Scheme of Work Cambridge International as & a level

Introduction

This scheme of work has been designed to support you in your teaching and lesson planning. Making full use of this scheme of work will help you to improve both your teaching and your learners’ potential. It is important to have a scheme of work in place in order for you to guarantee that the syllabus is covered fully. You can choose what approach to take and you know the nature of your institution and the levels of ability of your learners. What follows is just one possible approach you could take and you should always check the syllabus for the content of your course.


Suggestions for independent study (I) and formative assessment (F) are also included. Opportunities for differentiation are indicated as Extension activities; there is the potential for differentiation by resource, grouping, expected level of outcome, and degree of support by teacher, throughout the scheme of work. Timings for activities and feedback are left to the judgement of the teacher, according to the level of the learners and size of the class. Length of time allocated to a task is another possible area for differentiation.

Key concepts

The key concepts are highlighted as a separate item in the new syllabus. Reference to the key concepts is made throughout the scheme of work using the key shown below:
Key Concept 1 (KC1) – Cells as the units of life
A cell is the basic unit of life and all organisms are composed of one or more cells. There are two fundamental types of cell: prokaryotic and eukaryotic. Understanding how cells work provides an insight into the fundamental processes of all living organisms.
Key Concept 2 (KC2) – Biochemical processes
Cells are dynamic structures within which the chemistry of life takes place. Biochemistry and molecular biology help to explain how and why cells function as they do.
Key Concept 3 (KC3) – DNA, the molecule of heredity
Cells contain the molecule of heredity, DNA. DNA is essential for the continuity and evolution of life by allowing genetic information to be stored accurately, to be copied to daughter cells, to be passed from one generation to the next and for the controlled production of proteins. Rare errors in the accurate copying of DNA known as mutations result in genetic variation and are essential for evolution.