GCSE Biology

Unit Biology 1 (Studied by all year 10 students)
• How do human bodies respond to changes inside them and to their environment?
• What can we do to keep our bodies healthy?
• How do we use/abuse medical and recreational drugs?
• What causes infectious diseases and how can our bodies defend themselves against them?
• What determines where particular species live and how many of them there are?
• Why are individuals of the same species different from each other?
• What new methods do we have for producing plants and animals with the characteristics we prefer?
• Why have some species of plants and animals died out?
• How do new species of plants and animals develop?
• How do humans affect the environment?

Unit Biology 2 (Studied by all year 11 students)
• What are animals and plants built from?
• How do dissolved substances get into and out of cells?
• How do plants obtain the food they need to live and grow?
• What happens to energy and biomass at each stage in a food chain?
• What happens to the waste material produced by plants and animals?
• What are enzymes and what are some of their functions?
• How do our bodies keep internal conditions constant?
• Which human characteristics show a simple pattern of inheritance?

Unit Biology 3 (Studied by year 11 Triple Award students only)
• How do dissolved materials get into and out of animals and plants?
• How are dissolved materials transported around the body?
• How does exercise affect the exchanges taking place within the body?
• How do exchanges in the kidney help us to maintain the internal environment in mammals and how has biology helped us to treat kidney disease?
• How are microorganisms used to make food and drink?
• What other useful substances can we make using microorganisms?
• How can we be sure we are using microorganisms safely?