Learning Paths
Each learning path is one chapter: a guided route through a topic, one small course at a time. Pick a class to see its chapters in order.
Chapter 1Contains Standard content
Biodiversity and Nomenclature, Characteristics of Life, Taxonomic Hierarchy and Aids, Species Concept and Naming Rules, Classification of Living Organisms, Keys and DNA Barcodes
A seed lies dry on a shelf for a year, and then it sprouts. A mule is strong and healthy, and it cannot have young. A crystal of salt grows bigger in a glass of water, and nobody calls it alive. So what does it mean to be alive? In this chapter we look for the answer, and then we meet the millions of kinds of living things on Earth. We learn how biologists give each one a name, how they sort them into groups, and which tools they use to find a name. Python helps us to count, to group and to check names.
4 courses
Chapter 3Contains Standard content
Algae, Bryophytes and Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms, Kingdoms Plantae and Animalia, Classification of Living Organisms, Plant Life Cycles and Alternation of Generations
From green slime on a pond to a towering deodar, plants come in astonishing variety. In this chapter you learn how botanists classify them, and meet each group in turn: the algae, the bryophytes, the pteridophytes, the gymnosperms and the angiosperms. You compare how each one is built and how it reproduces, and follow the alternation of generations in their life cycles. Python helps you sort plants with a key and count chromosomes through a life cycle.
4 courses
Chapter 3
Plant and Animal Kingdoms, Classification of Living Organisms
There are millions of kinds of living things, from bacteria that you cannot see to blue whales as long as a ship. How do biologists keep track of them all? In this chapter we learn how living things are sorted into groups, how each one gets its two-part scientific name, and what the five kingdoms are. Then we meet the main groups of plants and animals, one by one. We use Python to build keys and to measure diversity.
2 courses