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Experiences in Biology, second edition

Publisher: Castle Heights Press, Inc.
Author: Kathleen Julicher
Review last updated: 2009		 Instant KeyPublishers InfoPricing

Experiences in Biology

While biology lab experiments are much easier to do at home than chemistry experiments, lab manuals that accompany textbooks still assume that you have access to a wide array of lab supplies. Kathleen Julicher recognized that this is a problem shared by both home educators and small schools, so she developed lab experiments that are practical for schools with limited supplies.

In this book, she offers thirty investigations from five biological areas: zoology, human anatomy and physiology, cellular biology, botany, and ecology. Students or parents choose about 12 to 15 experiments to do; they cannot do all of them since some, like the fetal pig, are lengthy. The investigations include a number of dissections with illustrations and instructions, work with a microscope, lab experiments, and field study. Materials needed for each investigation are conveniently listed at the front of the book.

Students follow scientific method to describe the investigation, record information, analyze results, and state conclusions, all in a notebook they maintain or in the optional Student Notebook. They also make drawings as a means of recording information.

In the back of the lab manual is a description of the fundamental requirements of a biology class (very useful to home educators who are designing their own classes), information on record keeping (i.e., notebooks and reports), instructions for lab drawings with a reproducible form to use, instructions on microscope usage with a work sheet for identifying parts of the microscope, plus a detailed explanation of scientific method.

Experiences in Biology is designed so that a family must purchase only a single copy. You are free to make copies of the necessary pages for your family. Answers are included. Space for recording information is somewhat limited on the pages within the book, so I recommend getting a Student Notebook for each student. The Student Notebook is so well laid out, that it actually makes the experiments and recording of information easier than if students work solely from the primary Experiments in Biology book.

Home Training Tools offers two kits with materials needed for dissection [$29] and microscopic work [$42].

Pricing

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        • Experiences in Biology Student Data Book, 2nd Edition

        Experiences in Biology Student Data Book, 2nd Edition

        Kathleen Hooper Julicher

            Instant Key

            • Suitable for:  parent directed lab work
              Audience:               grades 9-12
              Need for parent/teacher instruction:                high
              Prep time needed:               moderate
              Need for Teacher's Manual:  N/A
              Religious perspective: secular
              but "Christian friendly"

            Publisher's Info

            • Castle Heights Press, Inc.

              200 E. Iowa Ave
              Berthoud, CO 80513

              970.532.2209
              www.castleheightspress.com