Science Year 7, 8, 9


Year 7 Science Course Modules


  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7A: Tissues and Transplants

    This unit takes a look at organ transplants; what they are, their history and why they are needed. Within this context, the concepts of cells, tissues, organs and organ systems are explored, together with the use of the microscope.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7E: Acids and Alkalis

    This unit introduces ideas about acids, alkalis and indicators in the context of acid manufacture. There is also an introduction to ideas about risk assessment and hazard classification.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7I: Energy and Sustainable Living

    This unit uses sustainable living to introduce the idea that stores of energy are needed to make most things happen, and that burning fossil fuels to transfer energy is contributing to global warming. It goes on to look at ways of reducing our use of fossil fuels, and at alternative energy resources. It includes food as an energy store.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7B: Sex and Science

    This unit explores the uses of natural and modern reproductive strategies, in terms of saving endangered animals and human procreation.

    Human reproductive organs are covered, along with adaptations of sex cells. This is followed by a look at sexual intercourse, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and birth. Growth and development are then covered, including puberty and adolescence, a stage which many pupils will be going through or just about to start. The unit ends with a look at the amount of aftercare various animals give to their young and how humans can help in this process, with particular reference to increasing the numbers of endangered species.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7F: Bubbles, Bangs and Burning

    The main theme is fairgrounds and fi reworks including associated issues of fi re safety, pyrotechnics and explosions. There is development of some of the ideas on safety introduced in Unit 7E. The unit introduces the idea of chemical changes and includes work on key criteria for deciding whether a change has taken place. There is also an introduction to the reactions of acids with metals and limestone, and the tests for common gases.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7J: Electrical Circuits

    This unit uses the context of household electrical wiring to cover the measurement of current in series and parallel circuits. It also looks at some of the uses and dangers of electricity, and at the idea of using models to help us to think about things.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.Typical assessment title: Create your own poem on the theme of space. Write a commentary explaining the choices you made with language and structure

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7C: Ecology Matters

    This unit looks at the work ecologists do in advising the building industry. Material covered includes habitats, adaptations and feeding relationships.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7G: What a Waste

    This unit looks at how different sorts of waste are disposed of in the UK and some of the problems this causes. Within this context the different properties of solids, liquids and gases and the implications of their handling and storage are considered, together with an introduction to the particle theory of matter.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7K: Forces and Their Effects

    This unit revises the concepts of forces and their effects and extends pupils’ knowledge of friction, gravity and speed. These ideas are presented using a theme of outdoor sports, such as climbing and kayaking, to link to ideas about forces, friction and floating.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7D Classified

    This unit considers how we organise things into groups to make life easier. This is extended to cover biological classification and variation in terms of its genetic and environmental causes.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7H Materials from the Earth

    The unit briefly introduces the ways that all rock types are formed, but concentrates mainly on the various processes involved in the formation of sedimentary rocks – weathering, erosion, transport, deposition, compaction and cementation. The context for the unit is using materials from the Earth, and the need to study rocks to locate useful materials.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 7L The Solar System and Beyond

    This unit uses the theme of amateur astronomy, showing that there are many observations that can be made without the need for a full-scale observatory. It revises ideas about the Sun, Moon and Earth that pupils met in KS2 by looking at how observations of the Sun, Moon and stars can be explained.

    The unit goes on to look at why we have seasons, and then to the wider picture of the Solar System, stars, galaxies and space exploration.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

Year 8 Science Course Modules


  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8A Food, Glorious Food!

    This unit covers diet, digestion and the transport of and uses for the nutrients in digested food. All of this is looked at within a context of food advertising (including diets and supplements).

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8E In the Drink

    This unit uses the context of safe water supplies to introduce and develop the idea that many everyday substances are actually mixtures and that these mixtures can be separated, using a variety of techniques, to produce useful materials.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8I Heat Transfers

    This unit looks at heat transfers in the context of clothing, and how modern outdoor clothing allows people to be comfortable in a wide range of external temperatures.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8B Going for Gold

    Using the theme of sports (particularly athletics), this unit covers the chemical reaction of respiration in living organisms and the structure and function of the human respiratory and circulatory systems.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8F Materials and Recycling

    This unit uses the context of recycling to examine how we sort and classify materials. This includes the classification into metals and non-metals, and revision of previous work on solids, liquids and gases. The unit also develops the more advanced concepts of elements and compounds, and links these to the more abstract ideas of particle models and chemical formulae.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8J On the Move

    This unit revises work from Year 7 on balanced forces, and looks at how drag forces can be reduced. It goes on to look at forces that are spread out over an area, magnetic and electromagnetic forces, and finally at levers. The work is set in the context of transport and how we use it.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8C Doctors and Diseases

    The work of doctors and the diseases that they come across provide the theme for this unit. Work also includes microbes, population growth, uses of microbes, disease transmission, disease prevention, natural defences, vaccines and medicines.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8G All that Glitters

    This unit uses the theme of the materials used in jewellery to revisit ideas about elements and compounds, and extends understanding by considering particles, equations, symbols and formulae. Through the theme, the unit deals with the differences between elements, compounds and mixtures, and considers the properties and uses of alloys. It also revises ideas about chemical reactions and the effect of heat on materials is considered in relation to physical and chemical changes.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8K Light Fantastic

    This unit revises work from KS2 on light, which is then extended to consider how light travels and what happens when it meets an object. The work is set in the context of cameras and photography, and also considers how photography has contributed to scientific discoveries and how images are used in today’s society.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8D The Way of the Dodo

    This unit revises work on habitats, classification, adaptation and feeding relationships from Year 7. This is extended by considering the differences between how scientists find out about these things for extinct organisms and those that are still living. Population changes, fieldwork techniques and the interdependence of organisms within a community are also introduced.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8H Explaining the Earth

    This unit examines the different types of rock and the processes which bring about their formation, leading to the idea of a rock cycle which operates within a huge geological timescale. It also looks at ways in which the formation of rocks has been explained in the past. The unit’s context is finding out about the Earth to help to predict and to mitigate natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 8L Sound and Hearing

    This unit considers pitch and frequency, the ear, differences between light and sound, and ultrasound. It focuses on how different animals use sound to communicate, navigate and hunt.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

Year 9 Science Course Modules


  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 9A: Science and Fiction

    This unit uses the theme of fiction (mainly fi lm) as a basis for exploring inheritance in plants and animals. How variation is influenced by the environment is also considered, as are selective breeding, cloning and genetic modification.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 9E: Building for the Future

    This unit uses the context of building materials to explore the properties of metals and rocks. It builds on work in Year 8 (on metals) to introduce neutralisation reactions of metal oxides and carbonates. It also revises and extends work in Year 8 on the rock cycle. It ends with a look at other building materials in the context of sustainability.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 9I: Buying Energy

    This unit looks at energy and energy transfers, and builds on earlier work on electricity to develop ideas of energy transfers in circuits. The theme for the unit is the effect on the environment of using electricity generated using fossil fuels, and how this can be reduced.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 9B: A Model Career

    This unit uses the theme of modelling to revise work on organ systems and diet. These ideas are built on further by considering the locomotor system, the benefits of exercise and the dangers of smoking and drugs.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 9F: Sculpture Park

    This unit develops ideas on the reactivity of metals and issues related to corrosion. The context is the use of metals for sculpture.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

  • Exploring Science: How Science Works: 9J: Satellites and Space

    This unit revises ideas about mass and weight, and extends them to look at the effects of gravity in the Solar System, and how ideas about the Solar System have changed. It is set in the context of using satellites to observe the Earth and other bodies in the Solar System.

    Pupils complete a test at the end the topic.

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