The characteristic features of kingdoms (WJEC A-level Biology)

This lesson describes the characteristic features of the Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protoctista and Prokaryotae kingdoms. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover point (d) in AS unit 2, topic 1 of the WJEC A-level Biology specification

This lesson begins with a knowledge recall as students have to recognise that prior to 1990, kingdom was the highest taxa in the classification hierarchy. Moving forwards, they will recall the names of the five kingdoms and immediately be challenged to split them so that the prokaryotae kingdom is left on its own. An opportunity is taken at this point to check on their prior knowledge of the structure of a bacterial cell as covered in unit 1, topic 2. These prior knowledge checks are found throughout the lesson (along with current understanding checks) as students are also tested on their knowledge of the structure and function of cellulose. This is found in the section of the lesson where the main constituent of the wall can be used to distinguish between plantae, fungi and prokaryotae. Quick quiz competitions, such as YOU DO THE MATH and SAY WHAT YOU SEE are used to introduce key values and words in a fun and memorable way. The final part of the lesson looks at the protoctista kingdom and students will come to understand how these organisms tend to share a lot of animal or plant-like features.

Both of the accompanying resources have been differentiated to allow students of differing abilities to access the work and this lesson has been written to tie in with the previously uploaded lesson on classification and the binomial naming system