NEW (2016) AQA AS-Level Biology – Prokaryotic Cells & Viruses

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 prokaryotic cells and viruses begins with a starter discussion regarding the tissue of the stomach, and the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

Students should then work to fill in a table to recap the organelles of eukaryotic cells and their functions, in their notes.

The following slides introduce students to the features and content of prokaryotic cells, with a little memory test to help them label cell contents. Students can then self-assess against the slide before they move on to the next task where they will match cell structures to their role in the cell.

The next task is a ‘think>pair>share’ to compare and contrast prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Student partners can then work together to compare and contrast on a worksheet table and self-access.

Moving on to viruses! Students are asked to think and discuss the structure and function of viruses. They will also be asked to determine their confidence level for each of the outcome of the lesson by highlighting, in order to check their understanding.

In order to learn about cell division in prokaryotic cells students are then asked to use an animation to help them draw a simple diagram of binary fission in their books. They are then asked to watch a short video explaining the rate of division and then calculate the rate of division for each hour for eight hours.

Another video is included to help students complete a ‘fill in the blank’ passage about the replication of viruses, they can self-assess their passage on the following slide.

A past-paper question is also included for students to check their understanding of the lesson, they can then self or partner-assess their work.

As a plenary task, students should complete three sentences in their books describing what they have learned, what they already knew, and what they might like to learn more about.

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 :)