SYLLABUS – Chapter 5
Topic:
Objectives: Students -
5. Reproduction and life-cycles
General idea of reproduction and life cycles.
• explain and use correctly the words in italics below.
• list reproduction as an important characteristic of living
things.
• describe what is meant by the life cycle of an organism and
explain that an organism would die out if it did not reproduce.
• name/identify the main parts of a microscope of the kind
found in schools, and demonstrate how to use it correctly.
• calculate the magnification produced by a microscope from
the powers of the objective and eyepiece.
• state that living things are made of tiny units called cells and
show awareness of the very small size of most cells.
• describe the common features of cells as a cell membrane,
cytoplasm and a nucleus, and state the main functions of each
at the simplest level.
• list the additional features of plant cells as a cell wall, a
vacuole containing cell sap and green chloroplasts; state the
main functions of each at the simplest level
• draw simple diagrams of typical animal and plant cells.
• prepare slides of onion and cheek skin cells, pollen etc.
• name and draw a diagram of an amoeba as an example of a
unicellular organism.
• describe the reproduction of amoeba by binary fission and
define and use that term correctly.
• state that bacteria can multiply very fast by binary fission
and demonstrate this by simple calculations.
• explain how the growth of multicellular organisms occurs by
cell division.
• explain the principles of sexual reproduction using the
following terms: sex cell, gamete, male gamete, ♂ , female
gamete, ♀ , fertilisation, zygote.
• describe sexual reproduction in animals using the following
additional terms: sperm cell, egg cell, ovum (ova), mating,
internal fertilisation, external fertilisation (details of mating
processes are not expected).
• name/identify fish and amphibians as animals that generally
use external fertilisation; and reptiles, birds, mammals and
many invertebrates as animals that generally use internal
fertilisation;
• explain some benefits of internal fertilisation;
• name/identify reptiles, birds and many invertebrates as
animals that lay eggs, and mammals as animals that bear their
young alive;
• describe, and illustrate with drawings, the reproduction and
life cycles of a frog (or toad), a housefly and at least one other
familiar insect, using the following terms as appropriate:
male, female, mating, external/ internal fertilisation, egg, frog
(toad) spawn, hatch, larva, tadpole, pupa, metamorphosis,
young, adult.
• identify in the field, examples of the eggs, larvae and pupae
of amphibia and insects (names of the species concerned are
not expected).
• describe and explain how relevant insect pests can be
controlled by interrupting their life cycles.
• describe the reproduction and life cycles of a domestic fowl
and a domestic mammal using the following terms as
appropriate: male, female, mating, internal fertilisation,
sperm, ovum, zygote, egg, laying, incubation, embryo,
hatching, uterus, birth, mammary glands, suckling, young,
growth and development, adult.
Use of the microscope.
Living cells, their main features, differences between
plant and animal cells.
The role of cell division in the reproduction of
unicellular organisms by binary fission, and in the
growth of multicellular organisms.
Principles of sexual reproduction, growth and
development, zygote, embryo, "young", adult;
internal and external fertilisation in animals as
exemplified in the life cycles mentioned below.
Reproduction and life cycles with metamorphosis
exemplified by familiar amphibians and insects.
Reproduction and life cycles without metamorphosis
exemplified by a domestic fowl and a domestic
mammal.
6
Topic:
5. Reproduction and life-cycles (continued)
Sexual reproduction in flowering plants, structure of
simple flower, pollination and fertilisation, fruits,
seeds and their dispersal, structure, germination and
growth.
Vegetative reproduction; from specialised leaves,
stems and roots; from cuttings and grafts; and as an
example (with binary fission) of asexual
reproduction.
Objectives: Students • identify, draw and explain the main functions of, the
following parts in simple flowers: sepal, petal, nectar, stamen
(filament, anther, pollen), carpel (stigma, style, ovary, ovule).
• define pollination, describe the roles of insects, birds and
wind in pollination, and describe how familiar flowers are
adapted to facilitate pollination by these agents.
• describe self-pollination and cross-pollination.
• examine an unfamiliar flower and judge whether it is likely
to be pollinated by animals or wind.
• describe how fertilisation occurs following pollination.
• define a fruit as a swollen ovary, and a seed as a fertilised
ovule.
• describe the formation of a fruit from an ovary for a simple,
familiar example.
• identify simple, familiar examples of fruit and seeds.
(Details of internal structures and named parts of fruits are not
expected, nor are distinctions between different kinds of seeds
and fruits, multiple fruits etc).
• explain how the biologist's use of the word fruit differs from
that of the market.
• explain the importance of seeds being widely distributed,
describe the roles of wind, water, animals and pods in this,
and describe how familiar fruit and seeds are adapted to
facilitate distribution by these agents.
• examine an unfamiliar fruit/seed and judge how the seeds
are normally dispersed.
• identify, draw and explain the main functions of the
following in a bean seed and a corn seed: testa, hilium,
micropyle, cotyledon, embryo, radicle, plumule.
• describe, in simple non-technical terms, the germination of a
bean seed and a corn seed into seedlings.
• carry out simple, controlled experiments to show that water
and heat are necessary for seeds to germinate.
• describe the life cycle of a flowering plant, referring to the
sequence flower, pollination, fertilisation, seed, germination,
seedling, growth and development, adult plant.
• grow plants from seed.
• explain the term vegetative reproduction, describing and
explaining the following in simple terms: bulbs, tubers,
rhizomes, stolons, runners, cuttings, grafts. (Details of
internal structures and named parts are not expected).
• grow plants using appropriate vegetative methods.
• explain the term asexual reproduction and give binary
fission and vegetative reproduction as examples.
7