Topics Understanding how organisms are able to respond to changes in their environment Understanding that a coordinated response requires a stimulus, a receptor and an effector Describing how nervous and hormonal communication control responses and understand the differences between the two systems Understanding that the central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord and is linked to sense organs by nerves Understanding that stimulation of receptors in the sense organs sends electrical impulses along nerves into and out of the central nervous system, resulting in rapid responses Understanding the role of neurotransmitters at synapses Describing the structure and functioning of a simple reflex arc illustrated by the withdrawal of a finger from a hot object Describe the structure and function of the eye as a receptor Understanding the function of the eye in focusing near and distant objects, and in responding to changes in light intensity

Topics Describing the structure of the thorax, including the ribs, intercostal muscles, diaphragm, trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli and pleural membranes Understanding the role of the intercostal muscles and the diaphragm in ventilation Explaining how alveoli are adapted for gas exchange by diffusion between air in the lungs and blood in capillaries. Understanding the role of diffusion in gas exchange. Understanding the biological consequences of smoking in relation to the lungs and the circulatory system, including coronary heart disease. Practical tasks Investigating breathing in humans, including the release of carbon dioxide and the effect of exercise

Topics Understanding the terms: population, community, habitat and ecosystem Understanding how abiotic and biotic factors affect the population size and distribution of organisms Understanding the term biodiversity Practical Tasks Investigating the population size of an organism in two different areas using quadrats Investigating the distribution of organisms in their habitats and measure biodiversityusing quadrats Understanding the names given to different trophic levels to include: producers, primary, secondary, tertiary consumers, and decomposers Understanding the concepts of: food chains, food webs, pyramids of number, pyramids of biomass and pyramids of energy transfer. Understanding the transfer of substances and of energy along a food chain Understanding why only about 10% of energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next

Topics Understanding the process of photosynthesis and understand its importance in conversion of light energy to chemical energy Knowing the word equation and the balanced chemical symbol equation for photosynthesis Understanding how varying carbon dioxide concentration, light intensity and temperature affects the rate of photosynthesis Describing the structure of the leaf and explain how it is adapted for photosynthesis Understanding that plants require mineral ions for growth and that magnesium ions are needed for chlorophyll and nitrate ions are needed for amino acids Practical Tasks Investigating photosynthesis, showing: the evolution of oxygen from a water plant the production of starch the requirements of light, carbon dioxide and chlorophyll Maths Skills Calculating percentage changes Drawing graphs using SLAPUK Practical skills in this topic Making accurate predictions of experimental outcomes Identify and explain the variables in an experiment Understanding the difference between biotic and abiotic variables Explaining how to increase the accuracy and precision of an experiment

Topics Understanding how the process of respiration produces ATP in living organisms Knowing that ATP provides energy for cells Describing the differences between aerobic and anaerobic respiration Knowing the word equation and the balanced chemical symbol equation for aerobic respiration in living organisms. Knowing the word equation for anaerobic respiration in plants and in animals. Practical Skills Investigating the evolution of carbon dioxide and heat from respiring seeds or other suitable living organisms

Topics content Describing the structure and function of the human alimentary canal, including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine (duodenum and ileum), large intestine (colon and rectum) and pancreas Understanding how food is moved through the gut by peristalsis Understanding 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. Understanding that bile is produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. Understanding the role of bile in neutralising stomach acid and emulsifying lipids. Understanding how the small intestine is adapted for absorption, including the structure of a villus Understanding the role of enzymes as biological catalysts in metabolic reactions Understanding how temperature changes can affect enzyme function, including changes to the shape of active site Understanding how enzyme function can be affected by changes in pH altering the active site Practical Skills Investigating how enzyme activity can be affected by changes in temperature Investigating how enzyme activity can be affected by changes in pH

Topics Understanding that 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 Describing the levels of organisation within organisms: organelles, cells, tissues, organs and systems Describing cell structures, including the nucleus, cytoplasm, cell membrane, cell wall, mitochondria, chloroplast, ribosomes and vacuole Describing the functions of the nucleus, cytoplasm, cell membrane, cell wall, mitochondria, chloroplasts, ribosomes and vacuole Knowing the similarities and differences in the structure of plant and animal cells Describint 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 threadlike 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 pond water, 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.

Topics Content Understanding that a balanced diet should include appropriate proportions of carbohydrate, protein, lipid, vitamins, minerals, water and dietary fibre 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 Understanding how energy requirements vary with activity levels, age and pregnancy Identifying the chemical elements present in carbohydrates, proteins and lipids (fats and oils) Describing 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 lipid from fatty acids and glycerol Pratical Skills Investigate food samples for the presence of glucose, starch, protein and fat 2.Investigate the energy content in a food sample