Biology: Unit 1 (Year 10)

The following sub-topics are covered in this section.

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Knowledge/skill/concept Lesson title/ Textbook pages Revision guide Revised/

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questions

The Nature and Variety of Living Organisms

1.1 Understand how living organisms share the following characteristics:

• they require nutrition

• they respire
• they excrete their waste
• they respond to their surroundings
• they move
• they control their internal conditions
• they reproduce
• they grow and develop.

1.2 Describe the common features shown by eukaryotic organisms: plants, animals,
fungi and protoctists

Plants: these are multicellular organisms; their cells contain chloroplasts and are able to
carry out photosynthesis; their cells have cellulose cell walls; they store carbohydrates as
starch or sucrose.

Examples include flowering plants, such as a cereal (for example maize) and a
herbaceous legume (for example peas or beans).
Animals: these are multicellular organisms; their cells do not contain chloroplasts and are
not able to carry out photosynthesis; they have no cell walls; they usually have nervous
co-ordination and are able to move from one place to another; they often store
carbohydrate as glycogen.

Examples include mammals (for example humans) and insects (for example
housefly and mosquito).

Fungi: these are organisms that are not able to carry out photosynthesis; their body is
usually organised into a mycelium made from thread-like structures called hyphae, which
contain many nuclei; some examples are single-celled; their cells have walls made of
chitin; they feed by extracellular secretion of digestive enzymes onto food material and
absorption of the organic products; this is known as saprotrophic nutrition; they may store
carbohydrate as glycogen.

Examples include Mucor, which has the typical fungal hyphal structure, and yeast,
which is single-celled.

Protoctists: these are microscopic single-celled organisms. Some, like Amoeba, that live
in pondwater, have features like an animal cell, while others, like Chlorella, have
chloroplasts and are more like plants.

A pathogenic example is Plasmodium, responsible for causing malaria.

1.3 Describe the common features shown by prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria

Bacteria: these are microscopic single-celled organisms; they have a cell wall, cell
membrane, cytoplasm and plasmids; they lack a nucleus but contain a circular
chromosome of DNA; some bacteria can carry out photosynthesis but most feed off other
living or dead organisms.

Examples include Lactobacillus bulgaricus, a rod-shaped bacterium used in the

production of
yoghurt from milk, and Pneumococcus, a spherical bacterium that acts as the pathogen
causing pneumonia.
1.4 Understand the term ‘pathogen’ and know that pathogens may include fungi,
bacteria, protoctists and viruses

Viruses: these are not living organisms. They are small particles, smaller than bacteria;
they are parasitic and can reproduce only inside living cells; they infect every type of living
organism. They have a wide variety of shapes and sizes; they have no cellular structure
but have a protein coat and contain one type of nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA

Examples include the tobacco mosaic virus that causes discolouring of the leaves of
tobacco plants by preventing the formation of chloroplasts, the influenza virus that
causes flu and the HIV virus that causes AIDS.

Structure and functions in living organisms: Part 1

a)​ Levels of Organisation

2.1 describe the levels of organisation in organisms: organelles, cells, tissues, organs
and systems

b)​ Cell Structure

2.2 Describe cell structures, including the nucleus, cytoplasm, cell membrane, cell wall,
mitochondria, chloroplasts, ribosomes and vacuole

2.3 Describe the functions of the nucleus, cytoplasm, cell membrane, cell wall,
mitochondria, chloroplasts, ribosomes and vacuole

2.4 Know the similarities and differences in the structure of plant and animal cells

c)​ Biological Molecules

2.7 identify the chemical elements present in carbohydrates, proteins and lipids (fats and
oils)
 2.8 describe the structure of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids as large molecules made
up from
smaller basic units: starch and glycogen from simple sugars, protein from amino acids,
and
lipid from fatty acids and glycerol

2.9 practical: investigate food samples for the presence of glucose, starch, protein and fat

2.10 understand the role of enzymes as biological catalysts in metabolic reactions

2.11 understand how temperature changes can affect enzyme function, including
changes to the
shape of active site

2.12 practical: investigate how enzyme activity can be affected by changes in temperature

2.13 understand how enzyme function can be affected by changes in pH altering the
active site

d) Movement of substances into and out of cells

2.15 understand the processes of diffusion, osmosis and active transport by which
substances move into and out of cells

2.16 understand how factors affect the rate of movement of substances into and out of
cells, including the effects of surface area to volume ratio, distance, temperature and
concentration gradient

2.17 practical: investigate diffusion and osmosis using living and non-living systems

e) Nutrition

Flowering Plants
 2.18 understand the process of photosynthesis and its importance in the conversion of
light energy to chemical energy

2.19 know the word equation and the balanced chemical symbol equation for
photosynthesis

2.20 understand how varying carbon dioxide concentration, light intensity and
temperature affect the rate of photosynthesis

2.21 describe the structure of the leaf and explain how it is adapted for photosynthesis

2.22 understand that plants require mineral ions for growth, and that magnesium ions are
needed
for chlorophyll and nitrate ions are needed for amino acids

2.23 practical: investigate photosynthesis, showing the evolution of oxygen from a water
plant, the production of starch and the requirements of light, carbon dioxide and
chlorophyll

Humans

2.24 understand that a balanced diet should include appropriate proportions of

carbohydrate, protein, lipid, vitamins, minerals, water and dietary fibre

2.25 identify the sources and describe the functions of carbohydrate, protein, lipid (fats
and oils), vitamins A, C and D, the mineral ions calcium and iron, water and dietary fibre
as components of the diet

2.26 understand how energy requirements vary with activity levels, age and pregnancy

2.27 describe the structure and function of the human alimentary canal, including the
mouth, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine (duodenum and ileum), large intestine
(colon and rectum) and pancreas
2.28 understand how food is moved through the gut by peristalsis

2.29 understand the role of digestive enzymes, including the digestion of starch to
glucose by amylase and maltase, the digestion of proteins to amino acids by proteases
and the digestion of lipids to fatty acids and glycerol by lipases

2.30 understand that bile is produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder

2.31 understand the role of bile in neutralising stomach acid and emulsifying lipids

2.32 understand how the small intestine is adapted for absorption, including the structure
of a villus

f) Respiration
2.34 understand how the process of respiration produces ATP in living organisms

2.35 know that ATP provides energy for cells

2.36 describe the differences between aerobic and anaerobic respiration

2.37 know the word equation and the balanced chemical symbol equation for aerobic
respiration in living organisms

2.38 know the word equation for anaerobic respiration in plants and in animals

2.39 practical: investigate the evolution of carbon dioxide and heat from respiring seeds
or other suitable living organisms

g) Gas Exchange

Humans
2.46 describe the structure of the thorax, including the ribs, intercostal muscles,
diaphragm, trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli and pleural membranes

2.47 understand the role of the intercostal muscles and the diaphragm in ventilation

2.48 explain how alveoli are adapted for gas exchange by diffusion between air in the
lungs and blood in capillaries

2.49 understand the biological consequences of smoking in relation to the lungs and the
circulatory system, including coronary heart disease

2.50 practical: investigate breathing in humans, including the release of carbon dioxide
and the effect of exercise