Science – Preparatory Grade 3

Course highlights

• Classify chemical reactions (combination, decomposition, single and double replacement, neutralisation, combustion), use the activity series and a universal indicator, and explain oxidation, reduction and oxidising / reducing agents
• Explain flammability and ignition point, compare complete and incomplete combustion and their products, and evaluate combustion's environmental pollution and ways to reduce it
• Identify the harmful substances in tobacco smoke, distinguish active, passive and electronic smoking, explain their health effects and design an awareness message
• Explain electric current, current intensity, potential difference and electromotive force, compare conventional and electron current, DC and AC, and the factors affecting resistance
• Apply Ohm's law to series and parallel circuits, calculate equivalent resistance, electric power and energy, and estimate household energy cost and savings
• Describe the magnetic effect of a current, the electromagnet and the factors affecting it, and the structure and use of the electric motor and generator
• Explain inheritance with genes and alleles, dominant and recessive traits, genotype and phenotype, Mendel's laws and Punnett squares, and genetic diseases
• Explain natural selection (adaptation, population, carrying capacity) and artificial selection, and the role of genetic and environmental factors
• Describe how fossils form, types of fossils, the fossil record, mass extinctions, and the evidence used for evolutionary relationships (comparative anatomy, homologous and analogous structures, transitional fossils)
• Order rock layers by relative dating (superposition, index fossils), explain absolute dating with radioactive half-life, and read the geological time scale
• Measure and calculate the rate of a chemical reaction from data (e.g. gas volume per second) (t2, provisional)
• Explain with particle ideas how concentration, temperature, surface area and catalysts change the rate of reaction (t2, provisional)
• Compare alpha, beta and gamma radiation (nature, charge, penetration, shielding) and the hazards of ionising radiation (t2, provisional)
• Describe nuclear fission and chain reactions, nuclear power (incl. the El-Dabaa project), medical and industrial uses, and radiation safety (t2, provisional)
• Name the main endocrine glands and their hormones and explain hormonal regulation (e.g. insulin and blood sugar) (t2, provisional)
• Describe the neuron, the central and peripheral nervous systems and the reflex arc, and compare nervous with hormonal control (t2, provisional)
• Distinguish transverse from longitudinal waves and use v = f λ (t2, provisional)
• Explain how sound travels and echoes and how light travels and reflects, and solve echo and light-time problems (t2, provisional)

Course content

• 10units
• 28sessions
• 19quizzes

The lecturer