Pay attention to objectivity and concern for accuracy, precision, repeatability and reproducibility
Understand that scientific methods and theories develop as earlier explanations are modified to take account of new evidence and ideas, together with the importance of publishing results and peer review
Evaluate risks
Experimental skills and investigations
Ask questions and develop a line of enquiry based on observations of the real world, alongside prior knowledge and experience
Make predictions using scientific knowledge and understanding
Select, plan and carry out the most appropriate types of scientific enquiries to test predictions, including identifying independent, dependent and control variables, where appropriate
Make and record observations and measurements using a range of methods for different investigations; and evaluate the reliability of methods and suggest possible improvements
Apply sampling techniques
Analysis and evaluation
Apply mathematical concepts and calculate results
Present observations and data using appropriate methods, including tables and graphs
Content of a healthy human diet: carbohydrates, lipids (fats and oils), proteins, vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and water, and why each is needed
Calculations of energy requirements in a healthy daily diet
The consequences of imbalances in the diet, including obesity, starvation and deficiency diseases
The tissues and organs of the human digestive system, including adaptations to function and how the digestive system digests food (enzymes simply as biological catalysts)
The importance of bacteria in the human digestive system
Plants making carbohydrates in their leaves by photosynthesis and gaining mineral nutrients and water from the soil via their roots
The mechanism of breathing to move air in and out of the lungs, using a pressure model to explain the movement of gases, including simple measurements of lung volume
The impact of exercise, asthma and smoking on the human gas exchange system
The role of leaf stomata in gas exchange in plants
Reproduction
Reproduction in humans (as an example of a mammal), including the structure and function of the male and female reproductive systems, menstrual cycle (without details of hormones), gametes, fertilisation, gestation and birth, to include the effect of maternal lifestyle on the foetus through the placenta
Reproduction in plants, including flower structure, wind and insect pollination, fertilisation, seed and fruit formation and dispersal, including quantitative investigation of some dispersal mechanisms
The dependence of almost all life on Earth on the ability of photosynthetic organisms, such as plants and algae, to use sunlight in photosynthesis to build organic molecules that are an essential energy store and to maintain levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
The adaptations of leaves for photosynthesis
Cellular respiration
Aerobic and anaerobic respiration in living organisms, including the breakdown of organic molecules to enable all the other chemical processes necessary for life
A simple model of chromosomes, genes and DNA in heredity, including the part played by Watson, Crick, Wilkins and Franklin in the development of the DNA model
The variation between individuals within a species being continuous or discontinuous, to include measurement and graphical representation of variation
The variation between species and between individuals of the same species means some organisms compete more successfully, which can drive natural selection
Changes in the environment may leave individuals within a species, and some entire species, less well adapted to compete successfully and reproduce, which in turn may lead to extinction
Calculation of fuel uses and costs in the domestic context
Comparing energy values of different foods (from labels) (kJ)
Comparing power ratings of appliances in watts (W, kW)
Comparing amounts of energy transferred (J, kJ, kW hour)
Domestic fuel bills, fuel use and costs
Fuels and energy resources
Energy changes and transfers
Simple machines give bigger force but at the expense of smaller movement (and vice versa): product of force and displacement unchanged
Heating and thermal equilibrium: temperature difference between two objects leading to energy transfer from the hotter to the cooler one, through contact (conduction) or radiation; such transfers tending to reduce the temperature difference: use of insulators
Other processes that involve energy transfer: changing motion, dropping an object, completing an electrical circuit, stretching a spring, metabolism of food, burning fuels
Energy as a quantity that can be quantified and calculated; the total energy has the same value before and after a change
Comparing the starting with the final conditions of a system and describing increases and decreases in the amounts of energy associated with movements, temperatures, changes in positions in a field, in elastic distortions and in chemical compositions
Forces: associated with deforming objects; stretching and squashing – springs; with rubbing and friction between surfaces, with pushing things out of the way; resistance to motion of air and water
Forces measured in newtons, measurements of stretch or compression as force is changed
Force-extension linear relation; Hooke's Law as a special case
Work done and energy changes on deformation
Non-contact forces: gravity forces acting at a distance on Earth and in space, forces between magnets and forces due to static electricity
Atmospheric pressure, decreases with increase of height as weight of air above decreases with height
Pressure in liquids, increasing with depth; upthrust effects, floating and sinking
Pressure measured by ratio of force over area – acting normal to any surface
Balanced forces
Opposing forces and equilibrium: weight held by stretched spring or supported on a compressed surface
Forces and motion
Forces being needed to cause objects to stop or start moving, or to change their speed or direction of motion (qualitative only)
Change depending on direction of force and its size
Waves
Observed waves
Waves on water as undulations which travel through water with transverse motion; these waves can be reflected, and add or cancel – superposition
Transverse waves (8-M.1)
Sound waves
Frequencies of sound waves, measured in hertz (Hz); echoes, reflection and absorption of sound
Transmission, reflection and absorption of waves (8-M.2)
Sound needs a medium to travel, the speed of sound in air, in water, in solids
Sound produced by vibrations of objects, in loudspeakers, detected by their effects on microphone diaphragm and the ear drum; sound waves are longitudinal
Auditory range of humans and animals
Energy and waves
Pressure waves transferring energy; use for cleaning and physiotherapy by ultrasound; waves transferring information for conversion to electrical signals by microphone
Light waves
The similarities and differences between light waves and waves in matter
Electromagnetic waves (8-M.3)
Light waves travelling through a vacuum; speed of light
Electromagnetic waves (8-M.3)
The transmission of light through materials: absorption, diffuse scattering and specular reflection at a surface
Use of ray model to explain imaging in mirrors, the pinhole camera, the refraction of light and action of convex lens in focusing (qualitative); the human eye
Light transferring energy from source to absorber leading to chemical and electrical effects; photo-sensitive material in the retina and in cameras
Colours and the different frequencies of light, white light and prisms (qualitative only); differential colour effects in absorption and diffuse reflection
Electric current, measured in amperes, in circuits, series and parallel circuits, currents add where branches meet and current as flow of charge
Potential difference, measured in volts, battery and bulb ratings; resistance, measured in ohms, as the ratio of potential difference (p.d.) to current
Differences in resistance between conducting and insulating components (quantitative)
Static electricity
Separation of positive or negative charges when objects are rubbed together: transfer of electrons, forces between charged objects
The idea of electric field, forces acting across the space between objects not in contact
The differences in arrangements, in motion and in closeness of particles explaining changes of state, shape and density, the anomaly of ice-water transition
Gravity force, weight = mass × gravitational field strength (g), on Earth g=10 N/kg, different on other planets and stars; gravity forces between Earth and Moon, and between Earth and Sun (qualitative only)
Our Sun as a star, other stars in our galaxy, other galaxies
