Under The Microscope

CHEMISTRY 6TH FORM STUDENT NOTES, by T.A. Wales & A.P.D. Wignall; Longman Paul, 1994; $9.95

CHEMISTRY 7TH FORM NOTES, by T.A. Wales & A. P.D. Wignall; Longman Paul, 1994; $11.95

Reviewed by Geoff Groves

In this set of texts, sixth and seventh form chemistry students have at their disposal a very cheap set of notes which they can use to study senior chemistry. In addition to the Student Notes there is a Study Review book and Teachers' Guide at each level.

Aware of the time pressures imposed by the modern curriculum, Wales and Wignall have produced a very comprehensive set of student-oriented notes for use in the current sixth and seventh form courses. The idea is that the student buys the notebook, which is an abridged form of a standard text, and marks or writes in the spaces provided the important concepts and examples. The pages are in a punched pad format, which allows the topics to be separated and experimental work, answers to exercises, etc. interleaved. The text is not meant to be a stand-alone book; the teacher is still required to direct the students through the programme and provide the practical experiences and teach the necessary skills. The Study Review stands alone, but further complements the work in the "notebook". The Teachers' Guide provides only a set of worked examples to the exercises in the notebook.

Each topic begins with a list of objectives for the student, then develops the ideas and follows up with a set of exercises to reinforce understanding. A 50mm writing space on the right-hand margin allows the student to add extra notes taken from additional texts or classwork.

The only drawback must be the condensed format. There are a lot of words and not very many illustrations or white space to allow one a breather from the high density of information and exercises. However, the book has been put together with the intent of being a useful aid at a very reasonable cost and allowances should be made for this.

Geoff Groves is HOD Science at Ellesmere College