We live in an age of science, and it is essential that students of today, who will occupy positions of leadership in the twenty-first century, hav.e the background of a modern and forward-looking program in science. As biology may be the first, last, and only science to which the majority of students are exposed in their formal education, it must be accurate and modern in biological content and must instill a comprehension of both science and the scientific enterprise.
For years, many of our better teachers have been expressing dissatisfaction with the tools with which they have had to work. They wanted to teach modern biology in an imaginative, investigative, and inquiry-oriented fashion, but the texts available to them fostered the rote memorization of lists of names, facts, and dates. This decade has witnessed a spectacular improvement in biological education, and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study has played an important role in that improvement. The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study was organized to improve biological education at all levels of instruction...