Year 7 Science · Unit 1 · Lesson 10
Challenge Worksheet
Learning Goals
Evaluate the claim
Someone claims…
"Organs are the most important level of organisation in biology. Without organs like the heart and brain, nothing else matters — cells and tissues are just building blocks and organ systems are just organs working together. So if you understand organs, you understand biology. Researchers who focus on cells or on whole systems are missing the point — the organ is where all the real action happens."
(a) What part of this claim is supported by the science you have learned in this lesson? Explain using specific examples.
(b) What is misleading or incorrect about this claim? Use the hierarchy of organisation in your explanation.
(c) What evidence or information would help you decide whether any single level of organisation is truly "most important" — or whether that question itself is flawed?
1. A heart transplant surgeon replaces a patient's diseased heart with a healthy donor heart. Using the hierarchy of organisation, explain why successfully transplanting a single organ is not enough on its own to keep a person alive — what else must function correctly, and at which levels?
2. Some scientists study a single type of cell (e.g. a cardiologist researching cardiac muscle cells). Others study whole systems (e.g. a physiologist studying how the circulatory and respiratory systems interact). Evaluate the claim that one approach is more valuable than the other. In your answer, refer to at least two levels of organisation.
Wrap Up
In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?