCHOOLS, ATHERTON
Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton (www.shschools.org) is an accredited preschool through twelfth grade school, founded in 1898, located on a 63-acre campus in Atherton, California. It serves 1,185 students and is a member of the International Network of Schools of the Sacred Heart.

SOURCE Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton