Topic 1 Year 8 biology
| Biology | |||
| Topic | Ecosystems 1 | ||
| No of lessons | 14 | ||
| When is it happening | Term 2 Year 8 | ||
| What will students learn | Students need to be able to classify organisms into the five kingdoms, classify animals into vertebrates and invertebrates and group vertebrates into the 5 vertebrate groups . Construct food chains and combine food chains to make food webs, using key words and their definitions. Know that organisms depend on each other in a food web so one change in the food web will affect other organisms is the food web. The factors which affect the number of species living in a habitat. Human impact on ecosystems. Describe how predators and prey numbers changes over time and what would happen if an unfamiliar species was introduced into a food web. Explain how toxic substances can accumulate in food chains. How plants are adapted to disperse seeds using wind, water and animals and why dispersal is important for survival. Describe the parts of a flower and explain their functions. Describe the main steps in plant reproduction. Describe how seeds are dispersed based on the features of the fruit or seed. Describe similarities and differences structures of wind and insect pollinated plants. | ||
| Key Knowledge that students should know at the end of 'Topic' | This is the knowledge that students will meet for the first time in this topic | State the 5 kingdoms and the 5 vertebrate groups. Classify organisms into the correct kingdom and group based on the features. Construct food chains and food webs. Explain what a food web is and how organisms are linked in a food web. Describe factors which affect the number of species living in a habitat. Use keywords such as producer, primary consumer, top predator. Describe the role of decomposers. Interpret predator prey graphs. Interpret pyramids of biomass and pyramids of number. Explain how predators and prey numbers changes over time and what would happen if an unfamiliar species was introduced into a food web. Explain how toxic substances can accumulate in human food. Describe sexual and asexual reproduction in plants and the advantages and disadvantages of both. How plants are adapted to disperse seeds using wind, water and animals. Describe the parts of a flower and explain the function of each part. Explain how seeds are dispersed based on the features of the fruit or seed. Describe
similarities and differences structures of wind and insect pollinated plants. Explain why plants are artificially reproduced. |
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| This is knowledge that students may have met before but will need to deepen their understanding | Students should have basic knowledge of examples of vertebrates and invertebrates and be able to describe what the difference is. Students should know the five major animal vertebrate groups- amphibians, mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and be able to give some examples. They should be able to use the following keywords; prey, predator, herbivore, carnivore. Students should be able to Label a plant with the major parts- stem, root, leaf, fruit, seed and give basic description of the function of these parts. They should be able to state simple food chains. | ||
| Key Skills that students should be able to demonstrate at the end of 'Topic' | This is the skills that students will meet for the first time in this topic | Identify patterns in predator prey graphs. Labelling parts of a flower with annotations. Growing seeds using a given method and make observations. Taking plant cuttings correctly using the equipment safely after watching a teacher led demo. Constructing food chains/webs. Observe pollen grains from a wind pollinated and an insect pollinated flower. Dissect an insect pollinated flower and identify the main reproductive structures. Draw and label each component. Observe samples of different seeds. Draw a seed and label to show how it is adapted for wind, animal or water dispersal. Take plant cuttings of Geraniums to show how plant breeders can create large numbers of identical plants. Calculate energy losses between different trophic levels in a food chain. | |
| This is skills that students may have met before but will need to develop | Basic ability to plot a graph and interpret patterns on graphs. Students may have experience of planting seeds and observing the changes over time. Draw conclusions from line graphs showing how numbers of a predator and its prey fluctuate over time. | ||
| Key vocabulary that students should know and understand |
foodchain, population, ecosystem, producer, consumer, food web, interdependance, predator, prey, decomposition, bioaccumulation, pollen, ovules, fertilisation, pollination, carpel, seed, fruit, biomass, organic, intensive farming, omnivore, |
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| The Big Question | How do living organisms depend on each other? | ||
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Key questions that students should be able to answer at the end of the 'Topic' |
What is classification and why is it important? | ||
| What is a food web? | |||
| What do pyramids of number and biomass show? | |||
| What is predator prey cycling? | |||
| How do humans negatively impact an ecosystem? | |||
| What is an invasive species? Give an example. | |||
| What are the two types of plants? | |||
| What are the advantages and disadvantages of sexual reproduction in plants? | |||
| What are the 4 methods of seed dispersal? | |||
| Why do gardeners reproduce plants artificially? | |||