Science

Health

• the effects of recreational drugs (including substance misuse) on behaviour, health and life processes

Nutrition and digestion

• the 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, including obesity, starvation and deficiency diseases
• the tissues and organs of the human digestive system, 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

The periodic table

• the varying physical and chemical properties of different elements
• the principles underpinning the Mendeleev periodic table
• the periodic table: periods and groups; metals and non-metals
• how patterns in reactions can be predicted with reference to the periodic table
• the properties of metals and non-metals
• the chemical properties of metal and non-metal oxides with respect to acidity

Current electricity

• electric current, measured in amperes, in circuits, series and parallel circuits, currents add where branches meet and current as flow of charge
• potential difference, measured in volts, battery and bulb ratings; resistance, measured in ohms, as the ratio of potential difference (p.d.) to current
• differences in resistance between conducting and insulating components (quantitative)

Static electricity

• separation of positive or negative charges when objects are rubbed together: transfer of electrons, forces between charged objects
• the idea of electric field, forces acting across the space between objects not in contact

Magnetism

• magnetic poles, attraction and repulsion
• magnetic fields by plotting with compass, representation by field lines
• Earth’s magnetism, compass and navigation
• the magnetic effect of a current, electromagnets, DC motors (principles only)

Materials / Metals and Acids

• the order of metals and carbon in the reactivity series
• the use of carbon in obtaining metals from metal oxides
• properties of ceramics, polymers and composites (qualitative)

Genetics and evolution

• 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, 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 measurement and graphical representation of variation
• the variation between species and between individuals of the same species meaning some organisms compete more successfully, which can drive natural selection
• changes in the environment which 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 material

Energy

• comparing energy values of different foods (from labels) (kJ)
• comparing power ratings of appliances in watts (W, kW)
• comparing amounts of energy transferred (J, kJ, kW hour)
• domestic fuel bills, fuel use and costs
• fuels and energy resources

Energy changes and transfers

• simple machines give bigger force but at the expense of smaller movement (and vice versa): product of force and displacement unchanged
• heating and thermal equilibrium: temperature difference between 2 objects leading to energy transfer from the hotter to the cooler one, through contact (conduction) or radiation; such transfers tending to reduce the temperature difference; use of insulators
• other processes that involve energy transfer: changing motion, dropping an object, completing an electrical circuit, stretching a spring, metabolism of food, burning fuels

Changes in systems

• energy as a quantity that can be quantified and calculated; the total energy has the same value before and after a change
• comparing the starting with the final conditions of a system and describing increases and decreases in the amounts of energy associated with movements, temperatures, changes in positions in a field, in elastic distortions and in chemical compositions
• using physical processes and mechanisms, rather than energy, to explain the intermediate steps that bring about such changes

Interactions and interdependencies / Ecosystems

• the interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem, including food webs and insect pollinated crops
• the importance of plant reproduction through insect pollination in human food security
• how organisms affect, and are affected by, their environment, including the accumulation of toxic materials

Motion and forces

• speed and the quantitative relationship between average speed, distance and time (speed = distance ÷ time)
• the representation of a journey on a distance-time graph
• relative motion: trains and cars passing one another

Pressure in fluids

• atmospheric pressure, decreases with increase of height as weight of air above decreases with height
• pressure in liquids, increasing with depth; upthrust effects, floating and sinking
• pressure measured by ratio of force over area – acting normal to any surface

Balanced forces

• opposing forces and equilibrium: weight held by stretched spring or supported on a compressed surface

Forces and motion

• forces being needed to cause objects to stop or start moving, or to change their speed or direction of motion (qualitative only)
• change depending on direction of force and its size

Energy and waves

• pressure waves transferring energy; use for cleaning and physiotherapy by ultrasound; waves transferring information for conversion to electrical signals by microphone

Pure and impure substances

• the concept of a pure substance
• mixtures, including dissolving
• diffusion in terms of the particle model
• simple techniques for separating mixtures: filtration, evaporation, distillation and chromatography
• the identification of pure substances

Earth and atmosphere

• the composition of the Earth
• the structure of the Earth
• the rock cycle and the formation of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks
• Earth as a source of limited resources and the efficacy of recycling
• the composition of the atmosphere
• the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the impact on climate

Space physics

• gravity force, weight = mass x gravitational field strength (g), on Earth g=10 N/kg, different on other planets and stars; gravity forces between Earth and Moon, and between Earth and sun (qualitative only)
• our sun as a star, other stars in our galaxy, other galaxies
• the seasons and the Earth’s tilt, day length at different times of year, in different hemispheres
• the light year as a unit of astronomical distance