Holy Family College

Pacesetter – Life Sciences Grade 10 – 2024 (based on SAGS Exam guideline) Jan 2022
Date Week Strand Content Date
completed
17/01 – 19/01 1 BIOSPHERES AND Orientation to Life Sciences:
(3 days) ECOSYSTEMS How sciences works.
Scientific Skills
Organization of learning and rules.
REVISE EXAMS
22/01 – 26/01 2 ECOLOGICAL TERMS
Biomes, Ecosystems, Abiotic and Biotic,
Presentation on BIOMES
29/01 –02/02 3 Energy Flow
Trophic levels, chains, webs Ecotourism,
economics, ethics opportunities
Nutrient cycles-link global warming
Seasonal change-diurnal nocturnal
05/02 – 09/02 4 History of classification- Linnaeus
BIODIVERSITY AND  Two-kingdom system: plants and
CLASSIFICATION animals (no longer used)
 Five-kingdom system: Plantae,
Animalia, Fungi, Protista and
Monera (Bacteria)
 Three-domain system: Eubacteria,
Archaea, Eukarya, with kingdoms
in each domain, e.g. Plantae,
Animalia, Fungi, Protista in the
Eukarya

12/02 – 16/02 5 HISTORY OF LIFE Geological timescale

ON EARTH Increased oxygen on Earth
Cambrian explosion
Mass extinctions
19//02 – 22/02 6 Various hypotheses have been proposed for
(4 days) the extinction, 65 million years ago, such as
MIDTERM the meteorite impact theory and the volcanic
eruptions in India theory
DARWIN vs LAMARCK
Fossil EVIDENCE-make a fossil

25/02 – 01/03 7 History of life KEY EVENTS in SA

 Barberton district, Mpumalanga)
4 days)( on Earth
 Soft-bodied animals in Namibia
 Early land plants in the Grahamstown
area
 Forests of primitive plants such as
Glossopteris (near Mooi River and
Estcourt) and which form most of the
coal deposits in southern Africa

04/03 – 08/03 8  The coelacanth as a 'living

fossil', of the group that is
ancestral to amphibians.
 Mammal-like reptiles in Karoo
 Dinosaurs (Drakensberg and Maluti
mountains, Euskylosaurus from
REPRODTIVE Lady Grey in the Eastern Cape)
STRATEGY IN and cone-bearing plants
ANIMALS  First mammals (Eastern Cape and
Lesotho)
Trip to MISSING LINK ARCHAEOPTERYX
Maropeng Humans (Gauteng, Free State,

11/03 –15/03 9 CHEMISTRY OF ORGANIC MOLECULESN CH OPS

LIFE Investigations of the organic content of
some foods: food tests for starch, glucose,
 lipids and proteins.

18/03 – 20/03 10 Investigations of the organic content of

(3 days) some foods: food tests for lipids and
public holiday proteins.

25/03 – 28/03 11 CHEMISTRY OF Unsaturated and saturated fats. Heart

4 days) LIFE disease. Cholesterol in foods.
Enzymes in industry, e.g. washing powders.
ENZYME ACTION IN GRAPHS

Need for fertilisers in overutilised soils, e.g.

where crops are grown and regularly
harvested, problem of fertilisers washed
into rivers, eutrophication
02/04 -05/04 12 HISTORY OF MICROSCOPE
public holiday Cell structure and function: Introduce the
CELLS: THE BASIC idea of a cell as the smallest unit that has a
UNIT OF LIFE complex organisation and carries out the
properties of life e.g.
GENETIC  Cell wall – support structure
ENGINEERING  Cell membrane – boundaries and
transport
 Nucleus, chromatin
material, nuclear
membrane, nucleopores,
nucleolus – the control
centre

08/04 – 11/04 13  Cytoplasm – storage, circulation of
(4 days) materials
CELLS  Mitochondria – powerhouse of the cell,
releases energy
 Ribosomes – protein synthesis
 Endoplasmic reticulum (rough
and smooth) - transport systems
 Golgi body – packaging centre
 Plastids – production & storage of food,
pigments
 Vacuole, lysosomes,
vesicles – storage,
digestion, osmoregulation.
Movement across membranes: diffusion,
osmosis and active transport- CELERY
Differences between plant and animal cells

HW Research and present information on ONE

of the cancers – causes, prevalence,
MITOSIS
treatment.
APRIL HOLIDAYS