Biology: God's Living Creation - Student Text (really old)

  2nd Edition Improved

Kevin Penner of Manitoba, Canada, 10/17/2008

I used this text to teach biology at a Christian school in Canada (and later on homeschooling two sons) and I thought the content was quite good. Excellent diagrams throughout and the section on zoology was particularly strong. The main improvement in the second edition was the addition of review questions. Most of these are simply fact recall questions; I wished in particular the review questions at the end of the chapters had delved more deeply. While using the review questions is a good start to studying for tests, they only skim the surface. In many cases, previous questions from section reviews are simply repeated. The biggest omission from the text book is any discussion of the reproductive system (all other body systems are described in detail). Perhaps this reflects the American curriculum (students would have studied the reproductive system before grade ten?) which I am not entirely familiar with. It is refreshing to see a thorough Biology text that has a biblical perspective. I also appreciated the fact that in the section on evolution, no mention of a young earth was made. As an old-earth creationist, I am disturbed by the amount of energy that is spent by creationists trying to prove a young earth. Better to emphasize evidence for design that all Christians can agree on, than to burden young people with untenable beliefs.