LEAVING CERT BIOLOGY HIGHER AND ORDINARY LEVEL:AN EXOTIC question on ecology came as a surprise to Leaving Cert biology students yesterday in what was otherwise regarded as a "lovely" higher paper.
More than 30,000 students took biology at higher and ordinary level yesterday and the response was very positive.
“My students were quite happy with this paper,” said Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland subject representative Ciara O’Shea. “There was plenty of choice in the long question section. The experiment section demanded a great depth of knowledge but the students seemed able to handle it. They needed to know seven different experiments to answer just one question in this section.”
A graph question in section 12 also demanded a bit of thought, teachers commented. “Overall, however, the questions were well-scaffolded, leading students to check their answers as they went along,” said Teachers Union of Ireland subject representative Margaret O’Neill.
Every aspect of the syllabus was covered, said teachers, and the biology course is famous for its breadth.
“Even the brain and nervous system came up, and this is a topic that teachers are stretched to get to within the teaching cycle,” said Ms O’Neill. “Every element of the syllabus was examined, as usual.”
Biology is the most popular elective subject on the Leaving Cert curriculum after French. Despite annual complaints about the amount of material that students and teachers have to cover, numbers taking the subject remain high. More than twice as many girls take biology as boys.
The higher paper featured flowering plant reproduction, genetic engineering and the function of motor neurons in the brain. A question on the introduction of exotic species to an ecosystem was considered unusual. “The ecology question was a little difficult and might have thrown a few students,” said Ms O’Neill from Gorey Community School in Wexford.
About 5,000 students took yesterday’s biology exam at ordinary level. Some teachers felt the language in the paper was not always suitable to the level.
“Some of the terminology was a bit advanced for ordinary level students,” said Ms O’Neill.
LEAVING CERT BIOLOGY: TRY THIS AT HOME
ORGANISMS THAT are introduced into new environments outside their natural ranges are referred to as exotic species. In some cases these introductions have been deliberate and in other cases accidental, eg when a species kept in captivity in a new country escapes and gives rise to a wild population. Worldwide, the great majority of deliberate attempted introductions have been unsuccessful.
(i) Suggest a reason for attempting to establish an exotic species in a new country.
(ii) Suggest two reasons why the great majority of attempted introductions have been unsuccessful.
(iii) Use your knowledge of the life cycle of flowering plants to suggest how an exotic plant may escape from captivity.
