Course Contents

CONTENT COURSE-III (FROM SELECTED DISCIPLINE-II: INTEGRATED SCIENCE) INTEGRATED SCIENCE III COURSE CODE: COC/ B.ED.Sc-409 (SEM VII) CREDIT HOURS: 3 Week 1 Cycles in Nature A. Seasonal Cycles • The four seasons and earth’s orbit around the sun (one year) • Seasons and life processes Spring: sprouting, sap flow in plants, mating and hatching Summer: growth Fall: ripening, migration Winter: plant dormancy, animal hibernation Week 2 Life Cycles • The life cycle: birth, growth, reproduction, death • Reproduction in plants and animals From seed to seed with a plant From egg to egg with a chicken From frog to frog From butterfly to butterfly: metamorphosis Week 3 Life cycle: development of an organism from birth to growth, reproduction, death Example: Growth stages of a human: embryo, fetus, newborn, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age • All living things reproduce themselves. Reproduction may be asexual or sexual. Examples of asexual reproduction: fission (splitting) of bacteria, spores from mildews, molds, and mushrooms, budding of yeast cells, regeneration and cloning Sexual reproduction requires the joining of special male and female cells, called gametes, to form a fertilized egg. Week 4 Sexual Reproduction in Animals • Reproductive organs: testes (sperm) and ovaries (eggs) • External fertilization: spawning • Internal fertilization: birds, mammals • Development of the embryo: egg, zygote, embryo, growth in uterus, fetus, newborn Week 5 The Water Cycle • Most of the earth’s surface is covered by water. • The water cycle Evaporation and condensation Water vapour in the air, humidity Clouds: cirrus, cumulus, stratus Precipitation, groundwater Week 6 Introduction to Classification of Animals • Scientists classify animals according to the characteristics they share, for example: Cold-blooded or warm-blooded Vertebrates (have backbones and internal skeletons) or invertebrates (do not have backbones or internal skeletons) • Different classes of vertebrates• Scientists have divided living things into five large groups called kingdoms, as follows: Plant Animal Fungus (mushrooms, yeast, mold, mildew) Protist (algae, protozoans, amoeba, euglena) Moneran, also called Prokaryote (bacteria, blue-green algae/cyano bacteria) • Each kingdom is divided into smaller groupings as follows: Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species (Variety) • When classifying living things, scientists use special names made up of Latin words (or words made to sound like Latin words), which help scientists around the world understand each other and ensure that they are using the same names for the same living things. Homo sapiens: the scientific name for the species to which human beings belong (genus Homo, species sapiens) Taxonomists: biologists who specialize in classification • Different classes of vertebrates and major characteristics: fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals Week 7 Plant Structures and Processes Structure: Non-vascula r and Vascular Plants • Non-vascular plants (for example, algae) • Vascular plants Vascular plants have tubelike structures that allow water and dissolved nutrients to move through the plant. Parts and functions of vascular plants: roots, stems and buds, leaves Photosynthesis • Photosynthesis is an important life process that occurs in plant cells, but not animal cells (photo = light; synthesis = putting together). Unlike animals, plants make their own food, through the process of photosynthesis. • Role in photosynthesis of: energy from sunlight, chlorophyll, carbon dioxide and water, xylem and phloem, stomata, oxygen, sugar (glucose) Week 8 Mid Term Exams Week 9 Cell Division and Genetics Cell division, the basic process for growth and reproduction Two types of cell division: mitosis (growth and asexual reproduction), meiosis (sexual reproduction) Asexual reproduction: mitosis; diploid cells (as in amoeba) Sexual reproduction: meiosis: haploid cells; combinations of traits How change occurs from one generation to another: either mutation or mixing of traits through sexual reproduction Why acquired characteristics are not transmitted • Gregor Mendel’s experiments with purebred and hybrid peas Dominant and recessive genes Mendel’s statistical analysis led to understanding that inherited traits are controlled by genes (now known to be DNA). • Modern understanding of chromosomes and genes Double helix (twisted ladder) of DNA coding; how DNA makes new DNA How DNA sequence makes proteins Genetic engineering Modern researchers in genetics: Francis Crick, James Watson, Severo Ochoa, Barbara McClintock Week10 Chemistry of Food and Respiration Energy for most life on earth comes from the sun, typically from sun, to plants, to animals, back to plants. • Living cells get most of their energy through chemical reactions. All living cells make and use carbohydrates (carbon and water), the simplest of these being sugars. All living cells make and use proteins, often very complex compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and many other elements. Making these compounds involves chemical reactions which need water, and take place in and between cells, across cell walls. The reactions also need catalysts called “enzymes.” Many cells also make fats, which store energy and food. • Energy in plants: photosynthesis Plants do not need to eat other living things for energy. Main nutrients of plants: the chemical elements nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, Week 11 Sound Sound is caused by an object vibrating rapidly. • Sounds travel through solids, liquids, and gases. • Sound waves are much slower than light waves. • Qualities of sound Pitch: high or low, faster vibrations = higher pitch, slower vibrations = lower pitch Intensity: loudness and quietness • Human voice Larynx (voice box) Vibrating vocal cords: longer, thicker vocal cords create lower, deeper voices • Sound and how the human ear works • Protecting your hearing Week 12 Sound Waves • General properties of waves Waves transfer energy by oscillation without transferring matter; matter disturbed by a wave returns to its original place. Wave properties: wavelength, frequency, speed, crest, trough, amplitude Two kinds of waves: transverse (for example, light) and longitudinal (for example, sound) Common features of both kinds of waves: Speed and frequency of wave determine wavelength. Wave interference occurs in both light and sound. Doppler effect occurs in both light and sound. • Sound waves: longitudinal, compression waves, made by vibrating matter, for example, strings, wood, air While light and radio waves can travel through a vacuum, sound waves cannot. Sound waves need a medium through which to travel. Speed Sound goes faster through denser mediums, that is, faster through solids and liquids than through air (gases). At room temperature, sound travels through air at about 340 meters per second (1,130 feet per second). Speed of sound = Mach number Supersonic booms; breaking the sound barrier Frequency Frequency of sound waves measured in “cycles per second” or Hertz (Hz) Audible frequencies roughly between 20 and 20,000 Hz The higher the frequency, the higher the subjective “pitch” Amplitude Amplitude or loudness is measured in decibels (dB). Very loud sounds can impair hearing or cause deafness. Resonance, for example, the sound board of a piano, or plates of a violin Week 13 Energy Energy • Six forms of energy: mechanical, heat, electrical, wave, chemical, nuclear • The many forms of energy are interchangeable, for example, gasoline in a car, windmills, hydroelectric plants. • Sources of energy: for example, heat (coal, natural gas, solar, atomic, geothermal, and thermonuclear), mechanical motion (such as falling water, wind) See below, Energy: Nuclear energy, re Stars. • Fossil fuels: a finite resource Carbon, coal, oil, natural gas Environmental impact of fossil fuels: carbon dioxide and global warming theory, greenhouse effect, oil spills, acid rain • Nuclear energy Uranium, fission, nuclear reactor, radioactive waste Nuclear power plants: safety and accidents (for example, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl) In physics, energy is defined as the ability to do work. • Energy as distinguished from work To have energy, a thing does not have to move. Work is the transfer of energy. • Two main types of energy: kinetic and potential Some types of potential energy: gravitational, chemical, elastic, electromagnetic Some types of kinetic energy: moving objects, heat, sound and other waves • Energy is conserved in a system. Week14 Work In physics, work is a relation between force and distance: work is done when force is exerted over a distance. Equation: Work equals Force x Distance (W = F x D) Common units for measuring work: foot-pounds (in English system), joules (in metric system; 1 joule = 1 newton of force x 1 meter of distance) Power In physics, power is a relation between work and time: a measure of work done (or energy expended) and the time it takes to do it. Equation: Power equals Work divided by Time (P = W/T), or Power = Energy/Time Common units of measuring power: foot-pounds per second, horsepower (in English system); watts, kilowatts (in metric system) Week 15 Heat Heat and temperature: how vigorously atoms are moving and colliding • Three ways that heat energy can be transferred: conduction, convection, radiation The direction of heat transfer States of matter (solid, liquid, gas) in terms of molecular motion Motion •Velocity and speed The velocity of an object is the rate of change of its position in a particular direction. Speed is the magnitude of velocity expressed in distance covered per unit of time. Changes in velocity can involve changes in speed or direction or both. • Average speed = total distance traveled divided by the total time elapsed Formula: Speed = Distance/Time (S = D/T) Familiar units for measuring speed: miles or kilometers per hour Forces • The concept of force: force as a push or pull on an object Examples of familiar forces (such as gravity, magnetic force) A force has both direction and magnitude. Measuring force: expressed in units of mass, pounds in English system, newtons in metric system • Unbalanced forces cause changes in velocity. If an object is subject to two or more forces at once, the effect is the net effect of all forces. The motion of an object does not change if all the forces on it are in balance, having net effect of zero. The motion of an object changes in speed or direction if the forces on it are unbalanced,having net effect other than zero. To achieve a given change in the motion of an object, the greater the mass of the object,the greater the force required. Density and Buoyancy • When immersed in a fluid (i.e. liquid or gas), all objects experience a buoyant force. The buoyant force on an object is an upward (counter-gravity) force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. Density = mass per unit volume Relation between mass and weight (equal masses at same location have equal weights) • How to calculate density of regular and irregular solids from measurements of mass and volume The experiment of Archimedes • How to predict whether an object will float or sink