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School Science Review,
Volume 84, No.309, 2003 (page 147)
Reviewed by: Francis Cox
Advanced Biology 1 Student Resource and Activity Manual 2003
Advanced biology 1 is not an A-level textbook and does not advertise itself as one. It is a student-centred resource book, and as such offers both teacher and student a variety of ways in which it can be used. It addressed the specifications for the AS biology courses for AQA, Edexcel and OCR, and is updated annually.
This book does not provide the factual information of a traditional textbook; instead it provides a range of exercises designed to reinforce concepts covered in lessons. Each activity/exercise has a code indicating its degree of difficulty. The activities range from recall of knowledge, data-handling and interpretation and application of knowledge to solve a problem, to research. The activities can be used in the classroom in a variety of ways (introducing a topic, as a basis for individual or group work) or as homework. The book is designed so that the pages can be removed for marking.
As a resource, it provides a list of A-level textbooks, periodicals, useful software and videos (all activities are cross-referenced to textbooks). There is also a BIOZONE website that provides links to useful websites for each topic. The model answer book provides answers to all the questions in the student book.
Costs have been reduced by using monochrome, rather than colour, and some of the illustrations lack impact because of this. Nevertheless, this is an excellent resource and is good value at £9.95.
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