Biology-Mātauranga koiora 

Biology is the study of living things, what they're made of and how they function, how they interact with their environment and each other. We also study the diversity of living things and how these living things have evolved and continue to evolve. A particular focus is Aoteraoa/ New Zealand's unique flora and fauna.

The courses have a mix of internal and external assessment; some of these are compulsory and others will be optional or negotiable. It is likely that external examination will be part of the assessment that you do. Biology does involve a fair amount of written communication although we are very open to work being presented in a variety of ways. Part of this work will involve writing extended discussions and essays, if this is not your strength then you will need to put more time and energy into your work.

Field trips and getting outside into nature is a big part of biology both at L2 and L3 you do need to be prepared to participate in these types of learning experiences and some of these field trips may involve collecting data or making observations practical investigations both inside and outside are a big part of biology in order to collect data about living things and their environment and then to make sense of this data.

We will be learning about various theoretical concepts ranging from those at a cellular level such as genetics up to organism level such as human biology and then beyond into ecology how living things are connected and evolution how groups of living things change over time. At level 2 the biology curriculum has more of a focus on cells and genetics and then at Level 3 there is more of a focus on human biology, genetics and evolution. 

Ideally biology would be taken for two years in order to give you the best all-round learning experience it can be very challenging to pick up biology at L3 if you haven't done this at L2 as the concepts do build on each other that said it is possible to change into biology at L3 on a case-by-case basis so please talk to Miss Collett if you have any questions about this.

Biology can lead into a wide range of career paths such as veterinarian science, medical fields including medicine nursing, dentistry and pharmacology. Ecology and zoology, sport science, medical research, genetic counselling, conservation, food science, marine biology biotechnology, psychology, education and teaching, horticulture and agriculture to name just a few.  It might also be a science that you want to take to complement other subjects that you are doing or to provide you with a wide base of knowledge and skills. Simply learning biology for interest and to have endless anecdotal stories to tell people at parties.