UK Board Class 12 Biology Syllabus

The present syllabus provides the students with new concepts along with extended exposure to contemporary areas of the subject. The syllabus also aims at emphasizing on the underlying principles that are common to both animals and plants as well as highlighting the relationship of Biology with other areas of knowledge. The format of the syllabus allows a simple, clear, sequential flow of concepts. It relates the study of biology to real life through the use of technology. It links the discoveries and innovations in biology to everyday life such as environment, industry, health, and agriculture. The updated syllabus also focuses on reducing the curriculum load while ensuring that ample opportunities and scope for learning and appreciating basic concepts of the subject continue to be available within its framework. The prescribed syllabus is expected to:

• promote understanding of basic principles of Biology;
• encourage learning of emerging knowledge and its relevance to individual and society;
• promote rational/scientific attitude towards issues related to population, environment, and development;
• enhance awareness about environmental issues, problems, and their appropriate solutions;
• create awareness amongst the learners about diversity in living organisms and developing respect for other living beings;
• appreciate that the most complex biological phenomena are built on essentially simple processes;

It is expected that the students would get an exposure to various branches of Biology in the syllabus in a more contextual and friendly manner as they study its various units.

(THEORY)

Time: 3 Hours. Max. Marks: 70

Unit-VI Reproduction: 30 periods

Chapter-1: Reproduction in Organisms

Reproduction, a characteristic feature of all organisms for the continuation of species; modes of reproduction – asexual and sexual reproduction; asexual reproduction – binary fission, sporulation, budding, gemmule formation, fragmentation; vegetative propagation in plants.

Chapter-2: Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants

Flower structure; development of male and female gametophytes; pollination – types, agencies, and examples; outbreeding devices; pollen-pistil interaction; double fertilization; post-fertilization events – development of endosperm and embryo, development of seed and formation of fruit; Special modes-apomixis, parthenocarpy, polyembryony; Significance of seed dispersal and fruit formation.

Chapter-3: Human Reproduction

Male and female reproductive systems; microscopic anatomy of testis and ovary; gametogenesis – spermatogenesis and oogenesis; menstrual cycle; fertilization, embryo development up to blastocyst formation, implantation; Pregnancy and placenta formation (elementary idea); parturition (elementary idea); lactation (elementary idea).

Chapter-4: Reproductive Health

Need for reproductive health and prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs); birth control – need and methods, contraception and medical termination of pregnancy (MTP); amniocentesis; infertility and assisted reproductive technologies – IVF, ZIFT, GIFT (elementary idea for general awareness).

Unit-VII Genetics and Evolution: 40 Periods

Chapter-5: Principles of Inheritance and Variation

Heredity and variation: Mendelian inheritance; deviations from Mendelism – incomplete dominance, codominance, multiple alleles and inheritance of blood groups, pleiotropy; elementary idea of polygenic inheritance; Chromosome theory of inheritance; Chromosomes and genes; Sex determination – in humans, birds and honey bee; linkage and crossing over; sex-linked inheritance – haemophilia, colour blindness; Mendelian disorders in humans – thalassemia;
chromosomal disorders in humans; Down’s syndrome, Turner’s and Klinefelter’s syndromes.

Chapter-6: Molecular Basis of Inheritance

Search for genetic material and DNA as genetic material; Structure of DNA and RNA; DNA packaging; DNA replication; Central dogma; transcription, genetic code, translation; gene expression and regulation – lac operon; genome and human and rice genome projects; DNA fingerprinting.

Chapter-7: Evolution

Origin of life; biological evolution and evidences for biological evolution (paleontology, comparative anatomy, embryology and molecular evidences); Darwin’s contribution, modern synthetic theory of evolution; mechanism of evolution – variation (mutation and recombination) and natural selection with examples, types of natural selection; Gene flow and genetic drift; Hardy – Weinberg’s principle; adaptive radiation; human evolution.

Unit-VIII Biology and Human Welfare: 30 Periods

Chapter-8: Human Health and Diseases

Pathogens; parasites causing human diseases (malaria, dengue, chicken guinea, filariasis, ascariasis, typhoid, pneumonia, common cold, amoebiasis, ringworm) and their control; Basic concepts of immunology – vaccines; cancer, HIV and AIDS; Adolescence – drug and alcohol abuse.

Chapter-9: Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production

Improvement in food production: Plant breeding, tissue culture, single cell protein,
Biofortification, Apiculture and Animal husbandry.

Chapter-10: Microbes in Human Welfare

In household food processing, industrial production, sewage treatment, energy generation and microbes as biocontrol agents and biofertilizers. Antibiotics; production and judicious use.

Unit-IX Biotechnology and Its Applications: 30 Periods

Chapter-11: Biotechnology – Principles and processes

Genetic Engineering (Recombinant DNA Technology).

Chapter-12: Biotechnology and its Application

Application of biotechnology in health and agriculture: Human insulin and vaccine production, stem cell technology, gene therapy; genetically modified organisms – Bt crops; transgenic animals; biosafety issues, biopiracy and patents.

Unit-X Ecology and Environment: 30 Periods

Chapter-13: Organisms and Populations

Organisms and environment: Habitat and niche, population and ecological adaptations; population interactions – mutualism, competition, predation, parasitism; population attributes – growth, birth rate, and death rate, age distribution.

Chapter-14: Ecosystem

Ecosystems: Patterns, components; productivity and decomposition; energy flow; pyramids of number, biomass, energy; nutrient cycles (carbon and phosphorous); ecological succession; ecological services – carbon fixation, pollination, seed dispersal, oxygen release (in brief).

Chapter-15: Biodiversity and its Conservation

Biodiversity-Concept, patterns, importance; loss of biodiversity; biodiversity conservation; hotspots, endangered organisms, extinction, Red Data Book, biosphere reserves, national parks, sanctuaries, and Ramsar sites.

Chapter-16: Environmental Issues

Air pollution and its control; water pollution and its control; agrochemicals and their effects; solid waste management; radioactive waste management; greenhouse effect and climate change impact and mitigation; ozone layer depletion; deforestation; any one case study as success story addressing the environmental issue(s)

PRACTICALS For UK Board Class 12 Biology Syllabus

Time allowed: 3 Hours Max. Marks: 30

1. List of Experiments 60 Periods

   1. Study pollen germination on a slide.
   2. Collect and study soil from at least two different sites and study them for texture, moisture content, pH and water holding capacity. Correlate with the kinds of plants found in them.
   3. Collect water from two different water bodies around you and study them for pH, clarity, and presence of any living organism.
   4. Studies the presence of suspended particulate matter in the air at two widely different sites.
   5. Study the plant population density by quadrat method.
   6. Study the plant population frequency by quadrat method.
   7. Prepare a temporary mount of onion root tip to study mitosis.
   8. Study the effect of different temperatures and three different pH on the activity of salivary amylase on starch.
   9. Isolate DNA from available plant material such as spinach, green pea seeds, papaya, etc.

2. Study/observation of the following (Spotting)

   1. Flowers adapted to pollination by different agencies (wind, insects, birds).
   2. Pollen germination on stigma through a permanent slide.
   3. Identification of stages of gamete development, i.e., T.S. of testis and T.S. of ovary through permanent slides (from grasshopper/mice).
   4. Meiosis in onion bud cell or grasshopper testis through permanent slides.
   5. T.S. of blastula through permanent slides (Mammalian).
   6. Mendelian inheritance using seeds of different color/sizes of any plant.
   7. Prepared pedigree charts of any one of the genetic traits such as rolling of the tongue, blood groups, earlobes, widow’s peak, and color blindness.
   8. Controlled pollination – emasculation, tagging and bagging.
   9. Common disease-causing organisms like Ascaris, Entamoeba, Plasmodium, any fungus causing ringworm through permanent slides or specimens. Comment on symptoms of diseases that they cause.
   10. Two plants and two animals (models/virtual images) found in xeric conditions. Comment upon their morphological adaptations.
   11. Two plants and two animals (models/virtual images) found in aquatic conditions. Comment upon their morphological adaptations.

Practical Examination for Visually Impaired Students of Classes XI and XII
Evaluation Scheme

Time Allowed: Two hours Max. Marks: 30

General Guidelines

• The practical examination will be of two-hour duration.
• A separate list of ten experiments is included here.
• The written examination in practicals for these students will be conducted at the time of practical examination of all other students.
• The written test will be of 30 minutes duration.
• The question paper given to the students should be legibly typed. It should contain a total of 15 practical skill-based very short answer type questions. A student would be required to answer any 10 questions.
• A writer may be allowed to such students as per CBSE examination rules.
• All questions included in the question paper should be related to the listed practicals. Every question should require about two minutes to be answered.
• These students are also required to maintain a practical file. A student is expected to record at least five of the listed experiments as per the specific instructions for each subject. These practicals should be duly checked and signed by the internal examiner.
• The format of writing any experiment in the practical file should include aim, apparatus required, simple theory, procedure, related practical skills, precautions etc.
• Questions may be generated jointly by the external/internal examiners and used for assessment.
• The viva questions may include questions based on basic theory /principle/concept, apparatus/materials/ chemicals required, procedure, precautions, sources of error etc.

UK Board Class 12 Biology Syllabus

1. Items for Identification/ familiarity with the apparatus for assessment in practicals (All experiments)
2. Beaker, flask, Petri dishes, soil from different sites- sandy, clayey, loamy, small potted plants, aluminium foil, paintbrush, test tubes, starch solution, iodine, ice cubes, Bunsen burner/water bath, large colourful flowers, Maize inflorescence, model of developmental stages highlighting morula and blastula of frog, beads of different shapes (cubes, round) /size, smooth and rough, tags of different shapes, bags, Ascaris, Cacti (Opuntia).
3. List of Practicals
   1. Studies of the soil obtained from at least two different sites for their texture and water holding capacity.
   2. Study of presence of suspended particulate matter in the air at two widely different sites.
   3. Study of the effect of different temperatures on the activity of salivary amylase.
   4. Studies of flowers adapted to pollination by different agencies (wind, insects).
   5. Identification of T.S of morula or blastula of the frog.
   6. Studies of Mendelian inheritance pattern using beads of different color/sizes.
   7. Preparation of pedigree charts of genetic traits such as rolling of the tongue, color blindness.
   8. Study of emasculation, tagging, and bagging by trying out an exercise on controlled pollination.9. Identify common disease-causing organisms like Ascaris and learn some common symptoms of the disease that they cause.
   9. Comment upon the morphological adaptations of plants found in xerophytic conditions.

Note: The above practicals may be carried out in an experiential manner rather than recording observations.

Prescribed Books For UK Board Class 12 Biology Syllabus:

1. Biology, Class-XII, Published by NCERT
2. Other related books and manuals brought out by NCERT (consider multimedia also)

QUESTION WISE BREAK UP

1. Internal Choice: There is no overall choice in the paper. However, there is an internal choice in one question of 2 marks weightage, one question of 3 marks weightage and all three questions of 5 marks weightage.
2. The above template is only a sample. Suitable internal variations may be made for generating similar templates keeping the overall weightage to the different form of questions and typology of questions same