Biology: The Easy Way

Book excerpt: This new edition in Barron’s Easy Way Series contains everything students need to succeed in biology. Key content review and practice exercises to help students learn biology the easy way. Topics covered in Barron's Biology: The Easy Way include the cell, bacteria and viruses, fungi, plants, invertebrates, chordates, Homo Sapiens, heredity, genetics and biotechnology, evolution, and ecology. Practice questions in each chapter help students develop their skills and gauge their progress. Visual references including charts, graphs, diagrams, instructive illustrations, and icons help engage students and reinforce important concepts. Each chapter in Biology: The Easy Way provides special study aids that are designed to enhance the learning and understanding of biological principles or concepts, including: Self-Test Connection: includes 30 questions or more in three types of short-answer tests (fill-ins, multiple choice, true and false). Answer keys are provided. Word-Study Connection: lists the vocabulary of the chapter that the reader is encouraged to review and learn. Connecting to Concepts: provides open-ended questions to encourage the reader to think about and discuss concepts that appeared in the chapter. Connecting to Life/Job Skills: invites the reader to extend the biology information just learned into the living community through life skills and career information. Learning about careers related to biology expands one’s knowledge of the kinds of opportunities available for education beyond high school and the need for science-trained people in the work force. Also invites the reader to look at the biological events taking place in the local community and to assess the effects of environmental conditions. Chronology of Famous Names in Biology: Scientists representing all countries, races, and religions are included—ranging in time from ancient Greek philosopher-scientists to modern day investigators. For each name, a brief summary of the accomplishment is given, along with the approximate date of the discovery or invention and the country where the work took place.