Nuffield Biology: Year Four - Living Things in Action

The title of the fourth year of the original Nuffield Biology course is ‘Living Things in Action’. This makes up the middle year of the three-year intermediate programme leading to certification at age 16.

The textbook is highly illustrated in black and white with clear line diagrams, often in three dimensions. It includes explanatory text, instructions for practical work and background reading.

The Teachers’ Guide provide detailed technical support for the practical work, notes on the teaching and background information for teachers. The details of the procedures were developed in the 1960s, parts are out of date and the advice on health and safety does not measure up to modern standards.

Nuffield Biology also published a small booklet called ‘Keys to small organisms in soil, litter, and water troughs’ . The two keys in the booklet were intended as a rough guide to plants and animals which may be found at different stages of the fieldwork during the fourth year of the course.

Contents
Chapter 1 - Becoming established in a habitat
Chapter 2 - Community and succession
Chapter 3 - A community in the soil
Chapter 4 - Cells and water
Chapter 5 - The control of water content
Chapter 6 - Substances in solution
Chapter 7 -Transport systems in animals
Chapter 8 - Mass-flow systems in plants
Chapter 9 – Organisms 'behave'
Chapter 10 - Structures which 'do' things
Chapter 11 - Detecting changes in the environment
Chapter 12 - Linking systems
Chapter 13 - Adjustment
Chapter 14 - An important 'adjustment' organ: the kidney
Chapter 15 - Behaviour and survival
Chapter 16 - Climax and feeding
Chapter 17 - How some living organisms provide habitats for others
Chapter 18 - How man may affect his surroundings