New Mary Jones IGCSE Biology textbook and cd due out
Friday, April 3, 2009 10:16
I have used the Biology for IGCSE by Mary Jones (Heinemann) textbook mainly because I knew Mary Jones was a principal examiner, is involved in writing the syllabus, the exams and even moderating the coursework. Hence I thought it was a safe bet to follow the textbook written by her. I have also met her and she is very nice, so it is quite cool to tell my students that I have chatted to her personally (it seems to give them so confidence that I may know what I am talking about… poor deluded fools that they are!).
The book does not use coloured diagrams and, although this may seem to be a negative, I personally feel that this does not detract from the book. Indeed the exams themselves are in black and white so it may be of benefit to the students. In addition we can always use presentations, study guides and online reources to inject a bit of colour in order to clarify explanations. In fact the diagrams are very clear and well lablelled and the general text is in a largish font which is less off-putting to my students.
I have shown them other textbooks (which will be reviewed) but they have overall preferred the good old Mary Jones. However I had considered changing the book this year anyway, which is quite a decision as we tend to work through the textbook in sequence and many of our resources refer to the book. The reason for the considered change is that the book has not, understandably, kept pace with the changes in the Cambridge IGCSE syllabus and important sections, such as the nephron, are not included. This could well be the case for other IGCSE textbooks so I was considering the stalwart authors Roberts or Mackeans textbooks.
Fortunately I checked the Heinemann website and not only is a new Mary Jones IGCSE textbook out in June there is a new supporting teachers cd as well. Currently there does not appear to be much information on them but I am guessing they are going to be up to date with even the 2010 and 2011 syllabuses hopefully (as these are already published).
These are due to be published in April 2009 so should be out soon for previewing. I will be sending off for them and of course will review them here. They are about 2 pounds more expensive than the current version publicised on Amazon but of course they will have everything we need to deliver the Cambridge IGCSE.
Naturally I will add the link to the blog for ease of ordering when it is published and available from Amazon.
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