Netherlands VWO 3 (onderbouw) Biology
Chapters: 2
1. The human body and health
Structure and function of the human body · Care and safety · Lifestyle and health (adopted, legal 2027) · Relationships and sexual health (adopted, legal 2027)
- Human Body Systems – Your body is organised in levels: cells make tissues, tissues make organs, organs make organ systems, and all systems together make you, the organism. Each system has a main job: skeletal (frame), muscular (movement), circulatory (transport), respiratory (gas exchange), digestive (food), excretory (waste), nervous and endocrine (control), immune (defence), integumentary (skin, hair, nails) and reproductive. No system works alone: during exercise the muscles, heart, lungs and nerves all change together to keep the inside of the body steady (homeostasis).
- Health and Safety: Hazards, Risks and Controls – A hazard is anything that can cause harm. Risk is how likely the harm is and how bad it would be: risk = likelihood × severity. A risk assessment finds hazards, decides who could be harmed, rates the risk, adds controls and is reviewed. Use the hierarchy of control: eliminate, substitute, engineering controls, admin (rules, training, signs), then PPE last. Safety signs use colour and shape. Workshops, art rooms and workplaces need guards, ventilation, labelled materials, clear exits and first aid. Laws in most countries make employers and workers share the duty to stay safe.
- Health and Disease – Health is complete physical, mental and social well-being, not just the absence of disease. Communicable diseases are caused by pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi, protists) and spread from person to person, through air, water, food, touch or animals. Non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, many cancers and high blood pressure do not spread; they are linked to genes, age and lifestyle. We prevent disease with hygiene, clean water, vaccines, a balanced diet, exercise, sleep, not smoking, and regular check-ups and self-checks. Antibiotics kill bacteria but not viruses; misusing them breeds resistant bacteria. Medicines must be taken as the leaflet or doctor says.
- Sexual Health: Growing Up Safe and Informed – Sexual health means physical, emotional and social well-being related to sexuality, not just the absence of disease. Puberty (about 8–14 years, different for everyone) is driven by hormones and brings body and feeling changes. Sexuality is part of life from childhood to old age and includes identity, feelings, relationships and values. A healthy body image means accepting that real bodies differ and media images are often edited. Consent must be free, clear, informed and can be withdrawn; everyone has rights to information, safety, privacy and health care. STIs spread through sexual contact and some body fluids; many have no signs; prevention includes abstinence, condoms, vaccines (HPV, hepatitis B), testing and early treatment. Get information from reliable sources and trusted adults.
2. Heredity and evolution
Reproduction, heredity and evolution (adopted, legal 2027)
- Evolution: How New Kinds of Living Things Arise – Variations arise during reproduction. Nature selects those that help survival, so over many generations populations change: this is evolution. Only inherited (DNA) changes pass on; acquired changes do not. Separated populations can become new species. Homologous organs, analogous organs and fossils help us trace who is related to whom, and complex organs evolved step by step.