In the Zone

I first came across Biozone at a Science Learning Centre CPD event in Manchester in March this year. I had a very informative chat with Sarah Silvester, the company’s UK representative, and as a result received review copies of three of their Modular Workbook series (Cell Biology & Biochemistry, Anatomy & Physiology and Genes & Inheritance).

These are compact workbooks, printed in black and white, with a comprehensive introductory section on how to make the most of the material contained within. After this each book splits into sections prefaced with a set of learning objectives highlighting key terminology for those topic areas. Each worksheet contains a brief overview of the subject followed by straightforward questions that don’t attempt to wrong-foot the student. Not all of the information needed to answer the questions is included, encouraging students to read around the subject. To help them with this, each section has a bibliography containing links to text books, journals (split into student & teacher suitable lists) and Biozone’s online support material.

Primarily these appear to be designed to be used in class in an organised way, rather than as something a student would pick up off their own bat like more traditional revision guides. This has both positive and negative implications. In terms of negatives, the answers aren’t in the back of the book; a CD-ROM with the answers is available from the company but I’m not sure how students would get hold of it if they purchased from somewhere like Amazon. Although the cost of the individual workbooks is cheap (particularly if you can order in bulk direct from Biozone themselves) in these times of ever decreasing budgets, I can’t see many colleges being able to afford to buy them for each student on their programme. This isn’t such a problem for the courses I teach on as they are foundation year HE ones, and as such I would expect the students to buy these as required reading from their grant/bursary/loan. But for those students on A-level programmes or Access courses (all FE) who will no longer have an EMA allowance, I can see it being more problematical, particularly as there is a strict (and quite understandable) photocopying embargo in place.

Having said that, there are a lot of positives and not only regarding the content. All of the books I’ve read so far start off simply and work towards more complex themes. Even though there is some overlap between the books, care has been taken to alter individual worksheets to ensure that you’re not paying for the same thing over and over again. The content is well pitched for level 3 courses with sufficient extension material to challenge stronger students without terrifying weaker ones. Complex tasks are split into simpler steps that should really support student progression and there are some excellent activities included as well, so it’s not just endless sets of questions. Although some of the books will have limited use at higher levels (other than to serve as a quick refresher for basic concepts), some (such as the Genes & Inheritance book) will continue to be useful well into a degree.

Another positive is the customer service I have received whilst dealing with the company. People are quick to comment on poor experience but often forget to mention good; it shouldn’t be a surprise when you receive it but increasingly it is, and Sarah has always been extremely helpful. She kindly supplied a small test group of my students with books of their own and it soon became apparent how useful the students found them, as “Greenwood et al” started to pop up with increasing frequency in assignment bibliographies. All of the students involved have said that they wished they’d known about them earlier and I fully intend to use them again during the next academic year. Because of the quality of the resource and the excellent care and attention I’ve been given, I’m more than happy to recommend these books to other teachers on bespoke programmes such as ours.