jonesloonybin Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I am considering Biology for 9th grade but Prentice hall has so many biology books. What is the difference between: Prentice Hall Biology & Prentice Hall Biology: Exploring Life How do I know which one to get since I cannot see a sample. My daughter is going to be in 9th grade and she is really not interested in science at all. I just want a good overall basic text. So, what say you??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I've taken a look at Prentice Hall Biology. It's the text that Kolbe Academy uses. It seems to be challenging, but I don't have too much to compare it to. I do know that the books Kolbe uses are generally rigorous. If you decide to use this, you could get an answer key, schedule, tests, and online access from Kolbe. There is also a virtual lab CD they sell to accompany the text. I haven't seen their course plans, but I think they usually include some guidance for students who need or want some modifications. My impression is that the PH Biology textbook could be used for an honors level biology course, while the Exploring Life is a solid, basic 9th grade biology book (from what I've read on this board). Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyinNNV Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I am considering Biology for 9th grade but Prentice hall has so many biology books. What is the difference between: Prentice Hall Biology & Prentice Hall Biology: Exploring Life How do I know which one to get since I cannot see a sample. My daughter is going to be in 9th grade and she is really not interested in science at all. I just want a good overall basic text. So, what say you??? I'm not really sure how to answer because I've never seem PHB: EL. I do have PHB 2008. PHBEL has a 2004 copyright if that makes any difference. Here's a website where you can see a sample chapter from both: http://www.phschool.com/successnet/science.html We've been happy with PHB this year. Elementary music is nothing like the field of music. 3rd Grade life science is nothing like the field of Biology. So, I'm not sure your dd could really know if she likes science as a field yet because she really has not experienced it yet. So, I'm not sure if her interest/disinterest should be a factor........should it? PHB is an excellent book. From a teacher's point of view, I like it. My dh has an advanced degree in science and he has felt very good about the content accuracy. The teachers guide has a plan for teaching the book to below grade level, at grade level and above grade level students. You are not required to cover the entire text which is voluminous. If you don't feel confident teaching Biology, you might want to invest some extra $ in Thinkwell lectures for Biology. If you have any specific q's about PHB, I'd be happy to try to answer. We are on unit 6 of 10 so I have a pretty good handle on the material. Holly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 Thank you. I know my daughter could change her mind about science but she is very artistic and has (since 5 or so) expressed the desire to go into an art related field. I was just curious about the differences between the two. Is one "more rigorous"? We have used the Science Explorer in middle school. We really liked them. How does the biology text compare. If she is comfortable with Science Explorer..would she do well with the basic biology text? Thank you again for taking the time to answer. We also have Digital Frog, and some disks from the Howard Hughes Medical institute. I am looking into the Thinkwell lectures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 WOW. Thank you for the samples. This is exactly what I was looking for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyinNNV Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Thank you. I know my daughter could change her mind about science but she is very artistic and has (since 5 or so) expressed the desire to go into an art related field. I was just curious about the differences between the two. Is one "more rigorous"? We have used the Science Explorer in middle school. We really liked them. How does the biology text compare. If she is comfortable with Science Explorer..would she do well with the basic biology text? Thank you again for taking the time to answer. We also have Digital Frog, and some disks from the Howard Hughes Medical institute. I am looking into the Thinkwell lectures. I am not sure that completing the science explorer texts would be enough. There is a lot of chemistry in biology texts. For that reason, many schools have added a 9th grade physical science class (half a year chemistry/half a year physics) to the high school science sequence. I would suggest that your dd do physical science for 9th grade and take biology in 10th. My dd is taking Biology as a 9th grader. However, she completed high school physical science as an 8th grader (the BJU text). If I had it to do over again, I'd do the Prentice Hall 9th grade physical science course. I just didn't know it existed at the time. My plan for my ds is Prentice Hall Science Explorer then Prentice Hall Physical Science, then PH Biology. HTH, Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 Do you mean this book? Prentice Hall Physical Science: Concepts in Action I am not sold on doing biology. If Physical Science would be better for her to do first....great. Then what would the rest of high school look like? 9th - Physical Sci 10th - Biology ?? 11th - Chemistry 12th - ??? Maybe Environmental science? Or forensic science or Physics? (I say Environmental because NC "guidelines" for 4 yr college state Environmental) (I mentioned forensic because that was one class she mentioned an interest in.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyinNNV Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Yes, I think we are looking at the same book. Here's a link just in casehttp://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ16f&filter_161=&filter_423=6732&filter_422=&filter_424=&filter_281=&filter_425=&programFilterTypeList=161%2C423%2C422%2C424%2C281%2C425&PMDbSiteid=2781&PMDbSolutionid=6724&PMDbSubSolutionid=&PMDbCategoryid=814&&PMDbProgramID=18181 I think that Biology has really taken a strong turn to emphasizing Chemistry. It is quite fascinating to look at a current Biology book because it is a much more intense course than the one I took in high school. Some chemistry knowledge is very helpful. The plan that you give for the rest of high school looks similar to the progression I plan. I'm not sure that we'll do forensic science. But, I'm sure that the background in DNA and chemistry will help in a study of forensics. Some folks might choose to do Physics instead of Forensics. I suppose once you get that far it is personal preference. You could also consider an ap science or earth science. Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Do you mean this book? Prentice Hall Physical Science: Concepts in Action I am not sold on doing biology. If Physical Science would be better for her to do first....great. Then what would the rest of high school look like? 9th - Physical Sci 10th - Biology ?? 11th - Chemistry 12th - ??? Maybe Environmental science? Or forensic science or Physics? (I say Environmental because NC "guidelines" for 4 yr college state Environmental) (I mentioned forensic because that was one class she mentioned an interest in.) I've wondered about following this progression. I have the Prentice Hall Physical Science book. It certainly seems like it would be a great preparation for high school science. It really seems like more of a high school level book than a middle school book, very solid. I'm concerned though that I would weaken dd's high school transcript by not having her start with biology. Any thoughts on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyinNNV Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I've wondered about following this progression. I have the Prentice Hall Physical Science book. It certainly seems like it would be a great preparation for high school science. It really seems like more of a high school level book than a middle school book, very solid. I'm concerned though that I would weaken dd's high school transcript by not having her start with biology. Any thoughts on this? I was told that the physical science book I linked to was a 9th grade book. Have you been told its middle school? There's another book called physical science that is the Science Explorer series and is middle school level. I'm not really sure if we are talking about the same books or not :D I think that it is a pretty standard sequence to take Physical Science in 9th grade. I have read that lots of people do this 9th Physical Science 10th Biology 11th Chemistry 12th Physics I would like to give my dd the opportunity to either take a science elective in 12th or take an AP for 12th. So we chose: 8th Physical Science (a 9th grade text) 9th Biology 10th Chemistry 11th Physics 12th Elective Science or AP (probably Biology) Of course there are a million other ways to do it.....but I don't think that anyone would look askance at Physical Science in 9th, if its a high school text. Considering the amount of chemistry we've encountered in biology this year-I'm not sure if dd would have been ready for bio without phy sci. Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Just wanted to point out that Prentice Hall Science Explorer Biology is not the same text as either Prentice Hall's Biology: Exploring Life or the just plain Biology that the OP was asking about. There are also two different versions of books called plain "Biology", with different authors. Science Explorer is a series of middle-school texts that include biology and other sciences. Biology: Exploring Life (authors Campbell et. al.) and Biology (authors Miller and Levine) are introductory high school biology texts, for 9th/10th grades Biology (authors Campbell et. al.) is an AP level Biology text. All are published by Pearson/Prentice Hall. My brother's a science teacher and uses the two Campbells - they refer to the introductory one as "Baby Campbell" and the AP level one "Daddy Campbell". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 I was looking online using the ISBN # and that Teacher Express showed up in the $7-$10 range. Is that really the right thing? On prentice hall it shows up for $199! Can anyone recommend a good place to buy used textbooks? Amazon marketplace? TextbookRUs? Other places?? I am afraid that I will get scammed. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 I've wondered about following this progression. I have the Prentice Hall Physical Science book. It certainly seems like it would be a great preparation for high school science. It really seems like more of a high school level book than a middle school book, very solid. I'm concerned though that I would weaken dd's high school transcript by not having her start with biology. Any thoughts on this? I have the admission requirements for NC State and it lists... Science - 3 credits (A physical science course, biology, Earth/environmental science University of North Carolina - Science 3 credits (at least one unit in a life or biological science (ex. biology), at least one unit in physical science (ex. physical science, chemistry, physics) and at least one laboratory course My daughter is not planning on attending either of these colleges but I was given their admission requirements at a homeschool high school workshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 My daughter did not use Prentice Hall, but I just thought I'd mention the progression she took through high school. 9th: Conceptual Physical Science (Hewitt's book of that title) 10th: Chemistry (text by Ebbing plus MicroChem Kit for labs) 11th: two quarters of Geology plus a quarter of Rocks and Minerals at the local community college 12th: one quarter of Environmental Science at the local community college Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn&charles Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 (edited) I am considering Biology for 9th grade but Prentice hall has so many biology books. What is the difference between: Prentice Hall Biology & Prentice Hall Biology: Exploring Life How do I know which one to get since I cannot see a sample. My daughter is going to be in 9th grade and she is really not interested in science at all. I just want a good overall basic text. So, what say you??? I used Prentice Hall Biology (the one with the dragonfly on the cover - authors Miller and Levine) for Emily's biology for 10th grade. I bought the interactive textbook because the little Flash style games, videos, etc. appealed to her. It was a solid science course. I had planned on her using Apologia, but she can't stand their science courses so she ended up using Prentice Hall instead. It's a beautiful text and has plenty of exercises/worksheets/labs that helped her learn the material. She is now taking biology at our local college and doing very well, even though she never really loved studying science. PH helped prepare her very nicely for her current class at the college. If you have any other questions, let me know. I can ask her (since she did most of the course by herself) and I'm sure she would be happy to answer. Edited February 10, 2009 by jenn&charles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Thank you HollyinNNV. I think of the Prentice Hall Physical Science: Concepts in Action as a middle school book because Kolbe recommends it for 8th grade, though they do accept it for high school credit. I've noticed that many other curriculum providers list physical science as a 9th grade course, but I still have some hang-ups from when I was in high school. All the kids who were strong in math started out with bio in 9th.:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilary in MI Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 I was looking online using the ISBN # and that Teacher Express showed up in the $7-$10 range. Is that really the right thing? On prentice hall it shows up for $199! Can anyone recommend a good place to buy used textbooks? Amazon marketplace? TextbookRUs? Other places?? I am afraid that I will get scammed. Thanks! Terri, I have bought many used texts from Academic Book Services and Amazon (I carefully check the buyers' reviews on Amazon). The trick is to get the ISBN from the publisher site and search for that number. Here's the ABS link (I've always had great service from ABS, including a big return, and often find teachers' editions there when no one else has them): http://www.academicbookservices.com/ Hilary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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