PSLCE Primary Science key terms

Any job a living thing must carry out to stay alive, such as feeding, breathing, growing, moving, sensing, getting rid of waste, and making more of its own kind.

The chemical change inside cells in which food, usually sugar, is broken down with oxygen to release energy, giving off carbon dioxide and water as waste products.

The removal from the body of waste substances made by chemical reactions inside cells, such as carbon dioxide from the lungs and urea in urine.

The process by which living things produce new individuals of the same kind, either sexually with two parents or asexually from one parent.

A feature of a living thing, such as body covering, number of legs, or leaf shape, that can be observed and used to describe it or to sort organisms into groups.

The particular place where an organism normally lives, such as a pond, a hedgerow, or the soil, which supplies the food, water, shelter, and space it needs.

A diagram of arrows showing how energy passes from one organism to the next, beginning with a green plant and ending with a predator or decomposer.

An organism, almost always a green plant, that makes its own food by photosynthesis and so forms the starting point of every food chain.

An organism that cannot make its own food and must eat other organisms, either plants, other animals, or both, to obtain energy.

A living thing such as a fungus or bacterium that breaks down dead plants and animals and animal waste, returning nutrients to the soil for plants to use again.

The process in which green plants use light energy trapped by chlorophyll to combine carbon dioxide and water into sugar, releasing oxygen into the air.

The green pigment found in chloroplasts inside plant cells that absorbs light energy for photosynthesis and gives leaves their green colour.

Tiny openings, mostly on the underside of leaves, that let carbon dioxide in and oxygen and water vapour out; each opening is controlled by two guard cells.

The loss of water vapour from a plant, mainly through the stomata of its leaves, which pulls water up through the stem from the roots.

A very thin, finger-like extension of a root cell that greatly increases the surface area for absorbing water and dissolved mineral salts from the soil.

The transfer of pollen grains from the anther of a flower to the stigma, carried out by insects, birds, wind, or water, and needed before seeds can form.

The joining of a male sex cell with a female sex cell to form a single cell that can develop into a new individual; in flowering plants this happens inside the ovule.

The scattering of seeds away from the parent plant by wind, water, animals, or explosive bursting, so that seedlings do not compete with the parent for light and water.

The breaking down of large food molecules into small soluble ones that can be absorbed into the blood, done by chewing and by enzymes in the gut.

The movement of digested food, water, and minerals through the wall of the small intestine and into the blood, where they are carried around the body.

A diet containing the right amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, fibre, and water needed to keep a person healthy and active.

A substance in food that the body needs for energy, growth, or repair, including carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water.

An illness caused by not getting enough of a particular nutrient, for example scurvy from too little vitamin C or rickets from too little vitamin D.

The heart, blood vessels, and blood working together to carry oxygen, digested food, and waste products around the body and to help keep it warm.

A protein made by the body that speeds up a chemical reaction, such as the breakdown of starch or protein during digestion, without being used up itself.

A very small piece of matter, far too small to see, whose arrangement and movement explain the properties of solids, liquids, and gases.

The form a substance takes, solid, liquid, or gas, depending on how its particles are arranged and how freely they can move.

The process in which particles of a solid spread out among the particles of a liquid to form a solution, giving a mixture that looks clear and does not settle.

A way of separating an insoluble solid from a liquid by pouring the mixture through filter paper, which traps the solid particles and lets the liquid through.

The change of a liquid into a gas at its surface, happening faster when the liquid is warm, exposed to moving air, or spread over a large area.

The continuous movement of water between the sea, the air, and the land through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and run-off, which keeps fresh water available.

Something found in nature that people use, such as water, soil, timber, minerals, or coal; some, like sunlight, are renewable while others are limited.

The careful protection and wise use of natural resources so that habitats, wildlife, soil, and water are not damaged or used up for the future.

A push or a pull acting on an object, measured in newtons, which can change the object's speed, direction, or shape.

The force between two surfaces that are sliding or trying to slide past each other, which slows movement and produces heat.

The force that pulls objects towards the centre of the Earth, giving them weight and making dropped objects fall downwards.

A simple machine made of a bar that turns about a fixed point called the pivot, used to lift or move a load with less effort.

A basic device such as a lever, pulley, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, or screw that makes a job easier by changing the size or direction of a force.

An investigation in which only the variable being tested is changed, while all other conditions are kept the same so that results can be compared honestly.

Any factor in an investigation that can change, such as temperature, time, or amount of light; the one deliberately changed is the independent variable.

A statement, made before an investigation, saying what is expected to happen and giving a scientific reason based on what is already known.

Describes results that are likely to be correct because the measurements were repeated, carefully taken, and consistent with each other.