Charlotte has been independently completing Fascinating Biology from Fascinating Education, which we thought might be a good go-along to the IGCSE Biology she will be starting next year.
What is Fascinating Biology?
Fascinating Biology is an audio-visual course which fulfils all the high school requirements for Biological Science. Using powerful images to illustrate sometimes hard to understand science, in conjunction with interesting narrations, this is a course which will primarily appeal to those who learn best from hearing and seeing the science. There are no labs to complete, and with just 18 in depth lessons to choose from, this course is sure to engage even the most reluctant scientists:
Each lesson is divided into many sections, so that the student does not need to work through the lesson in one sitting. This feature also allows the student to go back over anything they do not understand. The lessons come with a video, a script which is downloadable and printable, and a test, which may be taken on-line or also downloaded and printed out:
How Did We Use Fascinating Biology?
Charlotte watched at least one video lesson a week, and as soon as she had finished it she took the test. Sometimes she watched the videos in one session, sometimes she split the lessons up into their individual parts. This is very easy to do as the course simply takes the student right back where they left off. Occasionally I needed to print out a lesson she had struggled with, so that she had the notes in front of her when she took the test.
What Did We Think of Fascinating Biology?
The videos were interestingly narrated and often there were stunning photos to look at whilst listening. The diagrams were simple enough to understand and yet detailed enough for a good grasp of the slightly harder concepts. The tests were straight forward. That said, this wasn’t such a good fit for us and I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. Dr. Sheldon Margulies is easy to listen to, and the content is interesting. I think the expected learning was just too passive for our family. We like to get stuck in, with lots of hands on activities and applications.
Another problem was that there were only 18 lessons and they no way covered everything Charlotte would need to know for her IGCSE. To be honest this is probably more a difference in content due to geographical variations. Being in the UK we follow the UK syllabi, where as Fascinating Biology is based on American high school requirements.
I think this could suit a student who was revising work already taught, or for students who were struggling with science and who were looking for a simple and easy way to understand the concepts they were not understanding. Parentally, it is very hands off, which is great for high school level.
Do pop over and see what the rest of the review crew thought. They have been reviewing both Fascinating Biology as well as Fascinating Chemistry and Fascinating Physics:
This might make for some fun family television watching in the evenings! Thanks for the information, Claire; I may order one for our summer evening entertainment/education.
Have you tried Khan Academy for science? I don’t know what the iGCSE syllabus includes so can’t comment on whether KA covers it, but I used it a lot when I was studying midwifery and still check there when I struggle with something related to science or maths.
I can’t quite decide if I like the idea of no labs, or if I think high school really needs labs. That’s an interesting thing to think through as my kids hurtle up to high school.