B1.1 Cell structures

• Plant and animal cells
• Bacterial cells
• Light microscopy
• Electron microscopy

B1.2 What happens in cells

• DNA
• Transcription and translation
• Enzymes
• Enzyme Reactions

B1.3 Respiration

• Carbohydrates, proteins and lipids
• Aerobic respiration
• Anaerobic respiration

B1.4 Photosynthesis

• Photosynthesis
• Photosynthesis experiments
• Factors affecting photosynthesis
• Interaction of limiting factors

B2.1 Supplying the cell

• Diffusion
• Osmosis
• Active transport
• Mitosis
• Cell differentiation
• Stem cells

B2.2 The challenges of size

• Exchange and transport
• Circulatory system
• Heart and blood
• Plant transport systems
• Transpiration stream
• Factors affecting transpiration

B3.1 The nervous system

• Nervous system
• Reflexes
• The eye
• The brain
• Nervous system damage

B3.2 The endocrine system

• Hormones
• Negative feedback
• The menstrual cycle
• Controlling reproduction
• Using hormones to treat infertility
• Plant hormones
• Uses of plant hormones

B3.3 Maintaining internal environments

• Controlling body temperature
• Controlling blood sugar
• Maintaining water balance
• Inside the kidney
• Responding to osmotic challenges

B4.1 Ecosystems

• Ecosystems
• Abiotic and biotic factors
• Competition and interdependence
• Pyramids of biomass
• Efficiency of biomass transfer
• Nutrient cycling
• The carbon cycle
• Decomposers

B5.1 Inheritance

• Variation
• Sexual and asexual reproduction
• Meiosis
• Dominant and recessive genes
• Genetic crosses
• Mutations
• The history of genetics

B5.2 Natural selection and evolution

• Natural selection
• Evidence for evolution
• The theory of evolution
• Classification systems

B6.1 Monitoring and maintaining the environment

• Sampling techniques
• Loss of biodiversity
• Increasing biodiversity
• Maintaining biodiversity
• Monitoring biodiversity

B6.2 Feeding the human race

• Food security
• Feeding the world
• Selective breeding
• Genetic engineering
• Producing a genetically engineered organism
• Use of biotechnology in farming

B6.3 Monitoring and maintaining health/Non communicable diseases

• Health and disease
• Spread of communicable diseases
• Preventing the spread of communicable diseases
• Human infections
• Plant diseases
• Plant defences
• Identification of plant disease
• Blood and body defence mechanism
• Monoclonal antibodies
• Vaccinations
• Prevention and treatment of disease
• Aseptic technique
• New medicines
• Non-communicable diseases
• Treating cardiovascular disease
• Modern advances in medicine

Module 1 - Development of practical skills

• Planning, implementing, analysing and evaluating practical procedures over the full A level course.

   

  Module 2 – Foundations in Biology

• Cell structure
• Biological molecules
• Nucleotides and nucleic acids
• Enzymes
• Biological membranes
• Cell division, cell diversity and cellular organisation

   

  Module 3 – Exchange and transport

• Exchange surfaces
• Transport in animals
• Transport in plants

   

  Module 4 – Biodiversity, evolution and disease

• Communicable diseases, disease prevention and the immune system
• Biodiversity
• Classification and evolution

Module 5 – Communication, homeostasis and energy

• Communication and homeostasis
• Excretion as an example of homeostatic control
• Neuronal communication
• Hormonal communication
• Plant and animal responses
• Photosynthesis
• Respiration

   

  Module 6 – Genetics, evolution and ecosystems

• Cellular control
• Patterns of inheritance
• Manipulating genomes
• Cloning and biotechnology
• Ecosystems
• Populations and sustainability