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.
Choose a topic to see its subtopics.
Chapter 1
Cell Structure and Organelles, Transport Across the Cell Membrane
You are made of cells, and so is a tree and a mushroom. What is inside one cell? How does it eat, breathe and keep its shape? In this chapter we look at the cell, its parts and the jobs of the parts. Then we see how water and food move in and out. We use Python to measure cells and to watch particles spread.
2 courses
Chapter 2Contains Standard content
Plant Tissues, Animal Tissues
A single cell can do every job, but your body has trillions of cells, and they share the work. Cells of one kind that work together form a tissue. In this chapter we meet the tissues of plants, which grow, store food, give strength and carry water. Then we meet the tissues of animals, which cover the body, join its parts, move it and carry messages. We use Python to count, measure and compare.
3 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
Chapter 4
Nutrition, Respiration, Transport in Living Organisms, Digestive System, Photosynthesis, Respiratory System, Excretion, Excretory System, Circulatory System
A plant stands still in the sun, and a dog runs after a ball. Both are alive because their cells keep working, day and night. In this chapter you see how living things get their food, how they release energy from it, how they carry materials around the body, and how they remove their wastes. You follow a bite of food through your own body, count breaths and heartbeats, and use Python with real numbers about the body.
3 courses
Chapter 5
Nervous System and Sense Organs, Plant Hormones and Movements, Hormones and the Endocrine System
You pull your hand away from a hot pan before you even think about it. A plant on a windowsill bends towards the light. Both are living things responding to a change around them. In this chapter you see how nerves carry messages in animals, how a reflex works, what the parts of the brain do, how plants respond without nerves, and how hormones control growth in plants and animals. Python helps you time reflexes and model hormone levels.
2 courses
Chapter 6
Reproduction in Plants, Human Reproduction, Heredity and Inheritance
A potato sprouts new plants from its eyes, a Hydra grows a bud that breaks away, and a flower turns into a fruit full of seeds. Living things make more of their own kind in many ways. In this chapter you see why copies are never quite exact, how single-celled organisms and plants reproduce on their own, how flowers reproduce sexually, and how reproduction works in human beings, with a look at reproductive health. Python helps you count how fast a population of cells can grow.
2 courses
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 2Contains Standard content
The Five Kingdoms, Kingdom Protista, Kingdoms Plantae and Animalia, The Three Domains of Life, Viruses, Viroids and Prions, Kingdom Monera, Kingdom Fungi, Lichens and Symbiosis, Bacteria in the Laboratory
A mushroom grows from the ground, and it is not a plant. A bacterium has one cell without a nucleus, and an Amoeba has one cell with a nucleus. A lichen is two organisms that live as one. How do we put such different living things in order? In this chapter we follow the work of biologists from two kingdoms to five. We study the bacteria, the protists, the fungi, the plants and the animals one by one. At the end we meet the viruses, the viroids, the prions and the lichens, which do not fit in the five kingdoms. Python helps us to sort organisms and to look at data.
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