Download Assessment Specifications

Assessment Specifications
These assessment specifications remain draft subject to registration of the standards.
General information
Domain
Biology
Level
1
Mode of Assessment
Written
examination
For Year
2011
This document contains the assessment specifications for Achievement
Standards:
90927, 90928,
90929
Format for the assessment for all achievement standards
Within each paper all questions will provide opportunity for all grades of performance Achievement, Achievement with Merit, and Achievement with Excellence; there are no standalone questions for lower achievement grades. Candidates should attempt all questions.
Diagrams may be used to provide evidence where appropriate.
Specific Information for individual External Achievement
Standards
Achievement Standard Number 90927
Title
Demonstrate understanding of biological ideas relating to micro-organisms
Version:
Number of Credits: 4
1
Special
notes
This achievement standard assesses biological ideas that relate to micro-organisms
selected from bacteria, fungi and viruses.
Factors that affect the life processes of micro-organisms include: moisture,
temperature, oxygen availability, presence of suitable nutrients, and host species,
competitors related to antibiotic action and resistance; also, why viruses cannot be
considered living (only reproduce using host cells and do not grow, feed, produce
energy or excrete).
Achievement Standard Number 90928
Title
Demonstrate understanding of biological ideas relating to the life cycle of
flowering plants
Version: 1 Number of Credits: 4
Special
notes
This achievement standard requires knowledge of flowering plants
(Angiosperms), with a focus on flowers, leaves, roots, and dicotyledonous seeds
and stems.
Asexual reproduction requires familiarity with different methods of asexual
reproduction including but not limited to cuttings, tubers, rhizomes, runners,
bulbs.
Sexual reproduction includes:
•
•
•
•
wind pollinated flower structure compared to insect pollinated flowers,
relating structure to function
steps involved from pollination to fertilisation
structure of dicotyledon seeds relating each structure to its function
methods of seed dispersal.
Germination and growth includes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
germination stages
environmental factors affecting germination
growth in meristematic tissue
primary growth in stems and roots
secondary growth
the importance of nutrients as they relate to growth and photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis includes:
•
•
•
structure and function of a leaf
raw materials and products
factors that affect the rate of photosynthesis: light intensity, temperature,
amount of chlorophyll, CO2 concentration.
Candidates should be familiar with basic practical work relating to
photosynthesis.
Achievement Standard Number 90929
Title
Version:
1
Special
notes
Demonstrate understanding of biological ideas relating to a mammal as a
consumer
Number of Credits: 3
Structural components of the digestive system include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
buccal cavity (mouth - including structure of a generalised tooth)
salivary glands
oesophagus
stomach
duodenum
bile duct
liver
gall bladder
pancreas
pancreatic duct
ileum
caecum
appendix
colon
rectum
anus.
Life processes related to a mammal as a consumer includes:
Processing food
•
•
•
•
•
•
ingestion
digestion
peristalsis
absorption
assimilation
egestion
Transport of products of digestion is limited to the function of the circulatory
system, and the basic structures are limited to the heart (names of structures
within the organ are not required), veins, arteries and capillaries.
Use of food at the cell level is limited to aerobic respiration (including raw
materials and products), and the basic structures are limited to the lungs (names of
structures within the organ are not required).
Candidates may be asked to relate processing of food, circulation and respiration
to each other and to the overall survival of the mammal.