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Gut Bacteria & Digestion
Organisms & Life Processes
Explain the role of gut microbiome bacteria in digestion, including breaking down dietary fibre and contributing to a healthy gut environment
Hazard Assessment & Evacuation
Volcanoes & Earthquakes
Explain probabilistic hazard assessment using eruption recurrence intervals and fault slip rates; describe how volcano observatories monitor ground deformation, gas emissions, and seismicity to issue alert levels; explore why communities remain near active hazards (fertile volcanic soil, poverty, cultural ties); discuss the ethics and politics of evacuation decisions and the social justice dimensions of disaster risk
Heart Structure & Double Circulation
Organisms & Life Processes
Describe the structure of the heart (four chambers, valves, coronary arteries) and explain how it pumps deoxygenated blood to the lungs and oxygenated blood to the body in a double circulatory system
Heating experiments and Q = mcΔT
Energy
Plan and carry out experiments to measure energy transferred during heating, including using the equation Q = mcΔT, recording temperature changes over time, and evaluating sources of error
How Diffusion Works
Organisms & Life Processes
Explain diffusion as the net movement of particles from a region of higher concentration to lower concentration, and describe its role in moving materials (oxygen, carbon dioxide, glucose) in and between cells
How Natural Selection Works
Ecosystems & Habitats
Explain natural selection as the mechanism of evolution: heritable variation + competition for resources + differential survival and reproduction = change in allele frequency over generations
How the Body Stays in Balance
The Human Body
Explain homeostasis as the process of maintaining a stable internal environment; describe the main feedback loop systems (negative feedback) using blood glucose regulation (insulin/glucagon) and body temperature as concrete examples; and connect the endocrine system (hormone-secreting glands) to the nervous system as two complementary communication systems with different speeds and durations
Human Reproduction
Organisms & Life Processes
Describe the structure and function of the male and female human reproductive systems, and explain the processes of fertilisation, gestation, and birth including the role of the placenta
Hurricanes, Tornadoes & Monsoons
Weather & Climate
Explain how hurricanes form and intensify over warm ocean water (latent heat release, low-pressure spiral); describe tornado formation within supercell thunderstorms; explain monsoon mechanics driven by temperature differences between land and sea; introduce attribution science — how scientists use climate models to calculate whether and by how much climate change increased the probability or intensity of a specific extreme weather event
Investigating Forces
Forces & Motion
Plan and carry out investigations into forces, including measuring force with a newton meter, investigating Hooke's Law, and collecting and interpreting motion data to test Newton's laws
Mass Extinctions in Earth History
Dinosaurs & Paleontology
Compare the five major mass extinction events in Earth history (End-Ordovician, Late Devonian, End-Permian, End-Triassic, K-Pg), describe proposed kill mechanisms for each (glaciation, oceanic anoxia, volcanic mega-eruptions, asteroid impact), and explain why mass extinctions, while catastrophic, also open ecological space for subsequent evolutionary radiations
Moments, Pressure & Hooke's Law
Forces & Motion
Calculate the turning effect (moment = force × perpendicular distance), explain how pressure is transmitted equally in liquids (Pascal's principle) and the concept of atmospheric pressure, and describe Hooke's Law (extension ∝ force up to the elastic limit)
Newton's First & Second Laws
Forces & Motion
State and apply Newton's First Law (an object stays at rest or constant velocity unless acted on by a resultant force) and Second Law (force = mass × acceleration), including the relationship between mass, force, and acceleration
Newton's Third Law
Forces & Motion
State and apply Newton's Third Law: every force has an equal and opposite reaction force acting on a different object, distinguishing action-reaction pairs from balanced forces
Ohm's Law: voltage, current, resistance
Energy
Apply Ohm's Law (V = IR) to calculate current, voltage, or resistance in a simple circuit, and explain that resistance opposes the flow of current
Orbital Mechanics
Space Exploration
Apply Newton's laws to explain orbital motion: why orbit is continuously falling sideways rather than floating; how a gravity assist (slingshot manoeuvre) transfers momentum from a planet to a spacecraft; and why rockets need to reach a specific speed to enter orbit — with a conceptual (not algebraic) treatment of the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation
Pathogens & the Immune System
Organisms & Life Processes
Explain how pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and fungi) cause disease and describe how the immune system responds, including the roles of white blood cells (phagocytosis, antibody production) and the concept of immunity
Plant Reproduction
Organisms & Life Processes
Describe the structure of a flower and explain the processes of wind and insect pollination, fertilisation, seed and fruit formation, and seed dispersal in plants
Power: watts and energy per second
Energy
Define power as the rate of energy transfer (power = energy ÷ time, measured in watts), and compare energy transfer rates in different everyday contexts
Predator Loss and Ecosystem Effects
Ocean Life
Quantify energy transfer efficiency through trophic levels (~10% rule); explain trophic cascades: how removing an apex predator triggers a chain of ecosystem changes (sea otters → sea urchin explosion → kelp forest collapse); define 'fishing down the food web'; evaluate evidence for ocean rewilding — shark reintroduction, whale recovery driving nutrient cycling; understand why ecosystem-based fisheries management is needed
Ray Diagrams & Images
Waves, Light & Sound
Construct ray diagrams to show the formation of images by plane mirrors and converging lenses, identifying whether images are real or virtual, magnified or diminished, upright or inverted
Reactions That Release or Absorb Heat
Matter & Materials
Distinguish between exothermic reactions (release energy, temperature rises) and endothermic reactions (absorb energy, temperature falls), with everyday and industrial examples
Reading Ancient Climate Records
Weather & Climate
Explain how ice cores preserve ancient air bubbles, isotope ratios, and volcanic markers allowing reconstruction of temperature and CO2 going back 800,000 years; describe tree rings, ocean sediment cores, coral skeletons, and pollen records as additional climate proxies; explain how climate models are built and validated against the palaeoclimate record; describe the IPCC process of synthesising scientific evidence across thousands of studies to produce consensus assessments
Reconstructing Ancient Ecosystems
Dinosaurs & Paleontology
Reconstruct an ancient ecosystem using multiple independent lines of evidence: isotope analysis of teeth to infer diet and migration, bone histology (growth rings) to estimate age and growth rate, coprolite chemistry for diet, and palaeobotany for habitat — understanding that palaeontology is an evidence-synthesis discipline