Potential command term assessment statements
Topic 1: Cell biology
1.6 Cell division
Essential Idea: Cell division is essential but must be controlled.
Nature of science: Serendipity and scientific discoveries – the discovery of cyclins was accidental.
Outline the stages in the cell cycle.
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Interphase: G1 – S – G2
Mitosis
Cytokinesis
Outline how cytokinesis occurs after mitosis and why it is different in plant and animal cells.
State that interphase is a very active phase of the cell cycle with many processes and metabolic reactions
occurring in the nucleus and cytoplasm including protein synthesis, DNA replication and an increase in the
number of mitochondria and/or chloroplasts.
State that cyclins are involved in the control of the cell cycle.
State that tumours from cancer are the result of uncontrolled cell division and that these can occur in any
organ or tissue.
Outline how mutagens, oncogenes and metastasis are involved in the development of primary and secondary
tumours.
Discuss the correlation between smoking and the incidence of cancers and the role of the tobacco industry in
the unethical suppression of results of research into the health effects of smoking tobacco. Smoking causes
considerable social harm, but with few minor exceptions (laws on production and supply in Bhutan) has never
been made illegal.
Explain how mitosis is division of the nucleus into two genetically identical daughter nuclei
State that chromosomes condense by supercoiling during mitosis.
Describe the sequence of events that occur in the four phases of mitosis.
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prophase
metaphase
anaphase
telophase
State that sister chromatids are the two replicated parts of a chromosome in the early stages of mitosis when
they are still connected to each other by a centromere and that from anaphase onwards, when the sister
chromatids have separated to form individual structures, they are referred to as chromosomes.
Identify the phases of mitosis in cells viewed with a microscope and in a micrograph.
Determine the mitotic index from a micrograph
Explain how the mitotic index is an important prognostic tool for predicting the response of cancer cells to
chemotherapy.
International Mindedness: Biologists in laboratories throughout the world are researching into the
causes and treatment of cancer.
Potential command term assessment statements
Theory of Knowledge: A number of scientific discoveries are claimed to be incidental or
serendipitous. To what extent might some of these scientific discoveries be the result of intuition
rather than luck?