Australian Science Teachers Journal (ASTJ),
Volume 51, No. 4, Summer 2005
Reviewed by: Sarah Rimell
Biology: Student Resource and Activity Manual (Year 11 and Year 12)
BIOZONE have been producing these manuals since 1996 and they continue to be an outstanding resource for biology teachers. I have used both BIOZONE student manuals with my classes for five years now. Both are extraordinarily comprehensive in their treatment of the topics covered for both years of the Biology course that is offered in this State.
In Year 11, the topics covered are skills in biology, nutrition, gas exchange, transport and excretion, reproduction and development, the principles of classification, communities, changes in ecosystem, the origin and evolution of life, and the evolution of Australia’s biota.
In 2006 the Year 11 manual will carry two new activities relating to population dynamics and practical ecology. I notice too, that for 2006 , cell structure and cell processes will return to the Year 11 manual; this suits my program and our WA syllabus very well as it turns out.
In the Year 12 manual the topics include homeostasis, control and coordination, defence and the immune system, pathogens and disease, non-infectious disease, the genetic code, gene technology, mutations, inheritance, population genetics, evolution and human evolution.
BIOZONE will include a new topic for 2006: the chemistry of life. It is a suite of activities and exercises that provides an enormous potential to tailor programs to particular students needs, interests and abilities.
My experience is that these manuals provide the student with clear and comprehensive instructions and explanations of terms as well as significant opportunities for analysis and comprehension of data. They suit the kind of independent learner with good access to ICT that we have at our College. I can set activities that will supplement practical work and can be used as a basis for discussion.
In addition, I can extend my better students by directing them to the more esoteric regions of the manual or to follow up particular web links. I have found the resources information, the software, video, DVDs and science suppliers’ pages very useful at different times. These manuals are a rich source of materials for discussion or further investigation. Constant revision with a revised edition each year means that content is always cutting-edge science.
My only criticism is that the writers have not crafted sufficient numbers of the kind of open ended questions that have been such a feature of biology teaching and learning since the legendary ‘Web of Life’ materials; the items in these manuals tend to develop science process, comprehension and analysis but not synthesis of information, the kind of questions that might begin: ‘But what if…?’ It is a minor criticism; the materials are so diverse that the sort of discussion that they generate can range widely over many issues.
Finally, these resources are supported by an excellent website at: http://www.biozone.com.au. |