Biotechnology – the application of biological processes in industry – is at the heart of a scientific revolution whose impact on every day life may rival that of the micro-electronics industry. Though pupils may at the moment be familiar only with the products of the traditional biotechnological processes – bread, alcohol, cheese, yoghurt, etc – teachers can already point to the increased use in the home of biological detergents and antibiotics, and look forward to an imminent increase in the world’s use of biotechnologically produced fuels and chemicals for health care products.

It is intended that pupils will gain knowledge and understanding of at least some of the scope of biotechnology and of the principles on which biotechnology is based. This topic is concerned solely with the activities of microbes, but teachers may wish to refer to other organisms.

Pupils’ attention is directed to the kinds of problems for mankind which biotechnology can help to solve. Through a series of practical, laboratory-based activities, pupils should be allowed to manufacture and use some of the products of living organisms.

The first two sub-topics are based on the idea of harvesting products from organisms and the need to process waste materials. These sub-topics pave the way for the more difficult concepts of manipulating organisms and redirecting biological processes.

This topic allows teachers to draw on previous study of ecosystems, metabolic processes and heredity, and perhaps to direct pupils’ attention to possible job opportunities in biotechnology, and to related leisure activities..

Choose a sub-topic from the menu to the left