A fully resourced lesson which includes an informative lesson presentation (34 slides) and differentiated worksheets that show students how to convert between units so they are confident to carry out these conversions when required in Science questions. The conversions which are regularly seen at GCSE are covered as well as some more obscure ones which students have to be aware of. A number of quiz competitions are used throughout the lesson to maintain motivation and to allow the students to check their progress in an engaging way This lesson has been designed for GCSE students but is suitable for KS3

A fully resourced revision lesson that uses a combination of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and quiz competitions to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within modules B1, B2 and B3 of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Biology specification as will be covered in Biology paper 1 The topics that are tested within the lesson include: Cell structures What happens in cells Respiration Photosynthesis Supplying the cell The challenge of size The nervous system The endocrine system Maintaining internal environments Students will be engaged through the numerous quiz rounds whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which require further attention

A resourced lesson which uses a concise lesson presentation (18 slides) and a differentiated diagram to guide students through the method of blood clotting. This lesson has been designed for students studying GCSE (14 - 16 year olds in the UK) and this is reflected in the appropriate detail where only the involvement of fibrin needs to be known. Students are shown how blood clotting is a cascade effect where one event leads on to the next.

A resourced lesson which looks at gas exchange at the alveoli and focuses on how these structures are adapted to carry out efficient gas exchange. The lesson includes an engaging lesson presentation (21 slides) and an associated worksheet. The lesson begins by revisiting the idea of the surface area to volume ratio of small organisms against larger organisms. This will remind students that due to the low surface area to volume ratio of a human, they need to have adaptations at the exchange surfaces to increase the surface area. Moving forwards, a range of competitions are used to introduce students to the numbers and key terms associated with the alveoli. Students will learn how the large number (700 million) of alveoli leads to a large surface area and how a permeable membrane is also essential. Time is written into the lesson to allow students to think about key features, such as the one cell thick lining, and relate this to the rate of diffusion. The lesson concludes with students completing a passage about how the respiratory and circulatory systems work together to maintain a steep concentration gradient between the alveoli and the capillaries. There are regular progress checks throughout the lesson to allow the students to check on their understanding. As always, the lesson finishes with a slide containing advanced terminology so that students who have aspirations to take A-level Biology can extend and deepen their knowledge

An engaging lesson presentation (39 slides) which explores how cells differentiate in order to specialise to become more effective at carrying out a particular function. This lesson focuses on five cells - red blood cells, sperm cells, fat cells, ciliated cells and palisade cells. The lesson begins by challenging the mathematical skills of the students as they have to convert the number 37 trillion into standard form. Students will learn that although all of the cells found in a human would be eukaryotic animal cells, they wouldn’t all be the same. They are introduced to the key term differentiation through a quiz competition and time is taken to ensure that students understand how this process leads to specialisation. The remainder of the lesson concentrates on looking at the function and features of the five cells. Quiz competitions are used throughout to maintain engagement whilst ample time is given to student discussion where they are challenged to consider why a cell would have specialised in such a way. Key terminology is consistently used so that students are not caught off guard in an exam question when this specialist language is used. Regular progress checks are written into the lesson to allow the students to check on their understanding. This lesson has been written for GCSE students but could be used with higher ability KS3 students who are looking to extend their knowledge on the topic of cells.

A fully- resourced lesson which looks at the chemical reaction that is anaerobic respiration and ensures that students can understand why this form of respiration can only be used for short periods of time. The lesson includes an engaging lesson presentation (39 slides), a newspaper article and application questions. The lesson begins by challenging the students to recall information about aerobic respiration to recognise that the sole reactant of anaerobic respiration is glucose. A newspaper article about two atheletes from the 10000m race has been written to challenge the students to recognise why one of the athletes wouldnt be able to compete again in the near future whilst the other could. As a result, students will be introduced to lactic acid and will learn how this poisonous substance prevents muscle contraction and causes cramps. Time is taken to ensure that students are familiar with ATP and specifically that they recognise that a much lower yield is produced in this type of respiration. A perfect opportunity is taken to get the students to carry out a mathematical calculation to compare the yields. Oxygen debt is discussed and related back to the original newspaper article. Finally, anaerobic respiration in plants and yeast is considered in terms of fermentation and the word and symbol equation is written so that it can be compared to those from animals. There are regular progress checks throughout the lesson to allow the students to check on their understanding. The lesson has been written for GCSE students but could be used with higher ability KS3 students or A-level students who want a recap before covering the topic in greater detail on their course.

An informative lesson presentation (20 slides) and associated worksheet that looks at how negative feedback loops act as a final control in homeostatic mechanisms. This is a topic which is poorly understood by students at both GCSE and even A-level, so whilst designing this lesson, the focus was on a few key points and applying it to a range of actual examples. Students will see how a negative feedback loop is used in the control of adrenaline release and temperature regulation and they will also be shown what would happen if this loop didn’t exist. Students are then challenged to apply their knowledge by putting the order of the regulation of metabolic rate into the correct order. The final part of the lesson briefly looks at how positive feedback loops also exist by using the example of the release of oxytocin during birth. This lesson has primarily been designed for GCSE students but is suitable for A-level Biology students too.

An engaging and detailed lesson presentation (53 slides) and associated worksheets that looks at the properties and functions of enzymes and explores how the rate of enzyme-controlled reactions changes with changes in conditions. The lesson begins by using a quick quiz competition to introduce the key terms of active site and substrate. Diagrams accompany the important descriptions so that students can visualise how enzymes are specific to a single substrate and will form enzyme-substrate complexes with only them. Emil Fischer’s lock and key hypothesis is briefly discussed so that the correlation between the hypothesis and key terms can be made. Students are shown how most enzymes or groups of enzymes can be named by remembering two rules and they will be tested on this through a second competition. At this point, a progress check is used to allow the students to assess their understanding and ability to bring the information together for enzyme function. The rest of the lesson looks at how changing the temperature and pH will affect the rate of an enzyme controlled reaction. Students will meet the graph shapes that accompany both of these factors and then are helped with the explanation of the trend which is normally poorly done in exam questions. This lesson has been designed for GCSE students.

An engaging and informative lesson presentation (40 slides) that looks at the different steps that have to be taken when trying to identify potential donors for organ transplants. Links are made throughout the lesson to related topics such as the human defence systems and blood groups. The lesson begins by challenging the students to use their knowledge of the body’s defences to explain why closely matching tissues is critical when choosing a donor. Moving forwards, students will see how the four blood groups in the ABO system need to receive certain bloods and can only be given to certain others. There is a brief discussion of the HLA antigens and why this needs to be matched. The remainder of the lesson focuses on immuno-suppressant drugs and the advantages and disadvantages to individuals of taking these drugs. Progress checks have been written into the lesson at regular intervals to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding and any misconceptions to be addressed. This lesson has been written for GCSE students