Czech Republic

The Science Curriculum in Primary and Lower Secondary Grades

The science curriculum in the primary grades (Grades 1 to 5) follows the FEP BE and is divided into five thematic areas relating to Man and His World: Place Where We Live, People Around Us, Man and Time, Diversity of Nature, and Man and His Health. Traditionally, instruction in Grades 1 to 3 integrates subject matter from the five individual thematic areas into one subject. In Grades 4 to 5, instruction is divided into two subject areas: one subject draws on the thematic areas Place Where We Live, People Around Us, and Man and Time as a foundation for geography and history, and the other draws on the thematic areas Diversity of Nature and Man and His Health as a foundation for the natural sciences. Exhibit 3 describes the subject area topics, traditionally taught as a foundation for the natural sciences, which students will have covered by the end of fifth grade.

Since TIMSS 2011, the cross-curricular subject Environmental Education has been integrated into the science curriculum. Environmental Education introduces four thematic areas: Ecosystems, Fundamental Conditions of Life, Human Activities and Environmental Problems, and Humankind’s Relationship to the Environment, and connects these areas with current issues. The primary goal in introducing Environmental Education is not to expand the educational content of the curriculum, but to introduce a formative element by providing students the opportunity for individual engagement and teamwork that will foster their personal development and shape their attitudes and values.

Exhibit 3: Natural Sciences Content Areas and Capabilities by the End of Grade 5

Subject Area	Main Topics	Subtopics
The Diversity of Nature	Substances and their properties	Classification, properties, comparisons, and changes of substances Changes of state in matter Measuring quantities Working with units of measurement
	Water and air	Distribution, properties, importance, and forms of water The water cycle Characteristics, composition, and importance of air Air circulation
	Minerals, rocks, and soil	Economically important rocks and minerals, weathering, and the origin and importance of soil
	Earth and the universe	The solar system, day and night, and the seasons
	Plants, fungi, and animals	What living things need to survive and characteristics that help them survive in particular environments Life cycles, nutrition, and the body structure and importance of familiar species
	Living conditions	Diversity of the conditions for life on Earth Importance of the atmosphere, water, soil, fauna, and flora Climate and weather Extreme events and handling extreme events
	The balance of nature	Relationships among organisms, and ecosystems
	Conservation and protection	Human responsibility toward the environment, conservation, and protection of the environment Waste disposal Natural and ecological disasters
Man and His Health	The human body	What humans need to survive and characteristics that help them survive in particular environments Basic structures and functions in humans Reproductive differences between males and females, the basics of human reproduction, and human development
	Health	Exercise, nutrition, substance abuse, illness, minor injuries and wounds, first aid, injury prevention, personal and intimate hygiene, mental health, and stress and its risks

The Man and Nature science curriculum in the lower secondary grades (Grades 6 to 9) follows the FEP BE and includes four educational fields: Physics, Chemistry, Natural Sciences, and Geography. The science topics covered in Grades 6 to 9 are presented in Exhibit 4. As in the primary grades (Grades 1 to 5), the cross-curricular subject Environmental Education has been added to the science curriculum, covering the same topics. The function of Environmental Education consists of promoting individual understanding of the complex and intricate relationship between humans and the environment, fostering students’ personal development (i.e., their acquisition of specific values and attitudes), and directing students’ individual behavior toward sustainable development.

Exhibit 4: Summary of the Man and Nature Curriculum, Grades 6–9

Subject Area	Main Topics	Subtopics
Physics	Substances and their properties	Measured quantities (length, volume, mass, temperature, and time) States of matter (the connection between state of matter and particulate structure, and diffusion)
	Motion of bodies and forces	Uniform and nonuniform motion Rectilinear and curvilinear motion Gravity and gravitational fields Pressure and area Friction Addition and subtraction of force vectors Newton’s first, second, and third laws of motion Equilibrium state for levers and fixed pulleys
	Mechanical properties of fluids	Pascal’s Law, hydraulic equipment Hydrostatic and atmospheric pressure (the relationship between hydrostatic pressure, depth, and the density of a liquid; and the relationship between atmospheric pressure and weather) Archimedes’ principle (buoyant force, and immersion, suspension, and flotation of bodies in fluids at rest)
	Energy	Forms of energy (kinetic and potential energy, internal energy, electrical energy and power, production and transfer of electrical energy, nuclear energy, nuclear fission, nuclear reactors, nuclear power plants, and protection against radiation) State changes (melting and freezing, latent heat of melting, evaporation and condensation, factors influencing evaporation, and the boiling point for liquids) Renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy
	Sound	Properties of sound (propagation media, speed, reflection, echo, absorption, and pitch)
	Electricity and light	Electric circuits, voltage sources, electric appliances, and switches Electricity and magnetism (electric and magnetic force, electric charge, thermal effects of electric currents, resistance, direct current motors, transformers, and safety) Properties of light (sources, speed in a vacuum and in various media, shadows, and solar and lunar eclipses; reflection, and concave and convex mirrors; imaging by refraction through thin converging and diverging lenses; and dispersion of white light by a prism)
	The universe	The solar system (main components and phases of the moon) Composition of stars
Chemistry	Observation, experimentation, and chemical safety	Properties of substances (density, solubility, thermal and electrical conductivity, and the effect of the atmosphere on properties and states of substances) Safety (in the school laboratory and in everyday life, risk and safety labels on chemicals and machinery, warning symbols, and industrial accidents)
	Mixtures	Heterogeneous and homogeneous solutions Concentration and saturation of solutions Solubility and factors affecting solubility (temperature, stirring, and surface area of solute) Separation of components of mixtures (precipitation, filtration, distillation, crystallization, and sublimation) Water (distilled, potable, and waste water, drinking water production, and water purity) Composition and purity of air and the ozone layer
	The particulate composition of matter and elements	Molecules and atoms (atomic nucleus, protons, neutrons, electrons, and electron shells) Elements (names, symbols, properties and uses, the periodic table, groups, periods, and atomic number) Chemical bonds, nomenclature of simple inorganic and organic compounds
	Chemical reactions	The law of conservation of mass Chemical equations Moles Chemical reactions (combination, neutralization, exothermic, and endothermic) Factors influencing the rate of chemical reactions (temperature, surface area of reactants, and catalysts) Electrochemistry
	Inorganic compounds	Oxides (nomenclature, properties, and uses) Acids and bases (pH, properties, formulas, and names and applications of acids and bases) Chemistry of oxygen and halide salts (nomenclature, properties, applications, and oxidation state)
	Organic compounds	Hydrocarbons (alkanes, hydrocarbons with multiple bonds, and aromatic hydrocarbons) Fuels (petroleum, coal, natural gas, and synthetic fuels) Hydrocarbon derivatives (alcohols and carboxylic acids) Natural substances (sources, properties, and examples of the functions of proteins, fats, saccharides, and vitamins in the human body)
	Chemistry and society	The chemical industry in the Czech Republic (industrial fertilizers, heat-treated materials, plastics, synthetic fibers, detergents, pesticides, insecticides, combustible compounds, drugs, and addictive substances)
Natural Sciences/Biology	General biology and genetics	Emergence, development, and diversity of life and its significance (nutrition, respiration, growth, reproduction, development, and reactions to stimuli; and views on the emergence of life) Fundamental structures of life (cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and unicellular and multicellular organisms) Classification of organisms, heredity and mutability of organisms (transfer of hereditary information, genes, and crossbreeding) Viruses and bacteria (occurrence, significance, and practical application)
	Fungal biology	Fungi without fruiting bodies (basic characteristics, and positive and negative impact on humans and living organisms) Fungi with fruiting bodies (structure, occurrence, importance, harvest, consumption, and first aid for mushroom poisoning) Lichens (structure, symbiosis, occurrence, and importance)
	Plant biology	Plant anatomy and morphology (structure and significance of parts of higher plants: root, stem, leaf, flower, seed, and fruit) Plant physiology (photosynthesis, respiration, growth, and reproduction) Plant categorization (classification of common species of algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms; their development; and the use of economically important plants) The importance and protection of plants
	Animal biology	Animal anatomy and morphology (animal cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, unicellular and multicellular organisms, and reproduction) Animal evolution, development, and classification (protozoans, cnidarians, platyhelminthes, nemathelminthes, mollusks, annelids, arthropods, chondrichthyes, osteichthyes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) Distribution, significance, and protection of animals (economically and epidemiologically important species, raising domesticated animals, and animal communities) Animal behavior
	Human biology	Human reproduction Anatomy and physiology (structure and function of body parts, organs, and organ systems, including skeletal, muscular, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, excretory, reproductive, and nervous systems; higher nervous activity; and mental health) Illnesses and injuries, and their prevention (causes, symptoms, essential knowledge and methods for treating common illnesses; serious injuries and life-threatening conditions; epidemics) Impact of environmental factors and lifestyle on human health
	Geology and earth science	Earth (origin and structure) Minerals and rocks (formation, properties, qualitative classification, practical importance, uses, and principles of crystallography) Endogenic and exogenic geological processes (causes and consequences) Soils (composition, properties, and importance of soil for plant nutrition, economic importance, dangers and examples of soil devastation, and options for and examples of recultivation) Evolution of Earth’s crust and organisms on Earth (geological changes, emergence of life, occurrence of typical organisms and their adaptation to the environment) Geological development and structure of the territory of the Czech Republic (Bohemian Massif and the Carpathians) Climate and weather in relation to life (importance of water and clean air for life, use and protection of natural resources, impact of anthropogenic air pollution and climate change on ecosystems and humans life) Extreme events (causes, important types of global extreme events, types of extreme events in the Czech Republic, e.g., floods, hurricanes, blizzards, avalanches, rimes, and handling extreme events)
	Ecology	Organisms and their environment (relationships among and between organisms and their environment; populations, communities, and natural and artificial ecosystems; food chains; balance within an ecosystem) Natural and environmental protection (global environmental problems and protected natural areas)
	Empirical exploration of nature	Empirical methods of exploring nature (observation with a magnifying glass, microscope, or telescope, simplified identification keys, atlases) Important biologists and their discoveries
Geography	Geographic information, data sources, cartography, and topography	Geographic and cartographic terminology (basic topographical formations, plans, maps, map terminology, statistical data, tables, and graphs) Geographic data sources and geographic cartography and topography (globes, globe scales, geographic grids, meridians and parallels, geographic coordinates, determining geographic position) Scale and content of plans and maps Orienting plans and maps with respect to the cardinal points Practical exercises and applications using cartographic products in printed and electronic form
	A natural image of Earth	Earth as a celestial body (the shape, size, and motion of Earth, day and night, change of seasons, Universal Time, time zones, local time, the International Date Line, and conventional time) Landscape area (the natural sphere, social and economic spheres, and components and elements of the natural sphere) The natural sphere on the planetary level (geographical belts, latitudinal zones, and altitudinal zones) The system of the natural sphere at the regional level (natural regions)
	Regions of the world	Continents, oceans, and world macro-regions (criteria; natural and socioeconomic conditions, with an emphasis on their links and connections: natural zones, climate zones, settlement areas, language areas, religious areas, and cultural zones) Natural, social, political, industrial, and environmental problems
	The social and economic environment	World population Globalization of social, political, and economic processes The global economy Regional social, political, and economic units
	The environment	Landscape (natural and social environments, and types of landscape) The relationship between nature and society (long-term sustainable life and development, principles and fundamentals of natural and environmental protection, protected natural areas, and global ecological and environmental problems)
	The Czech Republic	Regions of the Czech Republic
	Field work	Field exercises in and observations of the local landscape, geographical excursions Preservation of endangered life