The Science of little living things (oh and viruses, even though they are not really living...) How do we interact with micro-organisms? How, when and why can they be helpful or harmful? And yes, we will probably be talking about 'that' virus and how we responded to it.
Micro-organisms will be selected from: bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
Biological ideas relating to micro-organisms will be selected from: the structure of micro-organisms, culturing of micro-organisms, life processes of micro-organisms (the nutrition, growth, respiration, reproduction, and excretion of bacteria and fungi, and the reproduction of viruses) environmental factors that affect the life processes of micro-organisms (temperature, oxygen availability, nutrients, moisture, chemicals - including pH, toxins, antibiotics, disinfectants, and competition)
The effects of environmental factors on the life processes of micro-organisms may include the following contexts: nutrient cycling and role in ecosystems, food production and preservation, sewage treatment, food poisoning, disease in plants, microbial attack on everyday materials - helpful and harmful, antibiotics, resistance to antibiotics and genetic mutation in epidemiology. The student must be familiar with the following terms: inoculate, extracellular digestion, enzyme, parasite, pathogen, toxin, decomposer, aerobic, anaerobic, hyphae, binary fission, spores, sporangium, antibiotic and vaccine.