Ideal for the well armed student

Biology is a suite of 21 short programs by B. G. Mainwaring for use with CSE 'O' and 'A' level students.

There is very little given in the way of documentation, merely two sides of a small card giving program names, loading times and brief descriptions.

Details are also given on how to run them on a BBC Micro that has an active disc filing system and also how to save the programs on disc if desired.

Most of the programs are introduced with audible as well as visual cues. In principle this is a good idea, but the thought of the sound of several micros running these programs at the same time is horrendous.

After a somewhat irritating introductory sound sequence, program one produces a nice colour display of the human skeleton. A series of 10 questions asking for correct labelling of bones follows.

Program two demonstrates levers in the body and others cover the female mammalian reproductive system and men strual cycle, mendelian genetics, genotypes, biochemistry, the central nervous system, the mammalian ear, blood circu lation and the mammalian eye structure and function.

Clearly you get what you pay for and at £12.50 each program costs only 60p. Not bad! For those teachers who have some ability to program it would be desirable to add more features to this package in order to enable it to be clearer and less student prone.

Biology from Silverland has a lot going for it. It would be best used by individual students who were well-armed with notes, rather than for class demon stration and would be of most use if stored on disc to enable rapid access.

Peter Hillman