Science Education News (SEN),
(New South Wales), No.ember 18 2006
Reviewed by: Margaret Shepherd
Australian Year 11 & 12 Biology
Student Resource and Activity Manual 2006
The authors have once again produced two reasonably priced, updated and very detailed workbooks that can be used to support as well as extend students of Stage 6 Biology. There is a range of supporting media to help teachers save time and include a regularly updated website at www.biozone.com.au, Teacher Resource Handbook on CD- ROM, direct references to a range of other secondary sources and textbooks, syllabus links, model answers, listing of computer software and video documentaries, identification of level and type of activity on each page, use of glossary of key terms and an index.
The updated 2006 books contain some major changes with new chapters covering cell biology and cell chemistry in yr 11 workbook and with some material moved but not removed to make it more relevant to HSC requirements. One of the strengths of these workbooks is their Australian contexts with multitude of examples relating to Australian fauna and flora. One of the best features of these books are the vast numbers of pictures, graphs, data tables & diagrams which give teachers and students many opportunities to model and practice the skill outcomes P/H 11 – 15. Although the skills content is not mapped to the syllabus it is not difficult to make these links and include them in teaching programs. One other very useful aspect in the books is the direct link to data obtained by data loggers (P/H 12.3a). This gives the students a clearer real world application of the use of a technology that is commonly used very widely when gathering information. These activities do not replace the first-hand data gathering required in the syllabus but instead can be used to demonstrate other uses of data loggers in different contexts.
While there is much more information than is needed for the preliminary course the availability of the extra content gives teachers an opportunity to extend students and assist in the development of “extensive understanding” of a topic. This will require teachers to be selective when identifying the relevant sections of the book however the authors have assisted this process by clearly identifying the sections and chapters that are relevant to each syllabus. The HSC book is much more closely linked to the syllabus when covering homeostasis and diseases and although the authors suggest it is supplemented by a textbook it makes a very useful study guide for students. There is a lot of information on evolution and genetics which will need to be carefully matched to the core module or either of the options, a very extensive chapter on the Biotechnology option but Biochemistry needs to be accessed via the Teacher Resource Handbook on the CD-ROM.
This extremely valuable and cost- effective resource can only continue to be updated on an annual basis if teachers respect the copyright for the books and support the efforts of the authors to assist Biology teachers to stay up with current theory and research.
Well done to this team of dedicated science educators. |