Features:

   
* Clear, Logical Explanations.  Difficult concepts and complex procedures are written in a simple, straightforward style to insure student understanding.
   
* Allied Health Emphasis.  Exercises have been chosen and written to emphasize medical applications of microbiology for nursing and other allied health majors.  See Sample
   
* Research Theme.  What makes science fun is having the opportunity to design independent experiments.  Therefore an experimental research theme is interwoven throughout the manual.  In addition each exercise ends with a Scientific Inquiry box containing suggestions for further experiments.
   
* Critical Thinking.  Students need to learn more than facts.  More and more today allied health professionals are being expected to problem-solve and apply their training to novel situations.  Throughout this book discussion questions are designed to become progressively more challenging and require more critical thought from the students.
   
* Supplementary Materials.  The book contains appendices to offer further help in topics including: detailed safety guidelines for lab, a popular step-by-step tutorial for the metric system, and study guides for microbiological terminology and scientific names.  See Example.
   
* CD-ROM.  A CD-ROM is included that provides software to complement lab exercises on counting microbes, antimicrobial resistance, and serological tests.  It also contains a Color Atlas of lab results.
   
* Color Atlas.  A Color Atlas of lab results contains an extensive collection of photographs taken with a macro lens and through the microscope to provide students with help interpreting their lab results.
   
* Binding.  The lab manual comes pre-drilled with holes for insertion into a student's three ring binder.  Individual labs can be collected for grading and later returned to the manual without disruption of the student's work.
   
* Positive Experience.  Students have reported that they enjoy the hands-on activities and occasional humor of the exercises.  See Example.
   
* Cost.  Textbook costs have become prohibitive to many struggling students.  At $20.00 cost of this book is one-half to one-third the cost of other microbiology lab manuals.