Brooks/Cole Publishing has provided instructors with a creative option in the pursuit for innovative yet accurate introductory texts. Chance's First Course in Applied Behavior Analysis is a notable attempt to provide readings that are thorough, informative, and interesting for beginning students. The text assumes no prior educational experiences in psychology or behavior analysis. The text is unambiguous and extremely easy to read while introducing the basic principles and procedures of applied behavior analysis.
The majority of the text is written as a series of transcripts from a one-semester simulated classroom. These transcripts include questions, answers, and amusingly, interpretations from the students. The fictional characters provide the reader with opportunities to think critically and interact with the material, particularly when a character answers incompletely or incorrectly. The fictional professor (Dr. Cee) writes definitions on the board, provides examples of behavioral principles, gives handouts, and even assigns practice quizzes. The style is vaguely reminiscent of the instructor—student interactions found in Malott, Whaley, and Malott (1997).
An accompanying instructor's manual includes chapter outlines, classroom activities, practice quizzes, and a complete test bank. The test bank includes completion, true-false, multiple choice, short answer, and short essay questions and is also available in a computerized format. In summary, this introductory text is thorough, well written, and informative; however, instructors should carefully plan strategies for overcoming the potential limitations, especially if this book is used with more advanced students. Chance has provided a text that can help behavior analysts reach new audiences. First Course in Applied Behavior Analysis is a welcomed addition to the library of introductory behavior analysis texts.