Campbell Biology

[Myra]

Am considering the Campbell Biology text for Grade 9 in the Fall. The website www.aw-bc.com/campbell (http://www.aw-bc.com/campbell) has 4 different texts ....one label 8 AP.

Has anyone used Campbell Biology....pros and cons?

Myra

[Gwen in VA]

Campbell's is an EXCELLENT text -- but it is a standard AP text. Are you trying to do AP bio with a 9th grader?

Ds used it in the Scholars Online bio -- not an AP course but VERY rigorous.

We own both Campbell's and Holt. I don't like Holt, but we are going to use it with my 9th grader net year -- I found the idea of teaching my 9th grader myself using Campbell's seriously intimidating!

I would definitely consider using Campbell's if you are comfortable teaching bio and you have a "serious" 9th grader.

[Jane in NC]

Am considering the Campbell Biology text for Grade 9 in the Fall. The website www.aw-bc.com/campbell (http://www.aw-bc.com/campbell) has 4 different texts ....one label 8 AP.

Has anyone used Campbell Biology....pros and cons?

Myra

My son is currently using the 7th edition of Campbell's Biology which we only considered because he already had been exposed to a good deal of biology. Even so, it has been a challenge because this text is not at all like biology books of my student days. Biology has become a subject driven by molecular processes at the cellular level and evolution. (I was blown away when I saw that Campbell's taxonomy was based on clades not phylla! I often feel useless with this material.)

This book is not for the faint hearted but, as Gwen said, it is excellent.

Jane (whose son is suffering from information overload!)

[Barb F. PA in AZ]

Am considering the Campbell Biology text for Grade 9 in the Fall. The website www.aw-bc.com/campbell (http://www.aw-bc.com/campbell) has 4 different texts ....one label 8 AP.

Has anyone used Campbell Biology....pros and cons?

Myra

If you aren't looking for an AP text but an intro Bio course, I suggest you take a look at Exploring Life by Campbell. I used to be a Holt girl but we used the Campbell text with a virtual charter a few years ago, and I really liked it. I own both this text and Visualizing Life, so I recently gave my newest 9th grader the choice between the two and she preferred the style of Exploring Life. Here's a link to the page: http://www.usingexploringlife.com/takealook.html

~Edited to add: we are also using the Thinkwell Bio lectures to beef up the textbook and add some of the meat of the AP level course. That way when she retakes Biology at the AP level or at the local college, it won't be her first exposure to the higher level concepts.

Barb

[Tina in Ouray]

Two of my daughters used Campbell's "Biology: Concepts and Connections (4e)" to prepare for AP exams. They both did very well and are studying science at the University of Dallas.

I believe that this is the same text that Scholars Online uses. But don't confuse it for Campbell's "Biology." I think these are two different books: one written for high school and the other for college.

Tina in Ouray, CO

[Bev in B'ville]

Scholar's Online uses this for both their regular and their AP classes. My dd is in the 9th grade, taking the AP version and maintaining a high A in the class. This is not to say it's been easy. It hasn't. She has worked VERY hard this year in this class, but she is really enjoying it.

Bev

[Myra]

So......is this an accurate summary?

1. Campbell texts are rigorous, but well-written.
2. Campbell Biology AP course is strenuous, but doable.
3. Campbell's Exploring Life is more of a general, ninth grade level text that will prepare the student for Campbell's Biology AP text perhaps in grades 11 or 12?
4. So...perhaps the sequence would be 9th grade Exploring LIfe - 11th grade Biology AP?

Also - do you need the text, TE, lab book, and TE lab book?

[Staci in CT]

I'd say that this is doable with a motivated 9th grader who is very good at memorization. AP bio differs from AP chem and AP physics in that there are fewer concepts to understand, but many many things to memorize. If your child is one of those who sees it in print and can forever "see" it in his mind, then you can go straight to AP bio with Campbell's. It really is an easier science to comprehend, and that is why many more kids graduate with AP bio than with the equivalent chem or physics on their transcripts.

Good luck - Campbell's is an excellent and thorough text.

Staci

[Eliana]

Am considering the Campbell Biology text for Grade 9 in the Fall. The website www.aw-bc.com/campbell (http://www.aw-bc.com/campbell) has 4 different texts ....one label 8 AP.

Has anyone used Campbell Biology....pros and cons?

Myra


Campbell's "Biology" is a fabulous college text (for science majors) often used for very rigorous AP classes

Campbell's "Biology: Concepts and Connections" is very like "Biology", but shorter, and somewhat simplified. I've seen it used for Bio 101 at a local college (a non-science major's biology class).

"Essential Biology" is another step down in complexity, but I don't care for it as much as the other three. I don't care for the way it has tried to make the text less complex. It, imho, retains too much of the structure and overall content of the original without enough information to really learn from, but ymmv.

Biology: Exploring Life is intended to be a very strong high school intro bio class, and will prepare a student very well for an AP course based on Campbell's "Biology".

You can use it as your main text and plan your own labs, or use their lab book. When I was designing curriculum for a small, private high school, I incorporated many of their labs, but I supplemented and in some cases replaced some with labs from other texts or ones designed by friends I know to be first rate biology teachers...

There are teacher's editions - whether or not you should get them would depend on your style and your comfort level with the material. If this isn't one of your areas of specialty, I would recommend getting TEs for both.

[JWSJ]

I suggest you take a look at Exploring Life by Campbell.

Found this text at a used book store for $10.

It looks great!

My son has been looking through and it's inspiring him.

[In The Great White North]

My son tried Campbell Biology (the AP/college version) in 9th grade and was overwhelmed. We found he needed to understand quite a bit of chemistry, which he hadn't had yet, first. It really is designed to be the second year of biology, after high school chemistry and physics.

I think his biggest problem with Campbell Biology was the reading level. Reading comprehension has never been a problem but this was much higher than anything he had dealt with before. He would read a paragraph, then look at me and say "What did that say?" We switched to Apologia, which was MUCH easier. After struggling with Campbell, Apologia seemed like a beginning reader!

[Beth in SW WA]

~Edited to add: we are also using the Thinkwell Bio lectures to beef up the textbook and add some of the meat of the AP level course. That way when she retakes Biology at the AP level or at the local college, it won't be her first exposure to the higher level concepts.

Barb

Barb,
Do you have a schedule to match up the EL chapters w/ the Thinkwell CDs? I received the cds today and they look awesome.

What did you do for labs?

Jane just sent me a Castle Heights lab book. It really looks like I'll be purchasing a microscope soon.

Thanks in advance!