Food and ecosystems - Ideas about science
As well as testing your knowledge and understanding of biology, the exam papers will also assess your understanding of 'Ideas about Science' (B7).
Questions on 'Ideas about Science' will appear throughout both exam papers (Breadth and Depth), and at both Foundation tier and Higher tier.
There are four main aspects to 'Ideas about Science'. These are:
- planning experiments to collect data (including writing hypotheses and predictions, selecting apparatus and describing methods, controlling factors, and working safely)
- processing and analysing data (including calculating averages and other statistics, presenting data graphically, identifying patterns and trends, evaluating results and methods, and interpreting data to draw appropriate conclusions)
- developing scientific explanations (including ideas about correlation and cause, peer review, and the use of models in science)
- the impacts of applications of science (including positive and negative impacts on people, other organisms and the environment, and ideas about risk and ethics)
Your understanding of 'Ideas about Science' will be assessed throughout the exam papers, usually as parts of questions that also assess your understanding of biological concepts. There won't be a separate 'Ideas about Science' section in the papers. This is because understanding how scientists work, and how science impacts our lives, is not separate from biology – it's part of it.
When you're revising biology also think about 'Ideas about Science'. How did scientists, or how could you, collect data and evidence about the biological phenomena you're studying? How were the scientific explanations of those phenomena developed? And how do they impact us in the real world? Keeping those things in mind is not only good preparation for your exams, but for life as a well-informed citizen as well.
These questions have been written by Bitesize consultants as suggestions to the types of questions that may appear in an exam paper.
Sample question 1 - Foundation
Question
Competition between organisms is an important driver for evolution. Describe the similarities and difference in the factors that animals and plants complete for. [4 marks]
- Animals and plants both compete for space. [2 marks]
- This is called territory for animals. [1 mark]
- As well as this, animals compete for food and mates. [2 marks]
- Additionally, plants compete for light and water and minerals from the soil. [3 marks]
Sample question 2 - Foundation
Question
Explain how plants meet the challenges of growing in hot, dry climates. [6 marks]
This question combines ideas about photosynthesis, diffusion, transpiration and surface area to volume ratios.
The following is a list of valid points that could be included in your answer.
- When plants open stomata to let in the carbon dioxide required for photosynthesis.
- Water diffuses out, a process called transpiration.
- In hot, dry climates, the rate of transpiration will be higher.
- These plants have adaptations to reduce water loss.
- Leaves are reduced in size and may be reduced to spines.
- Stomata may be sunken in pits, surrounded by hairs or in furrows in the stem.
- Water will be lost over the plants’ surface and the shape of the plant, eg globular, reduces the surface area to volume ratio and therefore the amount of water lost.
- Roots will penetrate deep into the soil.
- The reproductive cycles are restricted to wetter periods to give seeds a chance to germinate.
- Stems and roots may be modified to store water.
Sample question 3 - Higher
Question
Explain how burning fossil fuels results in the melting of the polar ice caps. [4 marks]
Answer (four from):
- Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. [1 mark]
- This increases the greenhouse effect. [1 mark]
- This causes global warming [1 mark] which is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth [1 mark].
- This is causing the ice caps to melt. [1 mark]
Sample question 4 - Higher
Question
Deforestation is the cutting down of trees. The water cycle shows the different processes water undergoes.
Explain how deforestation can affect the water cycle. [6 marks]
Remember to include as many processes from the water cycle as possible in your answer.
- Deforestation does not directly affect the volume of water that evaporates from ponds, lakes and oceans.
- It does however reduce the volume of water that evaporates from plants during transpiration.
- Transport of water in clouds is not affected.
- But if water precipitates from clouds as rain or snow onto deforested areas, less will be absorbed by plant roots and more will run off the surface.
- This can cause floods and landslides.
- At this point, no more water can infiltrate the ground.
More guides on this topic
- What happens during photosynthesis? - OCR 21st Century
- How do producers get the substances they need? - OCR 21st Century
- How do producers transport substances they need? - OCR 21st Century
- How are organisms in an ecosystem interdependent? - OCR 21st Century
- How are levels maintained within an ecosystem? - OCR 21st Century
- How are populations affected by conditions in an ecosystem?
