4th Sep '25

Schemes of Work

B2
- B2.6
  - Lesson 01 - What is pollution and what can be done about it? Lesson Plan Lesson Title
    - Rapid growth in the human population and an increase in the standard of living mean that increasingly more resources are used and more waste is produced. Unless waste and chemical materials are properly handled, more pollution will be caused.
    - Pollution can occur:
      ? in water, from sewage, fertiliser or toxic chemicals
      ? in air, from smoke and acidic gases
      ? on land, from landfill and from toxic chemicals.
      - Suggested Activity:
        Computer room needed!
        
        Put the class into groups and assign each group one topic to research (human population explosion; land pollution; water pollution; or air pollution).
        Each group studies their one topic and creates a ppt to describe their topic and explain its effect on biodiversity to the rest of the class. Students should use the ppt template on the shared area for guidance.
        Students copy the pollution table on to a whole page in their books.
        Each group presents their ppt to the class and students fill in the mind map for that topic.
    - Pollution kills plants and animals which can reduce biodiversity
      - Suggested Activity:
        Optional practical: How does fertiliser affect duckweed? Can observe the results after two lessons.
    - (WS) Evaluate the environmental implications of deforestation
    - Students should be able to describe some of the biological consequences of global warming
    - Levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere are increasing, and contribute to ?global warming?.
    - (WS) Understand that the scientific consensus about global warming and climate change is based on systematic reviews of thousands of peer reviewed publications.
    - (WS) Explain why evidence is uncertain or incomplete in a complex context
  - Lesson 02 - How are humans impacting biodiversity? Lesson Plan Lesson Title
    - Biodiversity is the variety of all the different species of organisms on
      earth, or within an ecosystem.
    - Humans reduce the amount of land available for other animals and plants by building, quarrying, farming and dumping waste
    - A great biodiversity ensures the stability of ecosystems by reducing the dependence of one species on another for food, shelter and the maintenance of the physical environment.
    - The destruction of peat bogs, and other areas of peat to produce garden compost, reduces the area of this habitat and thus the variety of different plant, animal and microorganism species that live there (biodiversity).
    - The future of the human species on Earth relies on us maintaining
      a good level of biodiversity.
    - The decay or burning of the peat releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
    - Many human activities are reducing
      biodiversity and only recently have measures been taken to try to stop this reduction.
    - (WS) Understand the conflict between the need for cheap available compost to increase food production and the need to conserve peat bogs and peatlands as habitats for biodiversity and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions
      - Suggested Activity:
        Letter to future generations:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRLJscAlk1M
        
        Biodiversity is ‘the variety of different life found on earth’
        1) Show video clip from PPt. Students to read article on ‘Why should I care about the Everglades?’ and write a summary of this article in 10 sentences.
        2) Repeat this task for “Deforestation” and “Peat Bogs” – Read supporting materials and summarise the issues in 10 sentences.
        3) Impact of loss of endangered species on a food web (optional)
        4) Having now looked at one example the students should be in a position to independently research a habitat that is found regularly on the Natural World Heritage Site where biodiversity is at risk. There won’t be enough information to look up very specific individual places but they could look at:
        a) Coral reefs
        b) Rainforests
        c) Mangroves
        d) The Congo basin
        5) There is some structure to assist them on this. Suggested websites are available and book boxes could be ordered from the library.
        6) Present their research to the class. Pair the students together with another student who researched the same area and combining their research they should summarise in a poster/powerpoint/speech what they have found.
        Equipment Required:
        The Everglades article, Deforestation factsheet, peat bog factsheet, Congo Basin factsheet, Research on biodiversity WS.
    - (WS) Explain how waste, deforestation and global warming have an impact on biodiversity.
    - Large-scale deforestation in tropical areas has occurred to:
      ? provide land for cattle and rice fields
      ? grow crops for biofuels.
    - Students should be able to describe both positive and negative human interactions in an ecosystem and explain their impact on biodiversity.
  - Lesson 03 - Why are farmers paid to leave margins around their fields? Lesson Plan Lesson Title
    - Scientists and concerned citizens have put in place programmes to reduce the negative effects of humans on ecosystems and biodiversity
    - These include:
      ? breeding programmes for endangered species
      ? protection and regeneration of rare habitats
      ? reintroduction of field margins and hedgerows in agricultural areas
      where farmers grow only one type of crop
      ? reduction of deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions by some governments
      ? recycling resources rather than dumping waste in landfill.
      - Suggested Activity:
        Starter:
        Money for Nothing playing as students enter.
        Can you describe the difference in these pictures of the edges of farmers’ fields.
        
        Main:
        Put class into mixed ability groups of four and assign each student within the group the appropriate colour:
        • Lower ability = pink or yellow.
        • Higher ability = blue or green.
        Each student in the group will study a different text (colour coded). Students move to sit with others studying the same text. Students write a brief summary statement on a post-it note for each key point in the text. Students should share their ideas with others studying the same text.
        Students return to their original groups and share their findings. Students then divide all ideas into one of three categories:
        • Advantages to wildlife.
        • Advantages to farmers.
        • Scientific fact.
        Finally, as a group students prioritise the ideas within each category.
        
        Plenary:
        Farmers are being paid to sacrifice farmland for larger field margins. Explain the advantages or this to both wildlife and the farmers. (10 marks)
        Equipment Required:
        Colour coded field margin texts,
        Field margins 10 marks question WS
  - Lesson 04 - How are organisms in an ecosystem linked? Lesson Plan Lesson Title
    - Students should be able to describe the differences between the trophic levels of organisms within an ecosystem
    - Level 1: Plants and algae make their own food and are called producers.
    - Level 2: Herbivores eat plants/algae and are called primary consumers
    - Level 3: Carnivores that eat herbivores are called secondary consumers
    - Level 4: Carnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary consumers. Apex predators are carnivores with no predators.
    - Decomposers break down dead plant and animal matter by secreting enzymes into the environment.
    - Small soluble food molecules then diffuse into the microorganism.
  - Lesson 05 - How are pyramids of biomass used to calculate energy efficiency? Lesson Plan Lesson Title
    - Pyramids of biomass can be constructed to represent the relative amount of biomass in each level of a food chain. Trophic level 1 is at the bottom of the pyramid
    - Students should be able to construct accurate pyramids of biomass from appropriate data.
    - Students should be able to describe pyramids of biomass
    - Students should be able to explain how biomass is lost between the different trophic levels
    - Producers are mostly plants and algae which transfer about 1 % of the incident energy from light for photosynthesis.
    - Only approximately 10 % of the biomass is transferred up each trophic level.
    - Losses of biomass are due to:
      ? not all the ingested material is absorbed, some is egested as faeces
      ? some absorbed material is lost as waste, such as carbon dioxide and water in respiration and water and urea in urine.
    - Large amounts of glucose are used in respiration.
    - (MS) Calculate the efficiency of biomass transfer between trophic levels.
    - Students should be able to calculate the efficiency of biomass transfers between trophic levels by percentages or fractions of mass.
    - Students should be able to explain how this affects the number of organisms at each trophic level
  - Lesson 06 - What is food security? Lesson Plan Lesson Title
    - Students should be able to describe some of the biological factors affecting levels of food security
    - Food security is having enough food to feed a population.
    - Biological factors which are threatening food security include:
      ? the increasing birth rate has threatened food security in some countries
      ? changing diets in developed countries means scarce food resources are transported around the world
      ? new pests and pathogens that affect farming
      ? environmental changes that affect food production, such as widespread famine occurring in some countries if rains fail
      ? the cost of agricultural inputs
      ? conflicts that have arisen in some parts of the world which affect the availability of water or food.
      - Suggested Activity:
        Complete as a homework:
        News article on factors affecting food security (p.123 in biology revision guide.)
        
        Use a homework tester at start of next lesson (in ppt) to assess how well students have understood this.
    - Sustainable methods must be found to feed all people on Earth
    - (WS) Interpret population and food production statistics to evaluate food security.
  - Lesson 07 - What are the long term impacts of modern farming techniques? Lesson Plan Lesson Title
    - The efficiency of food production can be improved by restricting energy transfer from food animals to the environment.
    - Some animals are fed high protein foods to increase growth.
    - (WS) Understand that some people have ethical objections to some
      modern intensive farming methods.
    - (WS) Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of modern farming techniques.
    - Fish stocks in the oceans are declining. It is important to maintain fish stocks at a level where breeding continues or certain species may disappear altogether in some areas
    - Control of net size and the introduction of fishing quotas play important roles in conservation of fish stocks at a sustainable level
    - (WS) Understand how application of different fishing techniques promotes recovery of fish stocks
      - Suggested Activity:
        Work through ppt and play videos on intensive farming.
        
        Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of intensive methods for rearing farm animals and fish. Mark scheme on ppt.
  - Lesson 08 - How can biotechnology be used to improve food security? Lesson Plan Lesson Title
    - Students should be able to describe and explain some possible biotechnical and agricultural solutions, including genetic modification, to the demands of the growing human population
      - Suggested Activity:
        Create a news report (video) discussing current food production and how it can be made more sustainable.
        
        Key points to include:
        Food security.
        Current intensive farming methods.
        Sustainable fisheries.
        Role of biotechnology, including mycoprotein and GM crops.
        
        Skills:
        Team work.
        Research.
        Communication.
        Creativity.
    - Modern biotechnology techniques enable large quantities of microorganisms to be cultured for food.
    - The fungus Fusarium is useful for producing mycoprotein, a protein-rich food suitable for vegetarians.
    - The fungus is grown on glucose syrup, in aerobic conditions, and the biomass is harvested and purified
    - A genetically modified bacterium produces human insulin. When harvested and purified this is used to treat people with diabetes.
    - GM crops could provide more food or food with an improved nutritional value such as golden rice