KS3 and KS4 links

Adaptation: Bird Beaks

• 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

CSI

• 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
• Use appropriate techniques, apparatus, and materials during fieldwork and laboratory work, paying attention to health and safety
• Interpret observations and data, including identifying patterns and using observations, measurements and data to draw conclusions
• The interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem, including food webs and insect pollinated crops

Evolution and Inheritance

• Heredity as the process by which genetic information is transmitted from one generation to the next
• A simple model of chromosomes, genes and DNA in heredity
• 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
• Single gene inheritance and single gene crosses with dominant and recessive phenotypes
• The process of natural selection leading to evolution
• The importance of selective breeding of plants and animals in agriculture

Invertebrate Sampling

• Use appropriate techniques, apparatus, and materials during fieldwork and laboratory work, paying attention to health and safety
• 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
• The interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem, including food webs and insect pollinated crops
• Methods of identifying species and measuring distribution, frequency and abundance of species within a habitat

Owl Pellets

• Use appropriate techniques, apparatus, and materials during fieldwork and laboratory work, paying attention to health and safety
• Some abiotic and biotic factors which affect communities; the importance of interactions between organisms in a community
• Organisms are interdependent and are adapted to their environment
• Methods of identifying species and measuring distribution, frequency and abundance of species within a habitat
• Living organisms are interdependent and show adaptations to their environment

Plastics and Recycling

• Earth as a source of limited resources and the efficacy of recycling

Rainforests

• The interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem, including food webs and insect pollinated crops
• The adaptations of leaves for photosynthesis.
• The importance of biodiversity
• Positive and negative human interactions with ecosystems
• Living organisms are interdependent and show adaptations to their environment
• The process of discovery and development of new medicines

Super Sleuths

• 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
• Biomechanics – the interaction between skeleton and muscles, including the measurement of force exerted by different muscles