BiologyCode 5090
Sexual reproduction in humans
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- Identify the testes, scrotum, sperm ducts, prostate gland, urethra and penis on diagrams showing the male reproductive system, and outline what each one does.
- Identify the ovaries, oviducts, uterus, cervix and vagina on diagrams showing the female reproductive system, and outline the role each one plays.
- Account for the way a sperm cell's structure links to its function, limited to: flagellum, mitochondria and enzymes in the acrosome.
- Explain how an egg cell is built to suit its function, limited to the stores of energy it holds and its jelly coat, which alters once fertilisation happens
- Describe fertilisation as two nuclei fusing: one from a sperm, the male gamete, and one from an egg cell, the female gamete
- Compare the size, structure, numbers and motility of male gametes with those of female gametes
- Outline the parts played by testosterone and oestrogen in forming and controlling secondary sexual characteristics at puberty
- Outline the menstrual cycle by looking at how an egg matures and is released, and how the uterine lining alters
- Account for the parts played by follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone (LH), oestrogen and progesterone in governing the menstrual cycle
- Describe how the zygote first develops, limited to its forming a ball of cells, the embryo, which then implants in the uterus lining
- State what the amniotic sac and amniotic fluid are each for
- Identify the placenta and umbilical cord on diagrams, and describe how they allow the fetus's blood and the mother's blood to exchange gases, dissolved nutrients and excretory products (structural details are not required)
- State that certain viruses are able to cross the placenta and impact the fetus