BIOLOGY
Aims The core aim of Biology is to foster lifelong curiosity about the living world. More specifically, the course seeks to broaden and deepen knowledge and understanding of key biological concepts, applicable to everyday life and further study. It is also concerned with the development of transferable scientific skills, including creativity required for practical design, hands-on practical competence, IT proficiency for data presentation and analysis and critical evaluative abilities.
Skills Biology is not just about learning a list of scientific terms, as we feel there now needs to be a greater emphasis on problem solving and application of scientific principles. We believe that practical skills are key to the development of a good biologist so that students can understand how experiments are designed; this includes the need to collect sufficient, relevant data to allow for meaningful analysis and critical evaluation of their findings. The ability to use the scientific method to solve problems and answer questions is essential in developing investigation skills and stimulating interest in the subject.
Content The Biology IGCSE course is taught over three years. Topics covered include the nature and variety of living organisms, structure and function of living organisms, reproduction and inheritance, ecology and the environment and genetic modifications. Practical skills are vital in aiding the development in the analysis and critical understanding of Biology and we enrich the syllabus beyond the scope of the written curriculum. In Years 9 and 10, students carry out practical investigations where we look to develop aspects of the design, presentation of data and use of Excel for data tables and graph design; this includes analysis and evaluation of data so that by the time they enter the Sixth Form to study the IB, they are more familiar with the needs for internal assessment.
Enrichment In Year 10 each student will take the Biology Challenge, which is a national competition set by the Institute of Biology; students will gain certification levels of Gold, Silver, Bronze, Highly Commended or Commended, based on their biological knowledge. Also in Year 10, students visit London for a day of interactive talks and demonstrations, highlighting cutting-edge research across the sciences.
Throughout the year guest speakers visit the school to talk on a variety of topics such as research into multi-resistant TB in sub-Saharan Africa, or the impacts of microplastics in our oceans.
50 THE MIDDLE SCHOOL | AT SEVENOAKS