I Biology (2017) (4BI1)

Editable Scheme of Work

How to use this Scheme of Work
This Scheme of Work (SoW) is a suggested approach for a 120-hour course to enable the completion of the International GCSE Biology
(4BI1) qualification content. It provides an approximate teaching time of 90 hours, with approximately 30 hours dedicated to consolidation,
summative assessment, feedback, and exam preparation. International GCSEs have 120 - 140 guided learning hours. The assumption is
made that each lesson is roughly one hour and that there are 2 hours of teaching time over 60 weeks and reflects how centres could use the
time for practical activities.
This Scheme of Work is not intended to be prescriptive. This document is editable to allow for any adaptations you may wish to make to
best suit your teaching style and learner needs.
The columns in this Scheme of Work indicate:
 An approximate number of lessons/week(s) allocated to the course content.
 Which section of the specification this lesson relates to. Please note that emboldened content is not assessed in double award.
 Explicit reference is made to what course content needs covering in lessons.
 Suggested activities that provide teaching ideas and resources that could be used to support the teaching of lessons, including
relevant textbook page numbers; lab book page numbers (if relevant); practical support and references to the teaching hub, where
you will be able to find additional resources and information, such as worksheets, required prior knowledge and common
misconceptions. All underlined content has an associated hyperlink.
 Skills assessed through the examination.
 Skills that could be acquired through teaching and delivery within lessons.

Why transferable skills?

In recent years, higher education institutions and global employers have consistently flagged the need for students to develop a range of
transferable skills to enable them to respond with confidence to the demands of undergraduate study and the world of work. To support
the design of our qualifications, we have mapped them to a transferable skills framework. The framework includes cognitive, intrapersonal,
and interpersonal skills and each skill has been interpreted for each specification to ensure they are appropriate for the subject. Further
information on transferable skills is available on the website. Pearson materials, including this Scheme of Work, will support you in
identifying and developing these skills in students.
In the final two columns of this Scheme of Work, we have indicated which transferable skills are explicitly assessed, and where there are
opportunities for them to be developed through teaching. Our intention is that teachers can use these columns to increase the
opportunities for transferable skills development in students.
 Which skills Which skills
acquired in could be
Lesson this lesson acquired
Topic
Specification reference Suggested activities Suggested resources are explicitly through
Sub topic
assessed teaching and
through delivery in this
examination? lesson?
1 Section 1: Students will be able to: Activities: Pearson Edexcel Critical thinking Reasoning
The nature ● Produce a poster to International GCSE (9–1) Problem solving Interpretation
and variety 1.1 understand that living describe and illustrate one Biology Student Book: pp. Reasoning Adaptive learning
of living organisms share the following of the basic 3–4 Interpretation Adaptability
organisms characteristics: characteristics. Adaptive Initiative
a) learning Self-direction
● they require nutrition ● Consider to what extent a Pearson Edexcel
Characteristic Adaptability Self
● they respire motor car or petrol International GCSE (9-1)
s of living monitoring/self
● they excrete their waste lawnmower, for example, Biology Teaching Hub /
organisms evaluation/self
can meet the Term 1 / Lesson 1: The
● they respond to their reinforcement
characteristics of life. Characteristics of living
surroundings Communication
organisms
● they move
● they control their internal
conditions
● they reproduce
● they grow and develop.
2 Section 1: Students will be able to: Activities: Pearson Edexcel Critical thinking Reasoning
The nature ● Table to compare plants, International GCSE (9–1) Problem solving Interpretation
and variety 1.2 describe the common features animals, fungi and Biology Student Book: pp. Reasoning Adaptive learning
of living shown by eukaryotic organisms: protoctists. 25–28 Interpretation Adaptability
organisms plants, animals, fungi and Adaptive Initiative
b) Variety of protoctists. learning Self-direction
Class practicals: Pearson Edexcel Adaptability Responsibility
living
organisms ● Pictures/specimens to International GCSE (9-1) Productivity
Plants: these are multicellular place into correct main Biology Teaching Hub /
organisms; their cells contain groups. Term 1 / Lesson 3:
chloroplasts and are able ● Expose nutrient agar
to carry out photosynthesis; their Features of eukaryotic
plates to the environment
cells have cellulose cell walls; they organisms
and observe fungal
store carbohydrates as starch or colonies that grow.
sucrose. Examples include
flowering plants, such as a cereal ● Observation of protoctists Observation of protoctists
(for example maize), and a using microscopes and teacher sheet
herbaceous legume (for example cavity slides. These may
peas or beans). be found in pond water or
ordered from biological
Animals: these are multicellular suppliers.
organisms; their cells do not
contain chloroplasts and
are not able to carry out
photosynthesis; they have no cell
walls; they usually have nervous
coordination and are able to move
from one place to another; they
often store carbohydrate as
glycogen. Examples include
mammals (for example humans)
and insects (for example housefly