We have ensured that all of the National Curriculum outcomes are covered in the course and the table below provides an overview of how the Wolsey Hall course can be mapped to the Activate textbook and to the National Curriculum for England.
Note The Lower Secondary Science course as a whole (Years 7-9) meets all the requirements of the Cambridge Lower Secondary Curriculum.
Before Module One, there is a Welcome call with your tutor.
At the end of Module Four, there is a mid-course review.
At the end of Module Nine, there is an end-of-course review.
Module One: Working Scientifically & Cells
National Curriculum Link
Coursebook Pages
Working Scientifically Content:
How to plan and carry out investigations safely and which apparatus to use.
How to record, evaluate and draw conclusions and use the correct scientific terminology.
Topics:
1.0 Safety
1.1 Asking scientific questions
1.2 Planning investigations
1.3 Recording data
1.4 Analysing data
1.5 Evaluating data
Make predictions using scientific knowledge and understanding.
Present observations and data using appropriate methods.
Interpret observations and draw conclusions.
Evaluate data, showing awareness of potential sources of error.
Pages 2–11
Cells Content:
You will learn about the tiny cells that make up plants and animals and how you can see them with the aid of a microscope.
You will learn how osmosis and diffusion allow the movement of materials between cells and within cells.
Topics:
1.6 Observing cells
1.7 Plant and animal cells
1.8 Specialised cells
1.9 Movement of substances
1.10 Unicellular organisms
Practical 1 Osmosis
How to observe, interpret and record cell structure under a microscope.
The functions of the cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, vacuole, mitochondria and chloroplasts.
The similarities and differences between plant and animal cells.
The role of diffusion in the movement of materials in and between cells.
The structural adaptations of some unicellular organisms.
Pages 14–25
ASSIGNMENT ONE (including Practical One)
Module Two: The Particle Model
National Curriculum Link
Coursebook Pages
Particles and their Behaviour Content:
Topics:
2.1 The particle model
2.2 States of matter
2.3 Melting and freezing
2.4 Boiling
2.5 More changes of state
2.6 Diffusion
2.7 Gas pressure
The properties of the different states of matter (solid, liquid and gas) in terms of the particle model, including gas pressure and diffusion.
Changes of state in terms of the particle model.
Pages 58–75
Elements, Atoms and Compounds Content:
Topics:
2.8 Elements
2.9 Atoms
2.10 Compounds
2.11 Chemical formulae
Differences between atoms, elements and compounds.
Chemical symbols and formulae for elements and compounds.
Pages 76–85
ASSIGNMENT TWO
Module Three: Forces
National Curriculum Link
Coursebook Pages
Forces Content:
What forces are and how they can act directly or at a distance and be balanced or unbalanced.
Topics:
3.1 Introduction to forces
3.2 Squashing and stretching
3.3 Drag forces and friction
3.4 Forces at a distance
3.5 Balanced and unbalanced
Forces as pushes or pulls, arising from the interaction between two objects.
Balanced and unbalanced forces.
Forces measured in Newtons.
Forces being needed to cause objects to stop or start moving, or to change their speed or direction of motion.
Pages 110–123
ASSIGNMENT THREE
Module Four: Body Systems
National Curriculum Link
Coursebook Pages
Body Systems Content:
How cells are arranged into tissues, organs, organ systems and organisms.
What is gas exchange is and how it differs from breathing.
How the skeleton and muscles work together to move the human body.
Topics:
4.1 Levels of organisation
4.2 Gas exchange
4.3 Breathing
4.4 Skeleton
4.5 Movement: joints
4.6 Movement: muscles
The hierarchical organisation of multicellular organisms.
The structure and functions of the gas exchange system in humans, including adaptations to function.
The mechanism of breathing to move air in and out of the lungs.
The structure and functions of the human skeleton.
The interaction between skeleton and muscles and the functions of muscles.
Pages 26–39
ASSIGNMENT FOUR
Module Five: Reactions
National Curriculum Link
Coursebook Pages
Reactions Content:
Physical changes are reversible and chemical changes are not
What chemical reactions are and some different types.
Conservation of mass. Why mass cannot be created or destroyed.
Topics:
5.1 Chemical reactions
5.2 Word equations
5.3 Burning fuels
5.4 Thermal decomposition
5.5 Conservation of mass
5.6 Exothermic and endothermic
Practical 2 - Combustion
Chemical reactions as the rearrangement of atoms.
Representing chemical reactions using formulae and equations.
Conservation of mass in chemical reactions.
Experimental technique.
Make predictions using scientific knowledge and understanding.
Present observations and data using appropriate methods.
Interpret observations and data and draw conclusions.
Evaluate data, showing awareness of potential sources of error.
Pages 86–99
ASSIGNMENT FIVE
Module Six: Sound & Light
National Curriculum Link
Coursebook Pages
Sound Content:
All about waves including sound waves.
How our ears detect sound.
How we can use ultrasound to produce images of inside the human body.
Topics:
6.1 Waves
6.2 Sound and energy transfer
6.3 Loudness and pitch
6.4 Detecting sound
6.5 Echoes and ultrasound
Waves on water as undulations which travel through water with transverse motion; these waves can be reflected and add or cancel; superposition.
Sound waves.
Frequencies of sound waves, echoes, reflection and absorption of sound.
Sound needs a medium to travel, the speed of sound in air, in water, in solids.
Sounds produced by vibrations of object (longitudinal waves).
Auditory range of animals and humans.
Pages 124–135
Light Content:
All about light.
How light can be reflected and refracted.
How lenses, the human eye and cameras work.
How a prism splits light into colours and filters block certain light colours.
Topics:
6.6 Light
6.7 Reflection
6.8 Refraction
6.9 The eye and the camera
6.10 Colour
The similarities and differences between light waves and waves in matter.
The transmission of light through materials and a vacuum: absorption, diffuse scattering and specular reflection at a surface.
Colours and the different frequencies of light, white light and prisms.
Pages 136–147
ASSIGNMENT SIX
Module Seven: Reproduction
National Curriculum Link
Coursebook Pages
Reproduction Content:
What happens during puberty in humans.
How fertilisation occurs in humans
How pollination and fertilisation happen in flowers.
All about seed dispersal.
Topics:
7.1 Adolescence
7.2 Reproductive systems
7.3 Fertilisation and implantation
7.4 Development of a fetus
7.5 The menstrual cycle
7.6 Flowers and pollination
7.7 Fertilisation and germination
7.8 Seed dispersal
Reproduction in humans, including the structure and function of the male and female reproduction systems, menstrual cycle, gametes, fertilisation, gestation and birth.
The effect of maternal lifestyle on the foetus through the placenta.
Reproduction in plants, including flower structure, wind and insect pollination, fertilisation, seed and fruit formation and dispersal.
Pages 40–57
ASSIGNMENT SEVEN
Module Eight: Acids and Alkalis
National Curriculum Link
Coursebook Pages
Acids and Alkalis Content:
Acids, alkalis and bases
The pH scale.
How salts are made from acids and alkalis.
Topics:
8.1 Acids and alkalis
8.2 Indicators and pH
8.3 Neutralisation
8.4 Making salts
Defining acids and alkalis in terms of neutralisation reactions.
The pH scale for measuring acidity/alkalinity and indicators.
Reactions of acids with metals and alkalis.
Pages 100–109
ASSIGNMENT EIGHT
Module Nine: Earth and Space
National Curriculum Link
Coursebook Pages
Earth and Space Content:
What we can see in the night sky.
All about the planets in the solar system, the asteroid belt and how the solar system formed.
How the fact that the Earth orbits the sun and spins on its axis affects the Earth.
All about the moon.
Topics:
9.1 The night sky
9.2 The solar system
9.3 The Earth
9.4 The Moon
Practical 3 - Craters
Gravity force different on other planets and stars; gravity forces between Earth and Moon and between Earth and Sun.
Our Sun as a star, other stars in our galaxy, other galaxies.
The seasons and the Earth’s tilt, day length at different times of year, in different hemispheres.
Experimental technique.
Make predictions using scientific knowledge and understanding.
Present observations and data using appropriate methods.
Interpret observations and data and draw conclusions.
Evaluate data, showing awareness of potential sources of error.
Pages 148–157
ASSIGNMENT NINE
Requirements Changed
How to approach your practicals Frequently asked questions