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Learning about biology:
challenging the new Biology
school curriculum in England
Paul DaviesSummary:
This opinion piece explains recent changes to the biology curriculum in England and then, meant very much as a starting point for discussion, poses some suggestions as to how some of the problematic changes maybe addressed and challenged. Central to the arguments made are that the new mandatory curriculum is poorly designed in terms of the way content is sequenced, especially with re-gard that the place that learning about evolution takes, and that opportunities for learning through meaningful practical work and informal learning opportunities have become diminished. Suggestions are made for how biol-ogy educators may address these issues and become agen-cies for change.
Key words: biology curriculum, science education, science
cur-riculum changes
received: 23.02.2014; accepted: 26.03.2015; published: 27.03.2015
dr Paul Davies: Lecturer in Science Education,
Institute of Education, University of London
Introduction
This opinion piece explores the high school biology curriculum in England. In doing so, I briefly consider the development of the curriculum over the past 30 years and then go on to discuss the nature of the latest radical reforms that have led to, what I perceive to be, a somewhat narrow and ill-conceived, biology lum. Central to this are the ways that the new curricu-lum does not necessarily support conceptual change and does little to help students understand the narrative of biology, especially through a lens of evolution. In ad-dition, I consider problems that are associated with a biology curriculum which does not value the place of practical work or informal learning experiences as a means to better understand both biological concepts and the processes of science.
There is a long history writing about the aims and purposes of an education in science related to develop-ing an understanddevelop-ing of the nature of science (Hod-son, 1992; Lederman, 1992), and more recently with a focus on science for citizenship and inquiry-based skill development (e.g. Sadler and Zeidler, 2009). However, there has been much less focus on the specifics of each science subject as individual disciplines and the impor-tance that the curriculum plays in supporting teaching and learning for holistic outcomes. By this I mean that an important aim of education can be the development of knowledge and understanding as an interesting and purposeful endeavor in its own right, what Reiss and White (2013) call education for ‘flourishing’. While this may seem a romanticized view of what education should be for but, whilst living in a highly pressured working environment, I feel consideration of biology education in these terms helps reminds us why biology is interest-ing and the role that understandinterest-ing it properly may play in our lives.
The changing science curriculum in England
Since 1988, science has, along with English and mathematics, formed part of the core curriculum in England. This means that children have been required to learn something of science from the time that they enter primary school, at the age of 4 or 5 years, until they are 16 years old and sit public examinations. When this change came about, there was little opposition, de-spite it meaning that, in high school, science takes up around 20 percent of curriculum time – almost double that devoted to other subjects.However, despite this considerable about of cur-riculum time being devoted to science, evidence shows that students still leave school at age 16 without a solid foundational understanding of scientific concepts and ideas (Sinatra et al., 2008). For example, in their classic work on children’s ideas in science (Driver et al., 2013) demonstrated that school often does little to support conceptual change regarding misconceptions, leading to uninformed citizens who have a poorly developed understanding of science and the processes of science. This is not only a problem in England but something that is seen in many countries. For example, the PISA report from 2009 data (OECD, 2010) reveals that Eu-ropean countries often underperform in school-science attainment compared to non-European countries.
As well as not promoting ‘citizen-science’, many sci-ence curricular often seem to offer little support for the subsection of the school leavers who decide to go on to study biology at university. For example, Songer and Mintzes (1994) shows that students in their first year of biology degree have a poor understanding of cellu-lar respiration, and hold ideas which are very resistant to change. Similar problems are seen regarding biology undergraduates’ understanding and acceptance of evo-lution. In their 2012 study, Coley and Tanner
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strate that undergraduates enter university with limited understanding of key ideas in evolution, including ge-netic drift and species level selection, as well as some-times holding creationist, and other religious world-views that are incompatible with evolutionary theory.
The new Biology curriculum in England
The situation of poorly informed citizens, as well ill-prepared biology undergraduates is of concern and has led, in England, to a recent reform in the curriculum in an attempt to, as the current government describe it ‘raise standards’ (Ofqual, 2014). This reform has seen a raft of changes swiftly brought in across both pri-mary and high school. The design process behind these changes is somewhat surprising in that very few people or professional bodies are involved in their develop-ment. The new Biology curriculum in England has been written by a small group of people, some of whom have been teachers while many are publishers of curriculum materials or academics working in biological research, as well as professional bodies (for example The Society of Biology). The group which is most underrepresented are those people who carry out research into biology
ed-ucation, this group is rarely consulted or approached to
help, or when they are, it tends to be an indvidual. One approach, which has been developed to address this in
England has been the establishment of a research group of individuals with a particular interest in biology edu-cation; this is explained further at the end of the article.
In England, the curriculum is divided into sections called Key Stages (see Table 1). In primary school, the science curriculum has been redesigned to have greater prominence as well as to include additional context, normally confined to the high school curriculum, the most significant of which is the mandatory teaching of evolution to 8-11 year olds. In high schools, the changes have been more radical with two major changes: the na-ture of the examination approach and the specifics of the taught content.
Until 2014, examination of most subjects had been modular, meaning students studied a section of con-tent before having taking an exam. The flexibility of the system meant students could often re-sit examina-tions throughout the course, in order to increase grade score. This has now been abolished in science, and many other subjects, with all examinations now being termi-nal, with limited chances for re-sitting. In a second at-tempt to ‘raise standards’ the syllabus documents which describe what students should be taught, have also be rewritten to have a much greater focus on subject
knowledge (Government, 2014). For most subjects, and biology is no exception, this has been realized by the syllabus writers to have returned to a very traditional perception of what ‘biology education’ should mean. As Table 2 shows, both the Key stage 3 and 4 syllabuses take a very animal centric (in fact human) view of the living world, with plants only appearing the ‘photosynthesis’ and ‘ecology’ topics. However, as I go onto argue below, more important than this is the sequence of the con-tent, both with regard to learning about concrete and abstract ideas in biology and, importantly, the place that evolution occupies in the curriculum. The way the cur-riculum is currently arranged for both Key Stages means that teaching and learning about this topic takes place at the end of, in the case of Key stage 3, three years of study and in the case of Key stage 4, two years of study. This, I believe, is a fundamental problem and has the potential to not only leave students with an incomplete understanding of biology but also fail to support their conceptual development of biological ideas.
Alongside the specific subject content, the syllabus also describes other key ideas and concepts that stu-dents should learn about concerning the nature and processes of science – these are collectively described in
Table 1. The arrangement of Key Stages in English schools Key Stage Age of students (years)
0 3-5 1 5-7 2 7-11 3 11-14 4 14-16 5 16-18
Table 2. Biology curriculum content in Key Stage 3 and 4 in England; showing sequence of teaching
Content has been matched across the two key stages.
Key stage 3 Key Stage 4
Cells and Organisation Cell biology
The skeletal and muscular systems
Coordination and control Nutrition and digestion
Gas exchange systems Transport systems
Reproduction
Health Health, disease and development of medicines
Photosynthesis Photosynthesis
Cellular respiration
Relationships in an ecosystem Ecosystems
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the strand of the curriculum called Working
Scientifi-cally (see Table 3). It is in this strand of the curriculum
that we see specific reference to ideas about using prac-tical work and a subtle reference to this also including working away from the traditional science classroom setting. Compared to the content section of the curricu-lum, here the problems of supporting a proper science education are even worse.
The ideas in this strand are planned to be tested in the public examination papers, with the expectation of practical skills. These will be tested internally, through teacher assessment and, although reported as ‘pass’ or ‘fail’, their completion will not form part of the final ex-amination grade. The problem is further compounded because the strand is meant to be incorporated within the teaching of the subject content, rather than stand-alone. However, this is something of challenge if teach-ers are not supported in developing strategies to allow this to happen and something that will not happen un-less these links are made explicit and their study closely linked to summative assessment.
Redesigning the curriculum
While having certain welcome features, such as the inclusion of the teaching about evolution in primary school, the newly designed biology curriculum has, I be-lieve, a number of problems. Central to these problems
is the way that abstract ideas are built up from more concrete conceptions and the way teaching of evolution has been organised in the high school mandatory cur-riculum, as well as the potential lack of practical work and informal learning opportunities that the curricu-lum requires, encourages or supports. Evidence shows that teachers tend of focus their attention on teaching topics and content that is prescribed by examination bodies (Whitty, 1989), and rely heavily on materials that are produced to support particular curriculum and examination specifications. This is, of course, not sur-prising since teachers often feel under pressure to ‘cover’ material, get their students ‘through’ the exam and have become deskilled in designing learning experiences themselves (Wong, 2006). Some ideas about how these issues might be addressed are presented in the final sec-tion of this piece.
Here I wish to explore some ideas about how the curriculum content might be redesigned and the rea-sons why I think those changes would be beneficial. As it stands, the high school curriculum follows a linear design where students begin the ‘story’ of biology (see Table 2) with a focus on cellular organization before moving onto consider systems biology (e.g. skeletal and homeostatic), energy in biology and final ecosystems and evolution. Broadly, this approach means students learning in high school biology moves from learning about the small (cells) to the large (ecosystems) with evolution ‘bolted-on’ the end. For students, this means that their biology education occurs through the devel-opment of ideas from the fairly abstract (microscopic cells) to the concrete (whole organisms) and it might be nearly three years into the Key Stage 3 course and two years in their Key Stage 4 course before they are introduced to ideas about evolution and the relation-ship between living things; there are problems with this design.
Macro to micro-biology
Learning science is often about conceptual develop-ment and change. A key figure in understanding this area of learning is Piaget who argued that when the learner encounters new information they either assimilate this into their current way of thinking and understanding or they accommodate it (Piaget, 1952). Assimilation occurs when the new knowledge does not contradict or conflict with preexisting ideas. Accommodation occurs when previous knowledge and ideas need to be reassessed and altered to make sense of the learning. These distinctions highlight that children are not ‘empty vessels’ who en-ter the classroom knowing nothing. On the contrary, they have all sorts of knowledge that, regarding science, something matches established scientific thinking, and is sometimes in conflict with scientific explanations. When this is the case, they are often described as mis-conceptions or naïve ideas and are often resistant to change (Driver et al., 2013; Inagaki and Hatana, 2002; Tunnicliffe and Reiss, 2000). This previous knowledge comes from experiences, so things which children come into contact with and are familiar with. Running along-side these theoretical perceptions of learning is a large body of evidence showing that students’ development of ideas in science occurs most smoothly when grounded in concrete thinking, before moving on to consider more abstract ideas (e.g. see: Chin, 2008; Driver et al., 2013; Scott et al., 2007). Together, these two important theoretical positions help inform us how a curriculum should be designed. However, this does not always seem to be the case.
As Table 2 shows, in both Key Stage 3 and 4, students begin learning about biology through the context of the cell. Children are biological things and, thus, have first-hand experience of what biological things do. These experiences heavily influence their conceptual
under-Table 3. The Working Scientifically content of the English Science curriculum
Key content
The development of scientific thinking Experimental skills and strategies Analysis and evaluation
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stand of biology and help frame their learning. As Tun-nicliffe and Ueckert (2007) argue, supporting students in recognizing they are biological entities is an impor-tant part of them learning about what it is that biology is actually about. But, using cells as a starting point of learning about high school biology is potentially prob-lematic. Even the largest cells (something like Amoeba spp.) are small, with nearly all cells only being visible using a microscope. This abstraction of the idea of cells equating to either being, or coming from living things is difficult for students to understand and equate with their experiences of what it means to be alive (Driver et al., 2013). It seems much more sensible to begin think-ing about high school biology from the concrete idea of whole organism biology; something which draws closely on the child’s personal experience. At primary school, students often have exposure to living things in the classroom (e.g. animals and plants kept in the classroom) and have well developed ideas about the na-ture of what it means to be an ‘animal’ by the time they reach high school (Melson and Melson, 2009) but this is then challenged through the disconnection of cells and whole organisms. Contrary to this, a curriculum which is designed to build on these previous learning experi-ences, and develop thinking about the concrete ideas of animals and plants and then ‘scale-up’ to populations, communities and ecosystems and ‘scaled-down’ to cells and molecules, seems to offer much promise in support-ing conceptual change and development of ideas.
Evolution as the central theory of biology
Theodosius Dobzhansky’s, now famous, quote states “Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evo-lution.” While I don’t fully accept this, for example, I would argue that one can develop a very good under-standing of many areas of biology without know much
or anything about evolution, it is importantly the only scientific explanation for the diversity of life. This has important implications for how people think about liv-ing thliv-ings but also the way that students may build up an understanding of what biology is about and how liv-ing thliv-ings work (Alters and Nelson, 2002). Because of this, I would argue that evolution should be at the centre of any biology curriculum and be used to provide a map for students to navigate their way through the complex-ities of living things and in their understanding of how living things cope with being alive. A Table 2 shows, in England evolution is the last topic to be covered in both Key Stage 3 and 4, a position which not only gives it the status of a ‘bolt-on’ topic to be covered at the end of the curriculum but also means students have limited access to this unifying theory in biology until much of their biology education is over.
A key strength in learning about biology through the lens of evolution is that evolutionary theory pro-vides a clear and detailed explanation to account for the similarities between living things, how change in liv-ing thliv-ings comes about and how new life may develop. Without this understanding students are left with no ‘map’ to make sense of the living world and are likely to simply learn facts and ideas as knowledge without questioning the meaning or their relationship to other aspects of biology. Learning about evolution also sup-ports a proper understanding of a range of allied bio-logical ideas, for example human-use of living things in terms of agriculture, applied medicine and conser-vation biology. Beyond this, learning about evolution introduces students into important ideas about the processes and language of science, such as hypothesis testing, the use of evidence and development of scien-tific theories (Boulter et al., 2015) and the interesting world of how science is communicated to the public (Pramling, 2009).
Having said that, it should be noted that the theoret-ical dimensions of evolution mean it can be a challenge for both teacher and student (Wiles and Branch, 2008).
Drawing on the ideas discussed above about how chil-dren find engaging with concrete ideas more straight-forward than abstract thinking, there is an argument to leave evolution until later on in terms of biology education. However, I think this only becomes a prob-lem if evolution is taught, and so learnt from a purely theoretical perspective. The elegance of Darwin’s work is that it is often intuitive and also accessible to lay peo-ple – something that helped account for the rapid sales of On the Origin of Species (Hodge, 1977). Evolution as an idea is straightforward, the complex and abstract of nature of the theory become important when mecha-nisms, particularly at the gene and population level, are integrated. That is not to say that students finding learning about evolution easy. Thinking about the world through the lens of evolution means, for many students, having to think about living things in a very different way. The new ideas being learnt about evolution may challenge alternative worldviews (Reiss, 2009) or pre-conceived ideas about how living things came to be the way they are (Kelemen, 1999). However, there are well-documented approaches for helping students overcome these barriers (e.g. see Sinatra, Brem and Evans, 2008); a key one being the use of everyday contexts which stu-dents can relate to (Hillis, 2007). For example, thinking about antibiotic resistance development in bacteria or having opportunities to experience evolutionary pro-cesses first-hand – such as experiments with fruit flies or plant growth.
Practical work and informal learning in biology
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the history of biology education in England. However, over recent years the place that these types of learn-ing experiences have in terms of public examinations, and thus their contribution examination grades, been eroded. As noted above, understandably, teachers tend to focus their attention on aspects of the curriculum where they know their students will be tested. In the England, from September 2015, the formal assessment of practical work will be removed form post-16 biology courses and from September 2016, from the biology courses designed for 14-16 year olds. Instead teachers will internally assess their students’ abilities to carry out 12 prescribed practical activities, although this ‘pass or fail’ mark will contribute nothing to the final exami-nation grade (Ofqual, 2014). This change has occurred despite 71% of respondents to a public consultation on the new curriculum design opposing such a move. This move is worrying because separating the ‘grade’ award-ed for practical work from the final examination grade will almost certainly devalue its significance. It may also mean, for post-16 students that they are less well equipped for studying biology at university.
For a long time, practical work and informal learn-ing opportunities have been an integral part of learnlearn-ing biology and other sciences (Hodson, 1996). Evidence shows that effective practical activities help support students in learning skills (Gott and Duggan, 1996) and, importantly, in linking and developing their un-derstanding between theory and observable entities (Abrahams and Millar, 2009). Equally important is that these types of experience motivate students and help them develop their identity as scientists (Aitkenhead, 2006). This final point is key, as identity development has been shown to empower students to both feel they can do well in science and encourage them to develop positive attitudes towards science in school and wider contexts (Osborne et al., 2003).
Encouragingly, teachers perceive practical work and informal learning experiences as useful for their students (SCORE, 2008) but this does not mean it is straightforward for teachers to find time or feel skilled to integrate these activities into their teaching. In Eng-land, teachers report that 56% of their class time is de-voted to practical work in the first few years of high school, but that this then declines as students enter the courses in which they are publically examined (SCORE, 2008). It seems that, in England, the pressure of teacher accountability with regard examination grades, some-thing now being linked to performance related pay, means that the use of practical work is likely to dimin-ish over the next few years.
The arguments put forward by the government and other bodies in charge of curriculum design and moni-toring in England (QCA and Ofqual, 2014) is that the new system of ‘pass or fail’ in practical skills will mean that the ‘grades’ are more useful since, in previous prac-tical exam systems used in England, grades tended to be inflated because of teacher ‘help’ (Ofqual, 2014). How-ever, I think this misses the point of practical work and informal learning experiences in biology. By concen-tration on ‘skills’ only, such as setting up a microscope (something which is, of course, important in a proper biology education) the use of these types of activities and experiences to support conceptual development is lost. Making practical work the centre of a biology curriculum, with a focus on inquiry, asking questions and learning theoretical concepts through investiga-tive work, means students would be given the chance to work as scientists (Hodson, 1992) as well as deepen their understanding of biology.
The future
In this article I have tried to outline the major changes that have happened, and are happening to the biology curriculum in England. These changes should, I believe, be viewed with skepticism and caution. The is-sues of the sequencing of content, the place of biological evolutionary theory and the role of practical work and informal learning opportunities in biology are, I feel, important. So what can be done?
The first approach is the need for greater research to properly understand how curriculum design influ-ences learning. As some of the literature explored in this piece shows, much of the more recent work on the biology curriculum in England, the rest of Europe and North America has focused on approaches to teaching particular biology content, rather than understand-ing the place of sequencunderstand-ing of ideas to support learn-ing. By focusing on the ‘big ideas’ in both biology (e.g. evolution, micro-macro) research can provide a robust theoretical rationale for curriculum design which has real, practical implications for what happens in schools. The second approach is the need to support teachers (both pre-service and in-service) in understanding the importance of the curriculum design and feeling em-powered to design learning experience they feel work for their students, rather than feeling ‘slaves’ to a pre-scribed curriculum or published resources. Much of my work involves teaching pre-service biology teachers and I see how the school environment can quickly change them from being enthusiastic, innovative and insightful teachers, into individuals who feel they must ‘perform’ for government school inspectors and are deskilled in their approaches to thinking about teaching and learn-ing. The third approach is that the biology education community (at all levels from primary school through to tertiary education) should work collaboratively to
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have a ‘voice’ that might be listened to at governmental level and attempt to develop strategic change – as ech-oed in the 2011 Eurydice Report. This is not easy, but a good example comes from the Biology Education Re-search Group (BERG) in the U.K., which is composed of a collection of biology education researchers and teach-ers who meet to discuss issues in biology education, and to have a collective voice to lobby government and share their concerns and possible remedies with peers and other interested parties (for example, see BERG, 2014).
Change is about action, and I feel that the biology education communities (through bodies such as BERG and the European Researchers in Didactics of Biology, ERIDOB) are well placed to inform change and drive this forward, but it does mean coordinating our re-sponses and picking our battles. It seems that now, more than ever, we need to act.
Appendix: Biology curriculum in England
– key stage 3 and 4
Science programmes of study:
key stage 3
National curriculum in England
(September 2013)
Purpose of study
A high-quality science education provides the foun-dations for understanding the world through the specif-ic disciplines of biology, chemistry and physspecif-ics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential as-pects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged
to recognise the power of rational explanation and de-velop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes. Aims
The national curriculum for science aims to ensure that all pupils:
• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual
un-derstanding through the specific disciplines of
biology, chemistry and physics
• develop understanding of the nature, processes
and methods of science through different types of
science enquiries that help them to answer scienti-fic questions about the world around them • are equipped with the scientific knowledge
requi-red to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
Scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding
The programmes of study describe a sequence of knowledge and concepts. While it is important that pupils make progress, it is also vitally important that they develop secure understanding of each key block of knowledge and concepts in order to progress to the next stage. Insecure, superficial understanding will not allow genuine progression: pupils may struggle at key points of transition (such as between primary and secondary school), build up serious misconceptions, and/or have significant difficulties in understanding higher-order content.
Pupils should be able to describe associated pro-cesses and key characteristics in common language, but they should also be familiar with, and use, techni-cal terminology accurately and precisely. They should build up an extended specialist vocabulary. They should
also apply their mathematical knowledge to their un-derstanding of science, including collecting, presenting and analysing data. The social and economic implica-tions of science are important but, generally, they are taught most appropriately within the wider school cur-riculum: teachers will wish to use different contexts to maximise their pupils’ engagement with and motiva-tion to study science.
The principal focus of science teaching in key stage 3 is to develop a deeper understanding of a range of scien-tific ideas in the subject disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Pupils should begin to see the connections between these subject areas and become aware of some of the big ideas underpinning scientific knowledge and understanding. Examples of these big ideas are the links between structure and function in living organisms, the particulate model as the key to understanding the prop-erties and interactions of matter in all its forms, and the resources and means of transfer of energy as key deter-minants of all of these interactions. They should be en-couraged to relate scientific explanations to phenomena in the world around them and start to use modelling and abstract ideas to develop and evaluate explanations. Pupils should understand that science is about work-ing objectively, modifywork-ing explanations to take account of new evidence and ideas and subjecting results to peer review. Pupils should decide on the appropriate type of scientific enquiry to undertake to answer their own questions and develop a deeper understanding of fac-tors to be taken into account when collecting, recording and processing data. They should evaluate their results and identify further questions arising from them.
‘Working scientifically’ is described separately at the beginning of the programme of study, but must always be taught through and clearly related to substantive science content in the programme of study. Teachers should feel free to choose examples that serve a variety of purposes,
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from showing how scientific ideas have developed his-torically to reflecting modern developments in science. Pupils should develop their use of scientific vocabu-lary, including the use of scientific nomenclature and units and mathematical representations.
Spoken language
The national curriculum for science reflects the im-portance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are key factors in developing their scientific vocabulary and articulating scientific concepts clearly and precisely. They must be assisted in making their thinking clear, both to themselves and others, and teachers should ensure that pupils build se-cure foundations by using discussion to probe and rem-edy their misconceptions.
Attainment targets
By the end of key stage 3, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and pro-cesses specified in the relevant programme of study. Working scientifically
Through the content across all three disciplines, pu-pils should be taught to:
Scientific attitudes
• pay attention to objectivity and concern for accu-racy, 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, in-cluding identifying independent, dependent and control variables, where appropriate
• use appropriate techniques, apparatus, and mate-rials during fieldwork and laboratory work, paying attention to health and safety
• make and record observations and measurements using a range of methods for different investiga-tions; 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
• interpret observations and data, including iden-tifying patterns and using observations, measure-ments and data to draw conclusions
• present reasoned explanations, including explai-ning data in relation to predictions and hypotheses • evaluate data, showing awareness of potential
so-urces of random and systematic error
• identify further questions arising from their re-sults.
Measurement
• understand and use SI units and IUPAC (Interna-tional Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) che-mical nomenclature
• use and derive simple equations and carry out appropriate calculations
• undertake basic data analysis including simple sta-tistical techniques.
Subject content – Biology
Pupils should be taught about: Structure and function of living organismsCells and organisation
• cells as the fundamental unit of living organisms, including how to observe, interpret and record cell structure using a light microscope
• the functions of the cell wall, cell membrane, cy-toplasm, nucleus, vacuole, mitochondria and chlo-roplasts
• the similarities and differences between plant and animal cells
• the role of diffusion in the movement of materials in and between cells
• the structural adaptations of some unicellular or-ganisms
• the hierarchical organisation of multicellular orga-nisms: from cells to tissues to organs to systems to organisms.
The skeletal and muscular systems
• the structure and functions of the human skeleton, to include support, protection, movement and ma-king blood cells
• biomechanics – the interaction between skeleton and muscles, including the measurement of force exerted by different muscles
• the function of muscles and examples of antagoni-stic muscles.
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Nutrition and digestion
• 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, inclu-ding obesity, starvation and deficiency diseases • the tissues and organs of the human digestive
sy-stem, 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.
Gas exchange systems
• the structure and functions of the gas exchange sy-stem in humans, including adaptations to function • 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 measure-ments 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 mam-mal), including the structure and function of the male and female reproductive systems, menstrual cycle (without details of hormones), gametes, fer-tilisation, gestation and birth, to include the effect
of maternal lifestyle on the foetus through the pla-centa
• reproduction in plants, including flower structure, wind and insect pollination, fertilisation, seed and fruit formation and dispersal, including quantita-tive investigation of some dispersal mechanisms.
Health
• the effects of recreational drugs (including sub-stance misuse) on behaviour, health and life pro-cesses.
Material cycles and energy
Photosynthesis
• the reactants in, and products of, photosynthesis, and a word summary for photosynthesis
• 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 bu-ild 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 orga-nisms, including the breakdown of organic mo-lecules to enable all the other chemical processes necessary for life
• a word summary for aerobic respiration
• the process of anaerobic respiration in humans and micro-organisms, including fermentation, and a word summary for anaerobic respiration
• the differences between aerobic and anaerobic re-spiration in terms of the reactants, the products formed and the implications for the organism.
Interactions and interdependencies
Relationships in an ecosystem
• the interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem, including food webs and insect pollinated crops • the importance of plant reproduction through
in-sect pollination in human food security
• how organisms affect, and are affected by, their environment, including the accumulation of toxic materials.
Genetics and evolution
Inheritance, chromosomes, DNA and genes
• heredity as the process by which genetic informa-tion is transmitted from one generainforma-tion to the next • 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
• differences between species
• the variation between individuals within a species being continuous or discontinuous, to include me-asurement and graphical representation of varia-tion
• the variation between species and between indivi-duals of the same species means some organisms compete more successfully, which can drive natu-ral 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
• the importance of maintaining biodiversity and the use of gene banks to preserve hereditary ma-terial.
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Science programmes of study:
key stage 4
National curriculum in England
(December 2014)
Introduction
Teaching in the sciences in key stage 4 continues with the process of building upon and deepening sci-entific knowledge and the understanding of ideas de-veloped in earlier key stages in the subject disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.
For some students, studying the sciences in key stage 4 provides the platform for more advanced stud-ies, establishing the basis for a wide range of careers. For others, it will be their last formal study of subjects that provide the foundations for understanding the natural world and will enhance their lives in an increasingly technological society.
Science is changing our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all students should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. They should be helped to appreciate the achievements of science in showing how the complex and diverse phenomena of the natu-ral world can be described in terms of a number of key ideas relating to the sciences which are inter-linked, and which are of universal application. These key ideas in-clude:
• the use of conceptual models and theories to make sense of the observed diversity of natural pheno-mena
• the assumption that every effect has one or more cause
• that change is driven by interactions between diffe-rent objects and systems
• that many such interactions occur over a distance and over time
• that science progresses through a cycle of hypothe-sis, practical experimentation, observation, theory development and review
• that quantitative analysis is a central element both of many theories and of scientific methods of inquiry.
The sciences should be taught in ways that ensure students have the knowledge to enable them to develop curiosity about the natural world, insight into working scientifically, and appreciation of the relevance of sci-ence to their everyday lives, so that students:
• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual un-derstanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics;
• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science, through different types of scientific enquiry that help them to answer scienti-fic questions about the world around them; • develop and learn to apply observational,
practi-cal, modelling, enquiry, problem-solving skills and mathematical skills, both in the laboratory, in the field and in other environments;
• develop their ability to evaluate claims based on science through critical analysis of the methodo-logy, evidence and conclusions, both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Curricula at key stage 4 should comprise approxi-mately equal proportions of biology, chemistry and physics. The relevant mathematical skills required are covered in the programme of study for mathematics and should be embedded in the science context.
‘Working scientifically’ is described separately at the beginning of the programme of study, but must always be taught through and clearly related to substantive science content in the programme of study. Teachers should feel free to choose examples that serve a variety of purposes, from showing how scientific ideas have
de-veloped historically to reflecting modern developments in science and informing students of the role of science in understanding the causes of and solutions to some of the challenges facing society.
The scope and nature of their study should be broad, coherent, practical and rigorous, so that students are inspired and challenged by the subject and its achieve-ments.
Working scientifically
Through the content across all three disciplines, stu-dents should be taught so that they develop understand-ing and first-hand experience of:
1. The development of scientific thinking
• the ways in which scientific methods and theories develop over time
• using a variety of concepts and models to develop scientific explanations and understanding • appreciating the power and limitations of science
and considering ethical issues which may arise • explaining everyday and technological
applica-tions of science; evaluating associated personal, social, economic and environmental implications; and making decisions based on the evaluation of evidence and arguments
• evaluating risks both in practical science and the wider societal context, including perception of risk • recognising the importance of peer review of
re-sults and of communication of rere-sults to a range of audiences.
2. Experimental skills and strategies
• using scientific theories and explanations to deve-lop hypotheses
• planning experiments to make observations, test hypotheses or explore phenomena
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• applying a knowledge of a range of techniques, ap-paratus, and materials to select those appropriate both for fieldwork and for experiments
• carrying out experiments appropriately, having due regard to the correct manipulation of appara-tus, the accuracy of measurements and health and safety considerations
• recognising when to apply a knowledge of sam-pling techniques to ensure any samples collected are representative
• making and recording observations and measure-ments using a range of apparatus and methods • evaluating methods and suggesting possible
im-provements and further investigations.
3. Analysis and evaluation
• applying the cycle of collecting, presenting and analysing data, including:
• presenting observations and other data using appropriate methods
• translating data from one form to another
• carrying out and representing mathematical and statistical analysis
• representing distributions of results and making estimations of uncertainty
• interpreting observations and other data, inclu-ding identifying patterns and trends, making infe-rences and drawing conclusions
• presenting reasoned explanations, including rela-ting data to hypotheses
• being objective, evaluating data in terms of accu-racy, precision, repeatability and reproducibility and identifying potential sources of random and systematic error
• communicating the scientific rationale for investi-gations, including the methods used, the findings
and reasoned conclusions, using paper-based and electronic reports and presentations.
4. Vocabulary, units, symbols and nomenclature
• developing their use of scientific vocabulary and nomenclature
• recognising the importance of scientific quantities and understanding how they are determined • using SI units and IUPAC chemical nomenclature
unless inappropriate
• using prefixes and powers of ten for orders of mag-nitude (e.g. tera, giga, mega, kilo, centi, milli, mic-ro and nano)
• interconverting units
• using an appropriate number of significant figures in calculations.
Subject content – Biology
Biology is the science of living organisms (including animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms) and their interactions with each other and the environment. The study of biology involves collecting and interpreting in-formation about the natural world to identify patterns and relate possible cause and effect. Biology is used to help humans improve their own lives and to understand the world around them.
Students should be helped to understand how, through the ideas of biology, the complex and diverse phenomena of the natural world can be described in terms of a number of key ideas which are of universal application, and which can be illustrated in the separate topics set out below. These ideas include:
• life processes depend on molecules whose structu-re is structu-related to their function
• the fundamental units of living organisms are cells, which may be part of highly adapted
struc-tures including tissues, organs and organ systems, enabling life processes to be performed more effec-tively
• living organisms may form populations of single species, communities of many species and ecosy-stems, interacting with each other, with the envi-ronment and with humans in many different ways • living organisms are interdependent and show
ad-aptations to their environment
• life on Earth is dependent on photosynthesis in which green plants and algae trap light from the Sun to fix carbon dioxide and combine it with hy-drogen from water to make organic compounds and oxygen
• organic compounds are used as fuels in cellular respiration to allow the other chemical reactions necessary for life
• the chemicals in ecosystems are continually cyc-ling through the natural world
• the characteristics of a living organism are influ-enced by its genome and its interaction with the environment
• evolution occurs by the process of natural selection and accounts both for biodiversity and how orga-nisms are all related to varying degrees.
Students should be taught about:
Cell biology
• cells as the basic structural unit of all organisms; adaptations of cells related to their functions; the main sub-cellular structures of eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells
• stem cells in animals and meristems in plants • enzymes
• factors affecting the rate of enzymatic reactions • the importance of cellular respiration; the
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• carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids and lipids as key biological molecules.
Transport systems
• the need for transport systems in multicellular or-ganisms, including plants
• the relationship between the structure and fun-ctions of the human circulatory system.
Health, disease and the development of medicines
• the relationship between health and disease • communicable diseases including sexually
trans-mitted infections in humans (including HIV/AIDs) • non-communicable diseases
• bacteria, viruses and fungi as pathogens in ani-mals and plants
• body defences against pathogens and the role of the immune system against disease
• reducing and preventing the spread of infectious diseases in animals and plants
• the process of discovery and development of new medicines
• the impact of lifestyle factors on the incidence of non-communicable diseases.
Coordination and control
• principles of nervous coordination and control in humans
• the relationship between the structure and fun-ction of the human nervous system
• the relationship between structure and function in a reflex arc
• principles of hormonal coordination and control in humans
• hormones in human reproduction, hormonal and non-hormonal methods of contraception
• homeostasis.
Photosynthesis
• photosynthesis as the key process for food pro-duction and therefore biomass for life
• the process of photosynthesis
• factors affecting the rate of photosynthesis.
Ecosystems
• levels of organisation within an ecosystem • some abiotic and biotic factors which affect
com-munities; the importance of interactions between organisms in a community
• how materials cycle through abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems
• the role of microorganisms (decomposers) in the cycling of materials through an ecosystem
• organisms are interdependent and are adapted to their environment
• the importance of biodiversity
• methods of identifying species and measuring distribution, frequency and abundance of species within a habitat
• positive and negative human interactions with ecosystems.
Evolution, inheritance and variation
• the genome as the entire genetic material of an or-ganism
• how the genome, and its interaction with the envi-ronment, influence the development of the pheno-type of an organism
• the potential impact of genomics on medicine • most phenotypic features being the result of
multi-ple, rather than single, genes
• single gene inheritance and single gene crosses with dominant and recessive phenotypes
• sex determination in humans
• genetic variation in populations of a species • the process of natural selection leading to
evolu-tion
• the evidence for evolution
• developments in biology affecting classification • the importance of selective breeding of plants and
animals in agriculture
• the uses of modern biotechnology including gene technology; some of the practical and ethical con-siderations of modern biotechnology.
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