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Accessibility statement
Qualification dates
StartEnd
10 Oct 2026Jun 2027
In this module, you’ll explore the ideas that underpin the study of science disciplines at a higher level. Following a week exploring scale, each subsequent week focuses on a particular area – biology, chemistry, Earth science, environmental science and physics/astronomy. Online materials and teaching include interactive and audio-visual media combined with collaborative and independent activities. You’ll develop practical skills throughout and in two distinct blocks – focusing on observation and control of variables, where you’ll choose activities suited to your interests. In the final two weeks, you’ll choose a subject area to study in more detail.
Each week, you’ll study a self-contained topic, including the following:
Scales in space and time
Scale – dealing with the minuscule to the massive, over milliseconds to millennia – is central to all the sciences. You’ll go to the absolute limits of what we can measure – all through a study of an oak tree!
Rocks: recycling the planet
You’ll use a digital collection of minerals and rocks to learn about the materials that make up the solid Earth, the processes by which they are transformed into rocks, and how rocks reveal their history.
Geological time
Earth is 4.6 billion years old. How do we know that? How do we know the history of life on Earth? You’ll understand the methods used to determine rocks' relative and absolute ages and the processes that formed them.
Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics – the process that allows Earth’s interior, surface and atmosphere to interact – constantly reshapes the earth. You’ll study evidence for the plate tectonics theory, one of science's most influential ideas.
Cycles
Biogeochemical cycles describe how chemical elements cycle through living things and the physical environment. You’ll study three important cycles – water, carbon and nitrogen – and how human behaviour can disrupt them.
Ecological interactions
Ecosystems contain many interlinked biological components that interact with their physical environment, yet there are consistent patterns in the way energy flows through them. These patterns allow us to explore, describe, and compare ecosystems, which is necessary for understanding disruptions.
Environmental change
Ecosystems react to environmental changes caused by both natural and human factors. You’ll learn about natural environmental change and what happens when an invasive species is introduced to an unprepared ecosystem. You’ll understand how we know environmental change is taking place and how it can be managed.
Forces around you
Forces are central to the motion and stability of the world around us. You’ll learn how to identify and manipulate forces in various everyday situations.
Introduction to energy
Energy is another central concept that will be revisited. This week, we look at potential and kinetic energy and explore the concepts of heat and temperature.
Material worlds
You’ll explore the materials which make up the world around you and learn how to describe and record your observations of the physical behaviour of materials. You’ll link the macroscopic world to the microscopic by examining the behaviour of the particles from which materials are formed.
The quantum realm
Quantum mechanics is a big idea for understanding the world of atoms. You’ll learn how this is important for physics, chemistry and even biology processes.
Why chemical reactions happen
You’ll explore chemical change by understanding how particles interact and rearrange and learning the rules that govern these interactions. This will allow you to make predictions about chemical behaviour.
Make me a molecule
You’ll discover how knowledge of the microscopic world enables the creation of new materials and how everyday items can be both made and improved.
Energy in chemistry and the life sciences
Beginning with the nature of chemical bonds in simple molecules, you’ll explore how living cells transform and distribute energy, why we can’t run marathons as fast as we sprint 100 m, and the amazing capability of our eyes and ears as detectors of light and sound waves.
DNA: life’s replicating book of recipes
You’ll learn about DNA's twin functions: as a store of the information required for life and as a molecule capable of replication, allowing its information to be inherited.

Proteins: how DNA makes life
Proteins are how inherited information is turned into life. This topic introduces how these fascinating molecules are made and the myriad of essential functions they carry out.
The multicellular organism: cells in harmony
The basic unit of life is the cell; most plants and animals are multicellular organisms. You’ll learn how, in a multicellular organism, different cell types are produced from the same set of instructions, and how multicellular organisms' health depends on each cell type working together.
Energy in society
In your third look at energy, you’ll explore the science of powering the world! You’ll look at fossil fuels, nuclear energy and renewable energy, and will meet one of the most famous equations in science, E = mc2.
You’ll also choose two topics you find most interesting or will study at a higher level. You’ll go on to complete investigation tasks on your chosen topics, and pick one to prepare a short presentation on:
The two distinct practical blocks cover (1) observation and (2) controlling variables. In the first, you’ll explore making observations and accurately recording them. You’ll take weather station readings and, in a team of fellow students, access a weather-data archive to address a question posed by your tutor. You’ll also undertake an online experiment from your choice of scientific discipline. In the second, you’ll take part in a group activity. You’ll then choose one activity from biology, chemistry, physics, Earth science, or environmental science and ecology.
At The Open University, we believe education should be open to all, so we provide high-quality university education to anyone who wishes to realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential.
Even though there are no entry requirements, you’ll need appropriate scientific knowledge or experience obtained through:
You’ll need the ability to:
Are you ready for S112?
We recommend that you’ve completed:
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Course work includes:
Two of the four TMAs comprise mostly of activities you'll do as part of your weekly studies with little extra work. The practical blocks each have one TMA, assessing practical and collaborative skills.
The exam is based on materials such as articles, data, figures and graphs. These materials will be available in advance to help you prepare. As well as assessing your knowledge and skills, the exam is an introduction to taking university-level examinations. It will give you practice for future examined modules that affect your degree classification.
We regularly review the assessments in our modules, so we may update the examination method used for this module to an in-person exam or a remotely invigilated (proctored) exam. When we are making such a change, we will make it clear on this page. If we need to make a change after you have registered, we will notify you as soon as possible. If you have additional requirements, we will support you to complete your assessments.
The School of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences offers optional laboratory schools in Milton Keynes at an additional cost. Laboratory schools are not part of this module but may be of interest if you wish to gain relevant hands-on laboratory experience.
Further information and instructions for booking are on the SS011 website.
You’ll have access to a module website, which includes:
Additionally, the website includes:
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying S112 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
Science: concepts and practice (S112) starts once a year – in October.
It will next start in October 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2027.
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