Biology - Trilogy

Topic Learning Objective 

B1 - Cell Structure and Transport
How microscopy techniques have developed over time
The differences in magnification and resolution between a light microscope and an
1.1
electron microscope
How to calculate the magnification, real size and image size of a specimen
The main parts of animal cells
1.2
The similarities and differences between plant and animal cells
The similarities and differences between eukaryotic cells and prokaryotic cells
1.3 How bacteria compare to animal and plant cells
The size and scale of cells including order of magnitude calculations
How cells differentiate to form specialised cells
1.4 Animal cells may be specialised to carry out a particular function
How the structure of different types of animal cells relates to their function
How plant cells may be specialised to carry out a particular function
1.5
How the structure of different types of plant cells relates to their function
How diffusion takes place and why it is important in living organisms
1.6
What affects the rate of diffusion
How osmosis differs from diffusion
1.7
Why osmosis is so important in animal cells
Why osmosis is so important in plant cells
1.8
How to investigate the effect of osmosis on plant tissues
How active transport works
1.9
The importance of active transport in cells
How the surface area to volume ratio varies depending on the size of an organism
1.10 Why large multicellular organisms need special systems for exchanging materials with the
environment
B2 - Cell Division
The role of the chromosomes in cells
2.1 The importance of the cell cycle
How cells divide by mitosis
How cell differentiation varies in animals and plants
2.2
The production and use of plant clones
How stem cells are different from other body cells
The functions of stem cells in embryos, in adult animals and in plants
2.3
How treatment with stem cells may be used to treat people with different medical
conditions
The process of therapeutic cloning
2.4 Some of the potential benefits, risks, and social and ethical issues of the use of stem cells
in medical research and treatments
B3 - Organisation and the Digestive System
How specialised cells become organised into tissues
3.1
How several different tissues work together to form an organ
3.2 The position of the main organs of the human digestive system
3.3 The basic structures of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids
What a catalyst is
3.4 How enzymes work as biological catalysts
What metabolism of the body involves
 How temperature and pH affect enzyme action
3.5
Different enzymes work fastest at different temperatures and pH values
How the food you eat is digested in your body
3.6
The roles played by different digestive enzymes
3.7 The roles of hydrochloric acid and bile in making digestion more efficient
B4 - Organising Animals and Plants
How substances are transported to and from the cells
4.1 That blood is made up of many different components
The functions if each main component of blood
How the blood flows round the body
That there are different types of blood vessels
4.2
Why valves are important
The importance of a double circulatory system
The structure and functions of the heart
4.3
Ways of solving problems with the blood supply to the heart and problems with valves
How the heart keeps its natural rhythm
4.4 How artificial pacemakers work
What artificial hearts can do
The structure of the human gas exchange system
4.5
How gases are exchanged in the alveoli of the lungs
The roots, stem, and leaves of a plant form a plant organ system for transport of
4.6
substances around the plant
The substances that are transported in plants
4.7
How transport in the xylem tissue differs from transport in the phloem tissue
What transpiration is
4.8
The role of stomata and guard cells in controlling gas exchange and water loss
The factors that affect the rate of transpiration
4.9
Ways of investigating the effect of environmental factors on rates of water uptake
B5 – Communicable Disease
What health is
5.1 The different causes of ill health
How different types of disease interact
What pathogens are
5.2 How they cause disease
How pathogens are spread
5.5 How the spread of disease can be reduced or prevented
Some examples of plant and animal diseases caused by viruses, including measles,
5.6
HIV/AIDS and tobacco mosaic virus
Some examples of plant and animal diseases caused by bacteria, including Salmonella food
5.7
poisoning and gonorrhoea
Some examples of plant diseases caused by fungi, including rose black spot
5.8 Some examples of animal diseases caused by protists, including malaria
How the spread of diseases can be reduced or prevented
How your body stops pathogens getting in
5.9
How your white blood cells protect you from disease
B6 – Preventing and Treating disease
How your immune system works
6.1
How vaccination protects you against disease
6.2 What medicines are and how some of them work
That painkillers and other medicines treat disease symptoms but do not kill pathogens
 The ways in which antibiotics can and cannot be used
Some of the drugs traditionally extracted from plants
6.3 How penicillin was discovered
How scientists look for new drugs
The stages involved in testing and trialling new drugs
6.4
Why testing drugs is so important
B7 - Non-communicable Diseases
What is meant by a non-communicable disease
What a lifestyle factor is
7.1 How scientists consider risk
The human and financial costs involved
What a causal mechanism is
What a tumour is
7.2 The difference between benign and malignant tumours
How cancer spreads
How smoking affects the risk of developing cardiovascular disease
7.3 How smoking affects the risk of developing lung disease and lung cancer
The effect of smoking on unborn babies
The effect of diet and exercise on the development of obesity
7.4 How diet and exercise affect the risk of developing cardiovascular disease
That obesity is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes
That alcohol affects liver and brain function
That alcohol can affect unborn babies
7.5
That alcohol is a carcinogen
That many other agents act as carcinogens
B8 - Photosynthesis
The raw materials and energy source for photosynthesis
8.1 That photosynthesis is an endothermic reaction
The equations that summarise photosynthesis
8.2 Which factors limit the rate of photosynthesis in plants
How plants use the glucose they make
8.3 The extra materials that plants need to produce proteins
Some practical tests for starch, sugars and proteins
How the different factors affecting the rate of photosynthesis interact
8.4
How humans can manipulate the environment in which plants grow
B9 - Respiration
The chemistry of aerobic respiration
9.1
Why cellular respiration is so important
9.2 How your body responds to the increased demands for energy during exercise
Why less energy is transferred by anaerobic respiration than by aerobic respiration
What is meant by an oxygen debt
9.3
That anaerobic respiration takes place in lots of different organisms, including plants,
bacteria and fungi
That metabolism is the sum of all the reactions in a cell or the body of an organism
9.4
How the liver is involved in repaying the oxygen debt
B10 - The Human Nervous System
Why it is important to control your internal environment
10.1
The key elements of control systems
10.2 Why you need a nervous system
 How the structure of the nervous system is adapted to its function
How receptors enable you to respond to changes in your surroundings
What reflexes are
10.3 How reflexes work
Why reflexes are important in your body
B11 - Hormonal Coordination
What a hormone is
11.1 The main organs of the endocrine system
The role of the pituitary gland
The role of the pancreas in monitoring and controlling blood glucose concentration
How insulin controls blood glucose levels in the body
11.2
How glucagon and insulin interact to control blood glucose levels
What causes diabetes
11.3 The differences in the way type 1 and type 2 diabetes are treated
What adrenaline and thyroxine do in the body
11.4
The importance of negative feedback systems
The main human reproductive hormones
11.5
How hormones control the changes at puberty
The roles of hormones in human reproduction
11.6
How hormones interact to control the menstrual cycle
11.7 A number of different methods of hormonal and non-hormonal contraception
11.8 How hormones can be used to treat infertility
B13 - Reproduction
13.1 The main differences between asexual and sexual reproduction
How cells divide by meiosis to form gametes
How meiosis halves the number of chromosomes in gametes and fertilisation restores the
13.2
full number
How sexual reproduction gives rise to variation
About DNA as the material of inheritance
13.4 What a genome is
Some of the benefits of studying the human genome
That different forms of genes, called alleles, can be either dominant or recessive
How to predict the results of genetic crosses when a character is controlled by a single
13.7 gene
How to interpret Punnett square diagrams
How to construct Punnett square diagrams
How to use proportion and ratios to express the outcome of a genetic cross
13.8 How sex is inherited
How to use family trees
13.9 How the human genetic disorders polydactyly and cystic fibrosis are inherited
That embryos can be screened for some of the alleles that cause genetic disorders
13.10
Some of the concerns and issues associated with these screening processes
B14 - Variation and Evolution
What makes you different from the rest of your family
14.1
Why identical twins are not exactly the same in every way
How natural selection works
14.2
How evolution occurs via natural selection
What selective breeding is
14.3 How selective breeding works
What the benefits and risks of selective breeding are
 How genes are transferred from one organism to another in genetic engineering to
obtain a desired characteristic
14.4
The potential benefits and problems associated with genetic engineering in agriculture
and medicine
Some of the concerns and uncertainties about the new genetic technologies, such as
14.7
cloning and genetic engineering
B15 - Genetics and Evolution
The evidence for the origins of life on Earth
15.5 How fossils are formed
What we can learn from fossils
What fossils can reveal about how organisms have changed over time
15.6
How organisms can become extinct
How environmental change can cause extinction
15.7
How single catastrophic events can cause extinction on a massive scale
What is meant by antibiotic resistance
The part played by mutation in the development of antibiotic strains of bacteria
15.8
How people can reduce the rate of development of antibiotic resistant strains such as
MRSA
The basic principles of classification and the system developed by Linnaeus
15.9 The binomial naming system of genus and species
How new technologies have changed classification
More about the ways in which new technology has changed how scientists classify
15.10 organisms
How scientists use evolutionary trees
B16 - Adaptations, Interdependence and Competition
What is meant by a stable community
16.1 How organisms are adapted to the conditions in which they live
The relationship between communities and ecosystems
16.2 Some if the factors that affect communities
How to measure the distribution of living things in their natural environment
16.3
How finding the mean, median and mode can help you understand your data
Why animals compete
The factors that organisms are competing for in a habitat
16.4
How organisms are adapted to the environment they live in
What makes an animal a successful competitor
What plants compete for
16.5 How plants compete
Adaptations that plants have to make them successful competitors
What organisms need in order to survive
16.6
How organisms are adapted to survive in many different conditions
16.7 Some of the ways in which animals are adapted in order to survive
16.8 Some of the ways in which plants are adapted to survive
B17 - Organising an Ecosystem
The importance of photosynthesis in feeding relationships
17.1 The main feeding relationships within a community
How the numbers of predators and prey in a community are related
How materials are recycled in a stable community
17.2
The importance of decay
What the carbon cycle is
17.3
The processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and return it again
 B18 – Biodiversity and Ecosystems
What biodiversity is and why it is important
18.1
Some of the effects of the growth in human population on the Earth and its resources
How human activities pollute the land
18.2
How human activities pollute the water
How acid rain is formed
18.3 How acid rain affects living organisms
How air pollution causes global dimming and smog
What is meant by deforestation
18.4 Why loss of biodiversity matters
The environmental effects of destroying peat bogs
What is meant by global warming
18.5
How global warming could affect life on Earth
How waste, deforestation and global warming all have an impact on biodiversity
18.7 Some of the ways people are trying to reduce the impact of human activities on
ecosystems and maintain biodiversity
Maths Skills for Biology
Recognise and use expressions in decimal form
MS1 Recognise and use expressions in standard form
Arithmetic &
Numerical
Computation
Use ratios, fractions and percentages
Make estimates of the results of simple calculations
MS2 Use an appropriate number of significant figures
Handling
Data Find arithmetic means
Construct and interpret frequency tables and bar charts
Make order of magnitude calculations
MS3 Understand and use the symbols: =, <, <<, >>, >, α ,~
Algebra Solve simple algebraic equations
Translate information between graphical and numeric form
MS4 Explain that y = mx + c represents a linear relationship
Graphs Plot two variables from experimental or other data
Determine the slope and intercept of a linear graph
MS5
Geometry &
Trigonometr
Calculate areas of rectangles and surface areas, and volumes of cubes
y