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.
A fully-resourced lesson which is designed for GCSE students and includes an informative lesson presentation (29 slides) and question worksheets. This lesson explores the theory of evolution by natural selection.
The lesson begins with a fun challenge which gets students to come up with the name Charles Darwin but also the phrase “survival of the fittest”. The main focus of the next part of the lesson is to take students through this tag line, adding detail and keywords which they will be able to use in their answers later in the lessons. Students are continually encouraged to discuss key questions on this topic, such as “are all mutations harmful”? They will recognise how these random changes in DNA can lead to advantageous phenotypes and how this can convey a survival edge to organisms. Moving forwards, students are guided through the well-known example of the peppered moths in order to show them to how to use variation, advantage, survival, reproduction and offspring in their answers on this topic. The remainder of the lesson involves students testing their new-found knowledge as they have to apply it to explain how resistance in bacteria and longer necks in giraffes have evolved.
Progress checks are written into this lesson at regular intervals so that students can constantly assess their understanding and any misconceptions can be immediately addressed.
This is a fully-resourced lesson that looks at the different skills needed to calculate the percentage yield. This lesson has been designed for GCSE students and includes an engaging lesson presentation and a skills check worksheet. As well as the obvious Science involved in the lesson, the students’ mathematical skills are challenged as they have to rearrange formulae and also there is a literacy element as recognition of the different types of yield is important. The percentage yield formula is broken down into the two elements of theoretical yield and actual yield and a step by step guide through worked examples is used to visualise how these calculations should be tackled. Students are given regular opportunities to test the skills which they have just learnt (or recalled) before bringing them together to calculate the percentage yield. The lesson finishes with a difficult question which challenges the students to rearrange the formula to make theoretical yield the subject.
This is an extensive and fully-resourced lesson that guides students through drawing genetic diagrams to show the inheritance of one or two genes in order to calculate the phenotypic ratio. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying worksheets have been designed to cover the part of module 6.1.2 (b[i]) which states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply an understanding of the patterns for both monogenic and dihybrid inheritance
As you can see from the cover image, this lesson uses a step by step guide to go through each important stage of drawing the genetic cross. Extra time is taken over step 2 which involves writing out the different possible gametes that a parent can produce. This is the step where students most commonly make mistakes so it is critical that the method is understood. Helpful hints are also given throughout, such as only writing out the different possible gametes in order to avoid creating unnecessary work. Students are shown how to answer an example question so that they can visualise how to set out their work before they are challenged to try two further questions. This first of these is differentiated so that even those students who find this very difficult are able to access the learning. The final question will enable the students to come up with the ratio 9:3:3:1 and they will be shown how they can recognise when this should be the expected ratio as this links to the chi-squared test.
A considerable amount of time and thought has been put into the design of this extensive resource with the aim of motivating students to evaluate their understanding of the content in modules 1, 2, 4 and 6 of the OCR A-level Biology A specification which can be assessed in PAPER 2 (Biological diversity). The resource includes a detailed and engaging Powerpoint (226 slides) and is fully-resourced with differentiated worksheets that challenge the students on a wide range of topics.
The resource has been written to include different types of activities such as exam questions with explained answers, understanding checks and quiz competitions. The aim was to cover as much of the specification content as possible but the following topics have been given particular attention:
Genetic terminology
Monogenic and dihybrid inheritance
Hardy-Weinberg principle
Sex-linked diseases
Blood clotting
The properties of water
Codominance and multiple alleles
Types of variation
Communicable diseases
Genetically engineering bacteria to produce insulin
Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance
Vaccinations
Ecological terminology
Classification hierachy
The genetic code and gene mutations
Chi-squared test
Epistasis
Sampling
Selection pressures and types of selection
The Carbon cycle
Due to the size of the resource and the range of topics that are covered, this is likely to be used over the course of a number of lessons and will enable teachers to pinpoint specific areas to spend more time on. The mathematical element of the course is challenged throughout the lesson and helpful hints are provided to support students in structuring their answers.
This resource can be used in the lead up to the actual Paper 2 exam or earlier in the course when a particular area of modules 1, 2, 4 or 6 is being studied. I truly hope that this resource helps your students in their aims to achieve their potential grades.
This fully-resourced lesson explores how pyruvate can be converted to lactate or ethanol using reduced NAD and that the reoxidation of the coenzyme allows glycolysis to continue. The engaging and detailed PowerPoint and accompanying differentiated resources have been designed to cover the third part of point 5.2 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should know the fate of pyruvate if respiration is only anaerobic.
The lesson begins with a focus on the coenzyme, NAD, and students are challenged to recall details of its role in the oxidation of triose phosphate. Students will learn that oxidative phosphorylation in aerobic respiration allows these coenzymes to be reoxidised but that another metabolic pathway has to operate when there is no oxygen. Time is taken to go through the lactate and ethanol fermentation pathways and students are encouraged to discuss the conversions before applying their knowledge to complete diagrams and passages about the pathways. Understanding checks in a range of forms are used to enable the students to assess their progress whilst prior knowledge checks allow them to recognise the links to earlier topics.
This lesson has been written to tie in with the other uploaded lesson on glycolysis
This fully-resourced lesson covers the part of specification point 7.1 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to use genetic diagrams to interpret the results of crosses involving codominant and multiple alleles. The inheritance of ABO blood groups has three alleles at the gene locus on chromosome 9 where the alleles for A and B are codominant and this is used to introduce the two concepts. A range of tasks challenges the students to write genotypes, and construct genetic diagrams to calculate phenotypic ratios. They have to apply their understanding by working out the blood groups for a number of family members when presented with an incomplete pedigree tree. The final task of the lesson challenges their application skills further but this time, the animals involved are not humans. Each question is followed by a detailed, visual mark scheme so students can assess their progress and address any misconceptions
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 electrolysis. This is a topic which is almost guaranteed to be on the GCSE paper every year and therefore a student’s ability to achieve good marks on this topic will have a big impact on their overall success. The lesson looks at the electrolysis of both molten salts and aqueous solutions and guides students through predicting the products at each of the electrodes as well as writing half equations to represent these reactions. Students will enjoy the range of activities including quiz rounds such as “Have you got the SOLUTION” whilst crucially being able to recognise the finer details of this topic which require their further attention before an end of topic assessment or the terminal GCSE exams.
This lesson guides students through the use of the chi-squared test to test the significance of differences between observed and expected results. It is fully-resourced with a detailed PowerPoint and differentiated task worksheets that have been designed to cover point 16.2 (d) of the CIE International A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to use this statistical test to determine the significance.
The lesson has been written to include a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to carry out the test in small sections. At each step, time is taken to explain any parts which could cause confusion and helpful hints are provided to increase the likelihood of success in exam questions on this topic. Students will understand how to use the phenotypic ratio to calculate the expected numbers and then how to find the critical value in order to compare it against the chi-squared value. A worked example is used to show the working which will be required to access the marks and then the main task challenges the students to apply their knowledge to a series of questions of increasing difficulty.
This detailed and engaging lesson describes the movement of water molecules by osmosis and this is explained in terms of water potential. Both the PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the third part of specification point 2.3 as detailed in the AQA A-level Biology specification and they also describe the impact of solutions of different water potentials on suspended animal and plant cells.
It’s likely that students will have used the term concentration in their osmosis definitions at GCSE, so the aim of the starter task is to introduce water potential to allow students to begin to recognise osmosis as the movement of water molecules from a high water potential to a lower potential, with the water potential gradient. Time is taken to describe the finer details of water potential to enable students to understand that 0 is the highest value (pure water) and that this becomes negative once solutes are dissolved. Exam-style questions are used throughout the lesson to check on current understanding as well as prior knowledge checks which make links to previously covered topics such as the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane. The remainder of the lesson focuses on the movement of water when animal and plant cells are suspended in hypotonic, hypertonic or isotonic solutions and the final appearance of these cells is described, including any issues this may cause.
This lesson has been specifically written to tie in with the previous two lessons in topic 2.3 that cover the cell membrane and diffusion as well as an upcoming lesson on active transport and co-transport.
This lesson describes how the movement of growth factors regulates growth in response to directional stimuli, focusing on gravitropism and phototropism. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of the 1st lesson in a series of 3, which have been designed to cover point 6.1.1 (Survival and response) of the AQA A-level biology specification.
The lesson begins with a prior knowledge check, where the students have to identify key terms encountered in topics 1 - 4, and use their 1st letters to form the term, stimuli. Students are reminded of the meaning of a stimulus, and this introduces the need for organisms to detect and respond to stimuli, to increase their chances of survival. This lesson focuses on these responses in flowering plants, and builds on any knowledge they may have gained at GCSE. They should have met auxins at this previous level, but will now be introduced to IAA, and will complete several tasks which check that they understand the key features of these chemicals, such as their location of production and method by which they move through the shoots and roots. The students are guided through the movement of IAA to the shaded side in a shoot during phototropism, and will learn how this uneven distribution leads to uneven growth. An exam-style question presents them with two further scenarios, where the tip of the shoot has been cut off or is covered, and the students need to describe and explain what will happen to the appearance of the shoot after a week. Moving forwards, the students will learn how the pumping of hydrogen ions into the cell wall and the activation of expansin proteins are involved in the cell elongation.
The remainder of the lesson discusses the response to gravity and explains how shoots and roots respond differently.
The lesson is full of understanding and prior knowledge checks and all answers are embedded into the PowerPoint.
The other two lessons in this series of 3 covering 6.1.1 describe taxes and kineses and the protective effect of a simple reflex.
This engaging and detailed lesson has been written to cover the content of point 5.3.5 (Contraception) as detailed in the AQA GCSE Biology & Combined Science specifications. This is a topic which can be difficult to teach due to the awkwardness of a class or students believing that they already know all of the information without really knowing the detail which is laid out in the specification. With this in mind, a wide range of activities have been included in the lesson to maintain motivation whilst ensuring that this important detail is covered. Students will learn about a range of hormonal and non-hormonal methods including oral contraceptives, progesterone patches, condoms and diaphragms and IUDs. Time is taken to look at alternative methods such as abstaining from sexual intercourse during the times around ovulation and sterilisation. Due to the clear link to the topic of hormones in human reproduction, previous knowledge checks are written into the lesson and challenge the students on their knowledge of FSH, LH, oestrogen and progesterone. There are also mathematical skills check so that students are prepared for the added mathematical element in this course.
This lesson has been written for GCSE-aged students who are studying on the AQA GCSE Biology or Combined Science courses but is suitable for younger students who are looking at contraception in their Science lessons
This fully-resourced revision lesson has been written to cover the major details of the radioactivity topic that can be assessed in the GCSE Physics and Combined Science (HT) exams. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources contain a wide range of activities which include exam-style questions with clearly explained answers, differentiated tasks and quiz competitions to allow students to assess their understanding and to ultimately recognise those areas which need further consideration.
The following points are covered in this revision lesson:
Describe the structure of atom and recall the typical size
Recall the relative masses and charges of the subatomic particles and use the number of protons and electrons to explain why atoms are neutral
Describe the structure of the nuclei of an isotope
Explain what is meant by background radiation and recall sources
Describe methods for measuring and detecting radioactivity
Describe the process of beta minus and beta plus decay
Write and balance nuclear decay equations
Explain the effects on the proton and nucleon number as a result of decay
Recall that the unit of radioactivity is Bq
Use the concept of half-life to carry out calculations
Describe the use of isotopes in PET scanners
Describe the differences between nuclear fission and fusion
Explain how the fission of U-235 produces two daughter nuclei, two or three neutrons and releases energy
Write equations to represent nuclear fission
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy
Explain why nuclear fusion cannot happen at low temperatures and pressures
This is a highly-detailed revision resource which has been designed to be used over a number of lessons and allows teachers to dip in and out of the material as fits to the requirements of their classes and students. The resource consists of an engaging and detailed powerpoint (133 slides) and worksheets which have been differentiated to allow students of differing abilities to be challenged and access the work. The lesson consists of a wide range of activities which will engage and motivate the students and includes exam questions, quiz competitions and quick tasks. The mathematical element of the course is challenged throughout the lesson
The lesson has been designed to cover as many of the sub-topics within topics 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the AQA GCSE Biology specification, and will be covered in paper 1, but the following sub-topics have been given particular attention:
Topic B1: Cell biology
Eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells
Cell specialisation
Organelles in animal and plant cells
Osmosis
Mitosis and the cell cycle
Microscopy and calculating size
Topic B2: Organisation
The functions of the components of blood
The heart and blood vessels
CHD
Topic B3: Infection and response
Communicable diseases
Monoclonal antibodies
Topic B4: Bioenergetics
Aerobic respiration and ATP
Lactic acid
This revision resource can be used in the lead up to mocks or the actual GCSE exams and due to its size, it could be repeatably used to ensure that students develop a deep understanding of these topics.
This is an engaging and fully-resourced 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 (Genetics) of the Edexcel GCSE Biology 9-1 specification.
The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include:
Explain some of the advantages and disadvantages of asexual reproduction, including the lack of need to find a mate, a rapid reproductive cycle, but no variation in the population
Explain some of the advantages and disadvantages of sexual reproduction, including variation in the population, but the requirement to find a mate
Explain the role of meiotic cell division, including the production of four daughter cells, each with half the number of chromosomes, and that this results in the formation of genetically different haploid gametes
Describe the structure of DNA
Describe the genome as the entire DNA of an organism and a gene as a section of a DNA molecule that codes for a specific protein
Explain how the order of bases in a section of DNA decides the order of amino acids in the protein and that these fold to produce specifically shaped proteins such as enzymes
Describe the stages of protein synthesis, including transcription and translation
Describe how genetic variants in the coding DNA of a gene can affect phenotype by altering the sequence of amino acids and therefore the activity of the protein produced
Explain why there are differences in the inherited characteristics as a result of alleles
Explain the terms: chromosome, gene, allele, dominant, recessive, homozygous, heterozygous, genotype, phenotype, gamete and zygote
Explain monohybrid inheritance using genetic diagrams, Punnett squares and family pedigrees
Describe how the sex of offspring is determined at fertilisation, using genetic diagrams
Calculate and analyse outcomes (using probabilities, ratios and percentages) from monohybrid crosses and pedigree analysis for dominant and recessive traits
Explain how sex-linked genetic disorders are inherited
State that most genetic mutations have no effect on the phenotype
The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “Is this SYNTHESISED correctly” where they have to recognise whether a passage on protein synthesis is 100% correct or contains errors 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 revision lesson contains an engaging and detailed powerpoint (58 slides) which is reinforced with a series of differentiated worksheets that are used throughout the lesson to challenge and consolidate the learning. The lesson has been designed to contain a wide range of activities so that students remain motivated and engaged whilst they assess their understanding of the content found in topic 3 (Infection and response) of the AQA GCSE Biology specification and will be covered in Paper 1 in the terminal GCSE exams.
The exam questions, differentiated tasks and quiz competitions found within the lesson challenge the following specification topics:
Communicable (infectious) diseases
Viral diseases
Bacterial diseases
Fungal diseases
Protist diseases
Physical defences of the Human defence system
Vaccinations
Antibiotics
Producing monoclonal antibodies
Uses of monoclonal antibodies
Identification of plant diseases
Plant defence responses
Students will be able to use the lesson to identify the areas of the specification that require further attention and this lesson can be used at the end of the topic, in the lead up to the mocks or in the lead up to the actual GCSE exams.
This fully-resourced lesson guides students through the use of the Hardy-Weinberg equations to determine the frequency of alleles and genotypes in a population. Both the detailed PowerPoint and differentiated practice questions on a worksheet have been designed to cover point 6.1.2 (f) of the OCR A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply their knowledge and understanding of the use of the principle to calculate allele frequencies in populations.
The lesson begins by looking at the two equations and ensuring that students understand the meaning of each of the terms. The recessive condition, cystic fibrosis, is used as an example so that students can start to apply their knowledge and assess whether they understand which genotypes go with which term. Moving forwards, a step-by-step guide is used to show students how to answer a question. Tips are given during the guide so that common misconceptions and mistakes are addressed immediately. The rest of the lesson gives students the opportunity to apply their knowledge to a set of 3 questions, which have been differentiated so that all abilities are able to access the work and be challenged.
This fully-resourced lesson explores how glucose as well as the other respiratory substrates, such as lipids and proteins, can enter the respiratory pathway and therefore can be respired to produce molecules of ATP. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover points 5.2.2 (j) and (k) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification which states that students should know the difference in the relative energy values of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins and be able to use and interpret the respiratory quotient.
This lesson has been written to challenge current understanding as well as the knowledge of glycolysis, the link reaction and Krebs cycle and so contains regular prior knowledge checks which come in a range of forms. Students will learn that lipids and proteins can be used as respiratory substrates and will recognise the different ways that they enter the respiratory pathway. A quick quiz competition is used to introduce the mean energy value for carbohydrates and students are challenged to predict how the values for lipids and proteins will compare. As a result, students will recognise that a greater number of hydrogen atoms results in a greater availability of protons to form the chemiosmotic gradient to fuel the production of ATP. The rest of the lesson focuses on the calculation of the respiratory quotient and time is taken to look at how the result can be interpreted to determine which substrates were respired.
This is a fully-resourced lesson which is designed for GCSE students and explores the topic of compounds, specifically focusing on naming these chemicals based upon the elements within them and from their chemical formula. The lesson includes an engaging lesson presentation (46 slides) and a worksheet containing three tasks for the lesson.
The lesson begins with some simple multiple choice questions to check that students can spot the chemical symbol and definition of an element, but more importantly pick out the formula for a compound. Time is taken to go through the explanation of why substances are elements or compounds and specific examples given. A quick understanding check, in the form of a competition called “To COM or NOT TO COM”,is used to check that students can identify elements or compounds from a name or given formula. The remainder of the lesson focuses on naming compounds. Students are challenged to spot a pattern when presented with the names of two compounds, which contain 2 elements only. For both compounds that contain 2 elements or 3 or more, the rules to naming are introduced before examples are shown so that students can visualise how to construct their answer. They are then given an opportunity to apply this to a number of questions in the set tasks. The last part of the lesson moves this forward by looking at how these same rules can be applied when the chemical formula of a compound is given and this is related to another topic as they are challenged to write a word equation containing a range of compounds when presented with the symbol equation. Progress checks are written into the lesson at regular intervals so that students can constantly assess their understanding.
Although this is written for GCSE students, it is perfectly suitable for use with younger students who are learning about elements, compounds and mixtures and the teacher wants to push them along.
A fully resourced revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions (with explained answers), quick tasks and quiz competitions to enable the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within module 6.1 (Cellular control) of the OCR A-level Biology specification.
The topics tested within this lesson include:
Gene mutations
Regulation of gene expression
The Lac Operon
Student will enjoy the range of tasks and quiz rounds whilst crucially being able to recognise any areas which require further attention
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 5 (Forces) of the AQA GCSE Physics (8463) specification.
The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include:
Scalar and vector quantities
Contact and non-contact forces
Gravity
Work done and energy transfer
Forces and elasticity
Moments
Speed
Velocity
Acceleration
Newton’s laws
Stopping distance
Momentum
Conservation of momentum
Changes in momentum
The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “Fill the VOID” where they have to compete to be the 1st to complete one of the recall equations whilst all the time evaluating and assessing which areas of this topic will 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