Mitosis and meiosis

A double lesson / series of lessons comparing the processes of mitosis and meisosis, suitable for KS3 or a low/ middle ability KS4 class (lesson is tailored towards the new AQA GCSE scheme). The lesson features:

• A ‘find someone who’ starter grid activity with 6 questions recapping cells (differences between animal, plant and bacterial cells, roles of cell organelles)
• An introduction to the purpose of mitosis including a link to a video showing aphid cloning and an engaging hook into the lesson considering the replacement of skin cells using mitosis
• An explanation for the stages of the cell cycle and mitosis using a diagram
• Differentiated activities on the stages of mitosis (a simple ‘ordering the stages’ task, a table where pupils must order and draw an image to represent the stages of mitosis and a ‘true/ false’ review grid
• Graphs showing the change in DNA content that students must link to the stages of mitosis and meiosis
• Review questions on mitosis including a past paper question
• An introduction to the purpose of meiosis using key terms that pupils must discuss and a discussion question
• An explanation for the stages of meiosis using a diagram
• A slide to compare the processes of mitosis and meiosis using images of each cell division
• A comparison table of mitosis and meiosis with animated answers
• A 6 mark question comparing mitosis and meiosis with animated markscheme
• Review questions on the two processes