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Reviews123 Oxford KS3 Science: Activate 1 Student book Philippa G. Hulme, Jo Locke and Helen

Reynolds123 Oxford KS3 Science: Activate 1 Teacher Handbook Simon Broadly, Mark Matthews, Victoria

Stutt and Nicky Thomas124 Science Stories You Can Count On: 51 Case Studies with Quantitative Reasoning in

Biology Clyde Freeman Herreid, Nancy A. Schiller and Ky F. Herreid124 Argument-Driven Inquiry in Biology: Lab Investigations for Grades 9–12 Victor Sampson,

Patrick Enderle, Leeanne Gleim, Jonathon Grooms, Melanie Hester, Sherry Southerland and Kristin Wilson

125 Sand Dune Ecology – Concept Cartoons Brenda Keogh, Stuart Naylor, Emily Hankey and Jo Williams

125 Uncovering Student Ideas in Physical Science Vol. 2: 39 New Electricity and Magnetism Formative Assessment Probes Page Keeley and Rand Harrington

126 Using Physical Science: Gadgets and Gizmos, Grades 6–8: Phenomenon-based learning Matthew Bobrowsky, Mikko Korhonen and Jukka Kohtamäki

126 Using Physical Science: Gadgets and Gizmos, Grades 9–12: Phenomenon-based learning Matthew Bobrowsky, Mikko Korhonen and Jukka Kohtamäki

127 Saturday Science Vol. 1: Exploding Disk Cannons, Electric Sand and More Neil A. Downie127 Lucky Planet – Why Earth is Exceptional and What That Means for Life in the

Universe David Waltham128 Codebreaking our Future: Deciphering the Future’s Hidden Order Michael Lee128 The Tale of the Duelling Neurosurgeons Sam Kean129 A Taste of Molecules: in Search of the Secrets of Flavor Diane Fresquez129 Science Unshackled: How Obscure, Abstract, Seemingly Useless Scientific Research

Turned Out to Be the Basis for Modern Life C. Renée James130 Teach Now! Science: the Joy of Teaching Science Tom Sherrington130 William’s Word Games for Cells William Hirst130 William’s File of Games for Elements & Compounds William Hirst131 Reviewers

Oxford KS3 Science: Activate 1 Student bookPhilippa G. Hulme, Jo Locke and Helen Reynolds Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 172 pp. £14.99 ISBN 978 0 19 839256 9

Oxford KS3 Science: Activate 1 Teacher HandbookSimon Broadly, Mark Matthews, Victoria Stutt and Nicky Thomas Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 176 pp. £49.99 ISBN 978 0 19 839259 0

Activate is a well-designed key stage 3 science course designed to meet the requirements of the 2014 Programme of Study of the National Curriculum for England. The teacher’s handbook links each lesson to a double page in the student textbook. Three-part lesson plans are designed for 50–60 minute periods with ideas for support and extension, making it a great resource for non-specialist teachers. Lesson outcomes link content with developing skills and move

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away from traditional levels to broader ‘bands’ referring to ‘developing’, ‘secure’ and ‘extending’ targets.The textbook is clearly laid out with key words and objectives signposted for students. Questions for each topic are differentiated and the chapter summary and key points are excellent resources for revision. This book has maths and literacy skills built in from the start of the course to prepare students for the demands of the new GCSEs. The book reflects the challenging content requirements of the new curriculum and would need to be supplemented with additional resources to allow weaker students to get the most from the course.The online Kerboodle resource provides additional worksheets, activities and assessments to support this scheme of work. There are a variety of assessment activities, which are based upon assessment for learning principles, and a checkpoint system encourages teachers to follow assessment with learning.This scheme of work follows a traditional approach rather than a thematic one and would be suitable for schools that are looking to update their schemes of work for the new curriculum.

Natalie Timoney

Science Stories You Can Count On: 51 Case Studies with Quantitative Reasoning in BiologyClyde Freeman Herreid, Nancy A. Schiller and Ky F. Herreid Arlington, VA: NSTA Press, 2014 549 pp. £33.95 ISBN 978 1 938946 05 9

This substantial book aims to develop pupils’ quantitative reasoning skills in biology in an engaging and relevant manner through the use of stories. It is primarily aimed at pupils studying A-level (age 16–18) and above and covers a wide range of areas, including stories with titles such as ‘As the Worm Turns: Speciation and the Maggot Fly’ and ‘The Case of the Druid Dracula’, each providing an opportunity to develop data-handling skills as well as logical reasoning.Following an introduction outlining how and why numbers are so important in biology, there are 51 case studies covering core concepts such as: evolution; pathways and transformations of energy and matter; information flow; exchange and storage; structure and function; and systems. Each case study is a ready-made lesson, providing learning objectives and identifying the quantitative reasoning skills or concepts covered. The case studies themselves consist of stories where the characters have a problem, such as querying whether mobile phone use causes cancer or why bee colonies are collapsing. Data

and activities follow, including tasks such as reading scientific papers, graphing and answering questions. Mathematical skills are comprehensively covered, including using graphs to formulate predictions and explanations, articulating complete and correct claims based on data, and formulating null and alternative hypothesis. There are website links throughout that are helpful and more materials are available online. Unfortunately, the answer key is only available to paid subscribers to the National Centre of Case Study Teaching in Science.The difficulty of the material varies but the contexts are interesting and sure to engage pupils and teachers alike. Those interested in trying the flipped classroom may find it particularly useful as pupils can engage with the often-lengthy material prior to lessons to maximise the use of classroom time.I would recommend this book to those interested in developing an alternative approach to teaching data-handling skills and as a source of ideas for making biology and data more relevant to pupils’ lives.

Sarah Wood

Argument-Driven Inquiry in Biology: Lab Investigations for Grades 9–12Victor Sampson, Patrick Enderle, Leeanne Gleim, Jonathon Grooms, Melanie Hester, Sherry Southerland and Kristin Wilson Arlington, VA: NSTA Press, 2014 456 pp. £25.36 ISBN 978 1 938946 20 2

If you want to extend the use of argumentation in your

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classroom (ages 14–18) or need some new ideas for argumentation-related professional development sessions, this book is for you. The book is in two parts. The first section briefly introduces the theoretical framework and the structure of argument-driven lessons. It is a useful recap for experienced teachers and highlights which teaching approaches support and undermine argument-driven science classrooms.The second section, which is the majority of the book, sets out 27 biology argument-driven inquiry lessons. The topics covered include organisms, ecosystems, genomics and biological evolution. The majority of the practicals will be familiar to biology teachers but the incorporation of inquiry with an explicit argument focus might be unique. All the resources have been developed with teachers and include teaching notes and pupil sheets.Teachers will need time to digest the lesson ideas and consider how they can apply them. The book is huge – you get a lot for your money – and it would be preferable if it were available as an ebook or as an

interactive website where the resources might be downloaded in an editable format.

Melissa Glackin

Sand Dune Ecology – Concept CartoonsBrenda Keogh, Stuart Naylor, Emily Hankey and Jo Williams Sandbach: Millgate House Publishers PDF resource on CD. £20 + VAT

This series of 30 cartoon-style drawings is aimed at ages 8–14 with the intention of introducing and stimulating discussions about sand dunes and succession. The introductory text about sand dune formation is perfectly competent and each slide is followed by brief notes to help answer the questions posed. The comments in the cartoons are made by an extremely politically correct range of youngsters: the issue of how the child in a wheelchair could move across the dunes is not, however, addressed – which would be useful in itself for some teachers. Some of the ideas raised are quite clever and would certainly stimulate discussion on a range of common misunderstandings, as intended. The issues covered are wide-ranging and many concepts could be reviewed.A criticism might be the lack of illustrations of some of

the species mentioned: a few good-quality illustrations of marram grass and euphorbia, for example, would help students – and some teachers – who are not familiar with them, together with some extra illustrations to help explain concepts covered, such as stomata, inrolled leaves, transpiration and nitrogen-fixation. Even a couple of photographs of dramatic dunes, rocks made from dunes and showing dune bedding (e.g. the approach to Liverpool Lime Street Station – the moral being that you don’t have to go somewhere exotic to see ancient dunes!), and perhaps a picture of Skara Brae in Orkney to show what mobile sand can really do would be useful. If I were using this resource, I would feel the need to add this kind of material to it.This is an unusual resource (in my experience) but one I would certainly use (with the proviso above). It is well pitched at the intended age groups but would need an appropriate projector or whiteboard system to be used effectively. It would not be sensible to print individual sheets, for example, since each one contributes only a small amount but there are many of them.

Ian Lancaster

Uncovering Student Ideas in Physical Science Vol. 2: 39 New Electricity and Magnetism Formative Assessment ProbesPage Keeley and Rand Harrington Arlington, VA: NSTA Press, 2014 190 pp. £29.43 ISBN 978 1 936137 70 1

This book is the second volume in a series for physical science:

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there are also books designed to uncover students’ ideas in science generally. The book is securely based on ideas of constructive education and formative assessment. Teachers who would like a refresher in the theory underlying the exercises are provided with a link to the NSTA Press website to download an introductory chapter of the first book of the entire series (the NSTA is the US National Science Teachers Association).All practising physics teachers will be familiar with the confusions and misconceptions that students possess about concepts and phenomena that are studied in the subject, and with the difficulty in helping students to rebuild their ideas correctly, rather than simply memorise a superficial set of definitions and formulae that work in physics tests. These books are designed to address that problem. This volume is concerned with misunderstandings about topics in electricity and magnetism.The 39 introductory ‘probes’ take the form of multiple-choice questions, predictions plus give reasons (e.g. rank bulbs connected in different ways

in order of brightness), and choosing best explanations and models, again with reasons. There are suggestions for how the probes can be followed up and reference material for both the educational design and the material content. The book is designed for the US curriculum, but its content is completely relevant to the UK.I thoroughly recommend this book, particularly for use in key stages 2 and 3 (ages 7–14), but all physics/science teachers could find useful material here. I was reminded of misconceptions that I do not always remember to consider. I am thinking about how some of the probe questions would be a useful Socrative exercise before beginning a topic with a GCSE class, to identify what needed addressing at the start of the topic. I might also use some as group-discussion prompts.

Wendy Swarbrick

Using Physical Science: Gadgets and Gizmos, Grades 6–8: Phenomenon-based learningMatthew Bobrowsky, Mikko Korhonen and Jukka Kohtamäki Arlington, VA: NSTA Press, 2014 120 pp. £24.50 ISBN 978 1 936959 37 2

Using Physical Science: Gadgets and Gizmos, Grades 9–12: Phenomenon-based learningMatthew Bobrowsky, Mikko Korhonen and Jukka Kohtamäki Arlington, VA: NSTA Press, 2014 169 pp. £26.50 ISBN 978 1 936959 36 5

This two-volume publication is designed to encourage phenomenon-based learning (PBL), within the US physical

science curriculum. The books contain plenty of good ideas for physics lessons and they are nicely presented. They are a high-quality resource, published by the US National Science Teachers Association. Details on how to order the gadgets and gizmos from Arbor Scientific are provided, as are numerous weblinks.I enjoyed looking at these books very much and I believe that they could have many uses in UK schools.The first volume (US grades 6–8) equates roughly to key stages 3/4 in UK and the second to key stages 4/5. The chapters are topic-specific, containing pictures and questions about the gadget or gizmo to help set the scene for pupils (and teachers for that matter). Analysis of the experiment/demo and answers to questions posed on each activity are provided in a separate end-of-chapter analysis section. The explanations are clear, accurate and sufficiently detailed to satisfy most pupils and teachers.The experiments/demos contained within each chapter will be useful to inexperienced or beginning physics teachers looking to prepare interesting

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and relevant physics lessons. I have used this PBL approach in physics-subject-knowledge teacher training to great effect. New physics teachers could use the volumes to expand their knowledge and understanding of key physics concepts.There is nothing new in the volumes for the experienced physics teacher, but the references and the fact that ideas are nicely archived in one place will be useful. I found many long-forgotten demos that I am now resurrecting for use in my own lessons!As a prep room reference or for use with teacher training, the books will be invaluable. For all physics teachers there are plenty of ideas to enhance lessons. I am sure that many good lessons will take place as a result of teachers of physics using these volumes.

Stephen Hearn

Saturday Science Vol. 1: Exploding Disk Cannons, Electric Sand and MoreNeil A. Downie eruditiondigital.co.uk, 2014 eBook. 261 pp. + videos and links. £6.99

This is an interesting ebook of science projects, mainly

physics based. A few require some electronics, many are very simple to create, while others require some workshop facilities. There are safety notes for all of them, but teachers might like to make their own risk assessment of some before using with students. The ideas are engaging and (frequently) accessible at GCSE standard (e.g. electric sand and balloon biceps). The supplied explanations usually involve physics at A-level standard. The projects and the theory behind them might make challenging thought experiments as extension activities in A-level classes. The linked videos are themselves a useful resource.The (often quirky) projects suggest new contexts for teaching familiar (to teachers) concepts. For example, Downie describes how to make ‘wet’ solar cells, rather than solid state devices, and a way of sorting round rolling seeds from sliding ones by means of a ski jump – two simple demonstrations for post-GCSE topics that I definitely plan to try next term. Those of us who remember Brunel’s attempt to build a ‘vacuum powered’ railway will appreciate Downie’s working vacuum railroad.In summary, this book will appeal to (physics) teachers who like to find examples beyond the examination board specifications and to students who enjoy practical projects at home, or possibly in a science club.

Wendy Swarbrick

Lucky Planet – Why Earth is Exceptional and What That Means for Life in the UniverseDavid Waltham London: Icon Books, 2014 225 pp. £14.99 ISBN 978 1 84831 656 0

The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe is surely one of the staples of both science and science fiction. Drawing upon evidence from astronomy, geology, climatology, biology and cosmology, the author, an earth scientist, tries to convince us that ‘oddball Earth’ is unique in the universe and that we are, indeed, truly alone. Beginning with the question ‘How typical is the Earth?’, we are given an excellent introduction to the solar system and beyond, informed that, literally, hundreds of quite different types of planets have been described and that the total number of planets (and potential look-alike Earths) in the entire universe would be a figure so large that most publishers would have to buy in an extra supply of zeros to represent it! Yet the

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author maintains that it is far from inevitable that many, or even any, of these other planets would be suitable for life – or, at least, for the evolution of complex, intelligent life.A key requirement for this most unlikely of events is given as the relative stability of the Earth’s climate during its 4.5 billion years of existence. Several chapters follow where the geological evidence for the history of the Earth’s climate is discussed and, while the author agrees that much of the evidence is still contentious, the account is fluent and very persuasive. The feedbacks discussed give a sensible and refreshingly non-hysterical review of the probable consequences of anthropogenic climate change, which alone would recommend the book for beginners in the climate ‘debate’. However, the bottom line of this thesis is, essentially, that the best astronomers, geologists, biologists, cosmologists and all the other ‘-ists’ cannot explain why we are here – we just are. We are the products of an incalculable number of chance events that would have removed us from the scene if they had panned out in any other way, which, considering how unlikely they are to have occurred more than once, is probably what has happened everywhere else. Like the famous old army song (to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, anyone can join in!) it seems ‘We’re here because we’re here because we’re here . . .’ (etc.)Although a little heavy on cosmology in places, this is, generally, a very easy read, managing to be entertaining as well as highly informative. This

is definitely one to recommend to A-level students who like to think across disciplines and to debate big questions.

Ian Lancaster

Codebreaking our Future: Deciphering the Future’s Hidden OrderMichael Lee Oxford: Infinite Ideas, 2014 224 pp. £18.99 ISBN 978 1 908984 26 5

Can anyone see into the future? No, but individuals can attempt prediction and speculation from the analysis of what we know about personal, historical, social, scientific, economic, cultural, etc. experiences, and then attempting ‘code breaking’. Hence the subtitle to Lee’s readable, persuasive, plausible and, for many (most?), convincing arguments. However, there are problems. As Lee puts it at the end of Appendix 1, Timelines of Time: ‘We have the knowledge. We have History as a book of learning. We have science. And we have the future. What excuses can be left if we do

not go on to build the greatest civilisations ever seen?’ This is a question worthy of an answer: whether one is an individual contemplating one’s future or one has responsibility for running an organisation or a country, the answer to this question is a critical one.This book is well researched and draws on many disciplines, including the sciences; it contains much distilled wisdom that will concern everyone with a hoped-for future! Lee’s book should be read by politicians, scientists, economists and anyone who thinks seriously about the future of mankind. A useful, insightful text for senior secondary, college and university students and their teachers and lecturers – or anyone interested in the future.

J. Keri Davies

The Tale of the Duelling NeurosurgeonsSam Kean London: Transworld Publishers, 2014 408 pp. £20.00 ISBN 978 0 85752 219 1

The long subtitle tells one what this book is all about: ‘The

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history of the human brain as revealed by true stories of trauma, madness and recovery.’The first chapter provides an interesting account of the work and influence of Ambroise Paré and Andreas Vesalius – the ‘duelling neurosurgeons’. They both worked – from different belief systems and experiences of brain injuries – on King Henri of France. Whatever their differences, ‘They proved science the superior clairvoyant’, an achievement for 1599. From this point, Kean develops his history of the brain through accounts of trauma, injury and recovery. This is a thorough and competent story of the neurosurgical developments that today we benefit from so much in our hospitals. It is a good account of the development of science and the application of scientific methods in the advancement of the understanding of the brain and its functions.This book should be of interest to anyone who has a brain! It should be on the library shelf for sixth-form, college, and university students interested in the history of science to explore. It is a good, instructive, and enlightening read for scientists and historians.

J. Keri Davies

A Taste of Molecules: in Search of the Secrets of FlavorDiane Fresquez New York: Feminist Press, 2013 208 pp. £11.24 ISBN 978 1 55861 840 4

Diane Fresquez is an American food journalist and this book is the story of her journey ‘in search of the secrets of flavor’.

The journey begins at a party in Belgium and progresses, via an encounter with a beekeeper who wants to develop his own brand of mead, through a world of research labs in Belgium, England, Denmark and the Netherlands. The final section of the book is a small collection of related recipes.Although some of the molecules that give particular foods their characteristic flavours are named, there are no diagrams of those molecules in this book. In fact, unlike most of the books that are reviewed in School Science Review, this one does not contain a single photograph or diagram. It is, however, full of vivid descriptions of the scientists that Fresquez met, the places that they worked in and the kind of work that they were engaged in. One scientist was developing new varieties of apples; another worked on developing manufactured food flavourings; another scientist described her work on how what a mother eats affects the flavour of her breast milk; and the work of yet another was about suppressing unwanted flavours in certain foods.

The descriptions of the scientists themselves often include details of what they studied, the degrees they hold and the range of research they have been involved in. The descriptions of the scientists’ work include details of not only the physical environment but also the human dimension of the work, the constraints and the occasional setbacks. A lot of the research described is about perception and human behaviour as well as food chemistry. One researcher’s comment that ‘Food is not nutritious before it’s eaten’ is explained by a brief account of her work developing a highly nutritious biscuit for malnourished children, only to find that they would not eat it because they didn’t like the taste.‘Food and memory’ is a recurring theme and, for me, there is just too much description of the memories evoked by particular smells and flavours. However, this is an easy read that provides insights into how real scientist do real research. As such it is deserving of a place in a science department library or a school library.

Miriam Chaplin

Science Unshackled: How Obscure, Abstract, Seemingly Useless Scientific Research Turned Out to Be the Basis for Modern LifeC. Renée James Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014 198 pp. £16.00 ISBN 978 1 4214 1500 0

This book aims to justify why society should pay for basic

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scientific research. The author makes the argument that many of the scientific developments that we now rely on, such as GPS systems in mobile phones or common painkillers, are actually the by-product of pure scientific research. The benefits are collateral spin-offs from the research. His argument is to answer those who criticise the amount of money being spent on pure research with no obvious foreseeable benefit to the funders.In making this argument, the author takes the reader on a series of scientific travels through the history of the science that led to these breakthroughs and discoveries. This includes some well-travelled areas of scientific history such as the work of Crick and Watson on DNA or Eddington’s proof of Einstein’s theory of relativity. However, there are many stories from less-travelled areas of scientific history and, for me, these were the most interesting parts of the book. Unfortunately, the rapid overview style of the book meant that many of these stories left me wanting to learn more.

This book is aimed primarily at the American public and politicians who are responsible for the funding of science and the language of the book reflects this. It is an interesting book and the level of research that has gone into it is commendable. However, it felt more like an intellectual snack than a meal and left me wanting more.

Ann Reddecliffe

Teach Now! Science: the Joy of Teaching ScienceTom Sherrington Abingdon: David Fulton/Routledge, 2014 209 pp. £16.99 ISBN 9780415726900

Teach Now! Science is one of a series of books aimed at student teachers, taking them from first steps through to getting their first job. This is a very good book, packed with practical advice and the wisdom of experience and written by a skilled practitioner.It is very good at picking out the really important things that teachers need to know and explaining how to teach them. It goes through key vocabulary and core concepts and how to deal with them and different

modes of teaching. The chapter on science as a practical subject is particularly useful because it deals with the experiments and equipment that every science teacher has to master, taking in health and safety advice, tips on using equipment and advice on carrying out some of the core science experiments. It also explains the different ways that experiments can be done and how to link them to conceptual development.There is detailed advice on differentiation, including advice on catering for the most able. This advice is broken down into specific examples so the reader would know what they are trying to do and have guidance on how to do it. There is also a chapter on formative assessment and this offers clear advice on good practice for assessing pupils to help them improve. At a time when the National Curriculum has changed, this type of material is very helpful.The series has a website linked to the publisher, Routledge, offering free resources and materials that cover a wide range of subjects and many of them can be easily adapted for science use.

Ann Reddecliffe

William’s Word Games for CellsWilliam Hirst, 2014 Available from www.williamsgames.org 134 pp. hard copy, £69; zip file (2.9 MB) of 24 PDF files, £50.00 ISBN 978 0 955520 71 6

William’s File of Games for Elements & CompoundsWilliam Hirst, 2014 Available from www.williamsgames.org

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zip file (3.7 MB) of 26 PDF files, £40.00 ISBN 978 0 955 520 75 4

These are two of a series of packages designed to teach and reinforce scientific literacy. They are aimed mainly at key stages 2 and 3 (ages 7–14), but are also relevant for key stage 4 (ages 14–16), especially for those who struggle with scientific terminology.Each package consists of a large selection of literacy activities, taking many different formats. Some formats are ones that teachers are likely to be familiar with, but there are some fresh ideas here too. Each activity has several versions, so you can target different levels of ability or different areas of the same topic. These are versatile and could be used as starters or plenaries or homework activities.In reviewing these, I started with the elements and compounds package and I must admit that I was not sure

what to do with some of the resources. As a stand-alone resource this would benefit from more instructions. However, the cells package has more extensive instructions and explains what to do with each one. It would have helped if I had looked at that one first.Free sample activities are available on the William’s Words website. On their own, these sample activities do not do justice to the large range and variety of materials

available in these packages. However, they do give an idea of the types of material that are available and anyone considering purchasing these materials might like to view the samples first.Each activity is available as a PDF file so that the sheets can be printed easily. This makes them very easy to use. There are some very useful materials here that would enhance lessons and help make learning scientific vocabulary more fun.

Ann Reddecliffe

ReviewersMiriam Chaplin is a STEM education writer, editor and teacher trainer.

J. Keri Davies is an independent consultant in higher education.

Melissa Glackin is a lecturer in science education at King’s College London.

Stephen Hearn is an A-level physics teacher, IoP teacher networker in Surrey and physics subject knowledge teacher training coordinator.

Ian Lancaster is an evolutionary biologist who lives in Cheshire.

Ann Reddecliffe teaches science in Leicestershire.

Wendy Swarbrick teaches science in the south of England.

Natalie Timoney is Head of Science at the Royal Masonic School, Hertfordshire.

Sarah Wood teaches biology in North West London.

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