Half-Life

The format of this lesson was designed for pupils who struggle with too much writing. This lesson was written for my lower ability yr10 GCSE class. It requires no access to IT or a lab although it may need a specialist science teacher to deliver. The lesson was designed to last 90 minutes although can be adapted for shorter or longer lesson times.
The lesson begins with a Do Now or Settler task that will require some prior knowledge of nuclear radiation.
There is then information about Half-Life followed by some comprehension questions.
There is a detailed description of how to read Half-Life graphs followed by some practice numeracy questions based on some of the graphs.
The next section is a “game” for calculating the half-life of dice. I have used 6 sided dice where 5 of the sides are black and the other side is yellow - you can substitute in “normal” dice or even sweets like Skittles or M&M’s that are marked on one side if dice are not available.
The lesson ends with a series of exam style questions about Half-life.