A Science teacher by trade, I've also been known to be found teaching Maths and PE! However, strange as it may seem, my real love is designing resources that can be used by other teachers to maximise the experience of the students. I am constantly thinking of new ways to engage a student with a topic and try to implement that in the design of the lessons.
A Science teacher by trade, I've also been known to be found teaching Maths and PE! However, strange as it may seem, my real love is designing resources that can be used by other teachers to maximise the experience of the students. I am constantly thinking of new ways to engage a student with a topic and try to implement that in the design of the lessons.
This is a fun and engaging lesson that uses a range of quick competitions and tasks to ensure that the students recognisethe electrical symbols for the essential components and can describe the functions for each of these. Competitions such as SNAP and SAY WHAT YOU SEE will introduce the students to the components and their symbols. This lesson has been written for GCSE students and looks to build on what they should know from KS3 - however, it could be used with higher ability students at that level.
This bundle of 6 lessons covers all of the content in Topic C9 (The Periodic Table) of the core and supplement sections of the Cambridge iGCSE Science Double Award specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
The Periodic Table as a method of classifying elements and its use to predict properties
Describe the relationship between group number and outer shell electrons
Describe and predict the properties of the Group 1 elements
Describe the properties and reactions of the Group 7 elements
The transition elements
The noble gases
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 13 lessons covers all of the content in Topic C3 (Atoms, elements and compounds) of the core and supplement sections of the Cambridge iGCSE Science Double Award specification. The topics covered within these lessons include:
Identifying physical and chemical changes
Differences between elements, compounds and mixtures
Differences between metals and non-metals
The terms solvent, solute, solution and concentration
The structure of the atom
Electronic configurations
Isotopes
The formation of ions by gain or loss of electrons
Simple covalent structures
Dot and cross diagrams for covalent structures
Allotropes of carbon
Giant covalent structures
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 6 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic C10 (Metals) of the core and supplement sections of the Cambridge iGCSE Science Double Award specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
Describe the general properties of metals
Describe metallic bonding in terms of the lattice and electrons and use this to explain malleability and conductivity
Describe alloys as a mixture of a metal with another element
Explain why alloys are used instead of pure metals
The reactivity series
The use of carbon for the extraction of metals from their ores
The series of reactions in the extraction of iron
Extraction of aluminium
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 9 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic P1 (Motion) of the core and supplement sections of the Cambridge iGCSE Science Double Award specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
Define speed and calculate average speed
Distinguish between speed and velocity
Define and calculate acceleration
Plot distance-time graphs and speed-time graphs
Calculate acceleration and distance travelled from a speed-time graph
Distinguish between mass and weight
Recall and use the equation W = mg
Describe how forces can affect a body
Plot and interpret extension-load graphs
Understand Hooke’s Law
Friction and air resistance
Resultant forces
Calculating moments
The principle of moments
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 7 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic C14 (Organic Chemistry) of the core and supplement sections of the Cambridge iGCSE Science Double Award specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
Name and draw the structures of the alkanes and alkenes
Separation by fractional distillation
The names of the fractions and the properties of molecules within a fraction
The properties and reactions of the alkanes
Alkenes as unsaturated hydrocarbons
The cracking reaction to produce alkenes
Recognising saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons
The formation of ethanol by fermentation or hydration of ethene
Complete combustion of ethanol
Polymers
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 5 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic C2 (Experimental techniques) of the core and supplement sections of the Cambridge iGCSE Science Double Award specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
Understand the use of paper chromatography
Interpreting paper chromatograms
Pure and impure substances
Separation methods including filtration, crystallisation, distillation, fractional distillation and paper chromatography
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 6 lessons covers a lot of the content in Topic C8 (Acids, bases and salts) of the core and supplement sections of the Cambridge iGCSE Science Double Award specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
Describe neutrality and relative acidity or alkalinity in terms of pH
Describe the characteristic properties of acids including the reactions with metals, bases and carbonates
Describe and use the tests for cations, anions and gases
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 3 lessons covers a lot of the content in Topic C5 (Electricity and chemistry) of the core and supplement sections of the Cambridge iGCSE Science Double Award specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
Be able to describe electrolysis as the breakdown of an ionic compound when in molten form or in solution
Know the products at the electrodes for the electrolysis of molten salts and solutions
Be able to construct half-equations for the formation of elements at the electrodes
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 6lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic B7 (Transport) of the core and supplement sections of the Cambridge iGCSE Science Double Award specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
The functions of the xylem and phloem
The transport of water through the xylem vessels
Transpiration as the loss of water vapour
Factors affecting transpiration rate
Name and identify the structures of the mammalian heart
The transport of blood in arteries and veins
The blood vessels associated with the heart and lungs
Coronary heart disease
The structure and function of arteries, veins and capillaries
The function of red and white blood cells, platelets and plasma
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 3 lessons covers most of the content in sub-topic P6.2(Powering Earth) of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Combined Science specification. The topics or specification points covered within these lessons include:
The main energy sources available for use on Earth
Patterns and trends in the use of energy resources
The use of transformers to increase or decrease potential difference
The National grid
The differences in function between the live, neutral and earth wires
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding.
This bundle of 8 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic P4 (Properties of waves, including light and sound) of the core and supplement sections of the Cambridge iGCSE Science Double Award specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
The meaning of speed, frequency, wavelength and amplitude
Distinguishing between transverse and longitudinal waves
Understanding how waves can undergo reflection and refraction
Reflection of light
Refraction of light
Describe total internal reflection
The meaning of the critical angle
Thin converging lens
The main features of the EM spectrum
The properties and uses of the EM waves
The properties and uses of sound waves
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 4 lessons covers the majority of the content in sub-topic P5.1 (Wave behaviour) of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Physics specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
Waves and their properties
Wave velocity
Sound properties and uses
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding.
This is a detailed lesson which looks at the topic of reaction times and guides students through calculating a reaction time using the results of the well known ruler-drop test. In addition, students will see how reaction times can be applied in athletics but also in the calculation of the thinking distance for drivers. The lesson includes an engaging lesson presentation (32 slides) and a student task worksheet.
The lesson begins by introducing the key term, reaction time, and teaching students that the average reaction time is 0.2 seconds. Moving forwards, a step by step guide is used to show the students how to take the value for distance travelled by a ruler in the drop test and use the equations of motion and change in velocity equation to calculate the reaction time. There is a large mathematical element to the lesson which challenges the students ability to rearrange formula, convert between units and leave answers to a specified number of significant figures. The answers and methods in obtaining these are always displayed at the end of each task so that the students can assess their understanding and recognise where errors were made if any were. Students will have to follow the provided method to obtain 5 results in the ruler drop test and ultimately find out their own reaction time. The remainder of the lesson looks at how the thinking distance at different speeds can be calculated.
This lesson has been written for GCSE students due to the high maths content but could be used with younger students of high ability.
This is an engaging revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quick differentiated tasks and quiz competitions to allow students to assess their knowledge of the topic of cells and related topics as covered in the GCSE Biology and GCSE Combined Science courses. As cells are the building blocks of living organisms, a strong understanding of this topic is critical for the success of a student on these two courses.
The following topics are covered in this revision lesson:
The key differences between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells
The structure of a bacterial cell
Specialised cells
The individual functions of the organelles
Calculating size
Students will be engaged through the range of activities which includes quiz competitions such as “CELL, CELL, CELL” where students have to compete to identify specialised cells from descriptions. This lesson can be used at any time during the year as a revision material, in the lead up to mocks or as a final revision lesson before the GCSE terminal exams.
This is an engaging revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quiz tasks and quiz competitions to enable students to assess their understanding of the content within topic 3 (Properties of waves, including light and sound) of the Cambridge IGCSE Physics (0625) specification. The lesson covers the content in both the core and supplement sections of the specification and therefore can be used with students who will be taking the extended papers as well as the core papers.
The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include:
Give the meaning of the terms speed, frequency, wavelength and amplitude
Distinguish between longitudinal and transverse waves and be able to give suitable examples of each
Recall and use the equation velocity = frequency x wavelength
Describe how waves can undergo reflection, refraction and diffraction
Describe how wavelength affects diffraction
Describe an experimental demonstration of the refraction of light
Be able to define refractive index and recall the equation to calculate
Give the meaning of the critical angle and recall the equation to calculate
Describe total internal reflection and be able to explain the use of optical fibres in medicine
The electromagnetic spectrum
Describe the longitudinal nature of sound waves
State the approximate range of audible frequencies for a healthy human
Show an understanding of the term ultrasound
Describe an experiment to determine the speed of sound in air
The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “Should you WAVE goodbye” where they have to decide if a passage is 100% factually correct or not whilst crucially being able to recognise the areas of this topic which need their further attention. This lesson can be used as revision resource at the end of the topic or in the lead up to mocks or the actual GCSE exams.
Each of the 9 revision lessons included in this bundle are fully-resourced and have been designed to engage and motivate the students whilst they assess their knowledge of the CIE IGCSE Chemistry specification. The PowerPoints and accompanying resources use a range of activities which include exam-style questions with fully explained answers, differentiated tasks and quiz competitions to challenge the students on the following topics:
Topic 2: Experimental techniques
Topic 3: Atoms, elements and compounds
Topic 4: Stoichiometry
Topic 5: Electricity and Chemistry
Topic 6: Chemical energetics
Topic 7: Chemical reactions
Topic 9: The Periodic Table
Topic 11: Air and water
Topic 14: Organic Chemistry
The lessons will keep students thoroughly engaged during revision periods whilst enabling them to identify the areas of the specification which require further attention.
If you would like to see the quality of the lessons, download the topic 4 and 9 lessons as these have been shared for free
This is an engaging revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quiz tasks and quiz competitions to enable students to assess their understanding of the content within topic 5 (Electricity and Chemistry) of the Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry (0620) specification. The lesson covers the content in both the core and supplement sections of the specification and therefore can be used with students who will be taking the extended papers as well as the core papers.
The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include:
CORE
Define electrolysis as the breakdown of an ionic compound, molten or in aqueous solution, by the passage of electricity
Describe the electrode products and the observations made during the electrolysis of a range of electrolytes
State the general principle that metals or hydrogen are formed at the negative electrode (cathode), and that non-metals (other than hydrogen) are formed at the positive electrode (anode)
Predict the products of the electrolysis of a specified binary compound in the molten state
Describe the reasons for the use of copper and (steel-cored) aluminium in cables,
SUPPLEMENT
Relate the products of electrolysis to the electrolyte and electrodes used
Describe electrolysis in terms of the ions present and reactions at the electrodes in the examples given
Predict the products of electrolysis of a specified halide in dilute or concentrated aqueous solution
Construct ionic half-equations for reactions at the cathode
Describe, in outline, the manufacture of aluminium from pure aluminium oxide in molten cryolite and chlorine, hydrogen and sodium hydroxide from concentrated aqueous sodium chloride
The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “Have you got the SOLUTION” where they have to compete to be the 1st to name the products at the electrodes whilst crucially being able to recognise the areas of this topic which need their further attention. This lesson can be used as revision resource at the end of the topic or in the lead up to mocks or the actual GCSE exams
This is an engaging revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and quiz competitions to enable students to assess their understanding of the content within topic 3 (Atoms, elements and compounds) of the Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry (0620) specification. The lesson covers the content in both the core and supplement sections of the specification and therefore can be used with students who will be taking the extended papers as well as the core papers.
The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include:
CORE
State the relative charges and approximate relative masses of protons, neutrons and electrons
Define proton number (atomic number) as the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom
Define nucleon number (mass number) as the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom
Define isotopes as atoms of the same element which have the same proton number but a different nucleon number
Describe the build-up of electrons in ‘shells’ and understand the significance of the noble gas electronic structures and of the outer shell electrons.
Describe an alloy, such as brass, as a mixture of a metal with other elements
Describe the formation of ions by electron loss or gain
Describe the formation of ionic bonds between elements from Groups I and VII
Describe the giant covalent structures of graphite and diamond
Relate their structures to their uses, e.g. graphite as a lubricant and a conductor, and diamond in cutting tools
SUPPLEMENT
Describe the formation of ionic bonds between metallic and non-metallic elements
Explain the differences in melting point and boiling point of ionic and covalent compounds in terms of attractive forces
The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “The name’s BOND” where they compete to be the 1st to name the type of bond being described whilst crucially being able to recognise the areas of this topic which need their further attention. This lesson can be used as revision resource at the end of the topic or in the lead up to mocks or the actual GCSE exams
This is an engaging revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and quiz competitions to enable students to assess their understanding of the content within topic 7 (Chemical reactions) of the CIE IGCSE Chemistry (0620) specification. The lesson covers the content in both the core and supplement sections of the specification and therefore can be used with students who will be taking the extended papers as well as the core papers.
The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include:
CORE
Describe and explain the effect of concentration, particle size, catalysts (including enzymes) and temperature on the rate of reactions
Interpret data obtained from experiments concerned with rate of reaction
Understand that some chemical reactions can be reversed by changing the reaction conditions
Define oxidation and reduction in terms of oxygen loss/gain.
SUPPLEMENT
Devise and evaluate a suitable method for investigating the effect of a given variable on the rate of a reaction
Describe and explain the effects of temperature and concentration in terms of collisions between reacting particles. (An increase in temperature causes an increase in collision rate and more of the colliding molecules have sufficient energy (activation energy) to react whereas an increase in concentration only causes an increase in collision rate.)
Predict the effect of changing the conditions (concentration, temperature and pressure) on other reversible reactions
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concept of equilibrium
Define redox in terms of electron transfer
Define oxidising agent as a substance which oxidises another substance during a redox reaction. Define reducing agent as a substance which reduces another substance during a redox reaction.
Identify oxidising agents and reducing agents from simple equations
The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “FROM NUMBERS 2 LETTERS” where they have to compete to be the 1st to get an important abbreviation whilst crucially being able to recognise the areas of this topic which need their further attention. This lesson can be used as revision resource at the end of the topic or in the lead up to mocks or the actual GCSE exams