AQA Biology Trilogy (B1) Mini Formative Assessments or Homework tasks

Biology B1 (trilogy) AQA low stakes formative assessments. Designed so they can be placed every 6/7 lessons in Biology GCSE topic Units. This fits most school marking policies that place an emphasis on formative assessment.

These assessments have been designed for Low stakes - High Impact. There is an emphasis on thinking and planning which is great for metacognition.

These are designed to allow students to give quality answers but also be relatively quick to mark. These are also designed to be used for home work as well. In fact that is where they developed from.

Each task has related pictures/tasks on the left and three differentiated (by outcome) tasks. This has been based on blooms/IDEALS using command words like define, describe, explain, compare, evaluate etc.

They have also been designed to with word limits to make them more challenging and focus on concise quality. Plus, this means less to mark.

A class set takes me 30 mins - 1 hour to mark depending on ability. Usually 40 mins. I tended to use colour coded highlighters on task sheet and in the WWW and EBI, with a statement or two.

Each assessment has a task slide and a statement box slide. Photocopy both to go on one sheet and it becomes an A4 sheet that can easily be transported, written on and glued in student excercise books. This is useful if your school likes coloured paper to highlight marked work in books.

Names of assessments: Microscopy, Transport, Enzymes, circulatory system and organs, plant organs and tissues, pathogens and diseases, drugs, vaccinations, photosynthesis and rate, respiration and metabolism.

Once my students got in the pattern of completing these, they loved them because it took them less time to complete.