NEW (2016) AQA AS-Level Biology – Humoral Immunity & Antibodies

This lesson is designed for the NEW AQA AS-level Biology course, particularly the ‘Cells’ module.

For more lessons designed to meet specification points for the NEW AQA A-level Biology course please visit my shop: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/SWiftScience

A-Level lesson format: I teach in more of a lecture style compared to GCSE. In the majority of my A-level lessons the beginning portion of the lesson is mainly teacher-led, where students are expected to take notes onto a handout/in their books. This is then mixed in with student-led activities, as well as questions and exam prep.

You will find some of my slides have blank spaces for you to add more detail/descriptions/explanations. If you look at the ‘Notes’ section underneath each of these slides, you will find additional content which you can add in as you teach!

This lesson on humoral immunity & antibodies begins with a starter discussion to get students to describe the role of cytotoxic t-cells, and the role of lysosomes during phagocytosis. They should also discuss the fate of cloned t-cells during a cell-mediated immune response.

Humoral immunity is defined first, and students are asked to consider why the term humoral is used. Then, students will fill in gaps on their worksheet as humoral immunity is further explained. There are extra notes below the slide, and the answers will appear for self-assessment.

The next slide sets out a diagram of humoral immunity, then students are asked to arrange the process by sequencing sentences, then self-assess.

In pairs, students will then be given information on either plasma cells or memory cells and teach each other about the cell they’ve been assigned. Each student should complete descriptions of both types in their books.

Students are then asked to consider why lymphocytes don not attack their own cells and taught the significance of lymphocytes development in the foetus.

The next task is to sort information cards into categories; cell-mediated, humoral, or both. They can self-assess this task to the following slide.

Students are then introduced to the structure of antibodies. They will watch a video, and answer seven questions, including a diagram. They can self-assess to the slide before considering how antibodies lead to the destruction pathogens. Students are also asked to consider why it is important that antibodies have two antigen binding sites.

The plenary is to spend a full minute discussing with a partner what they have learned from this lesson.

All resources are included. Thanks for looking, if you have any questions please let me know in the comments section and any feedback would be appreciated :)