This revision lesson will challenge the students on their understanding of the details of photosynthesis (topic B4.1 of the AQA GCSE specification). It has been designed to be used in the final weeks before the GCSE exams, or in the lead up to mocks or an end of topic test, and provides multiple opportunities for the students to check their understanding of the reaction, limiting factors, the inverse square law and the uses of glucose. The lesson contains a range of tasks, including exam-style questions and quizzes, that will maintain engagement whilst allowing any misconceptions or mistakes to be addressed.

This extensive revision lesson challenges students on their knowledge and understanding of the content of topics 5 - 8 of the AQA A-level specification. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain a selection of tasks which challenge the following points: Directional, stabilising and disruptive selection Saltatory conduction and other factors affecting conductance speed The structure of a motor neurone Sensory receptors, depolarisation and initiation of an action potential Hardy-Weinberg principle Genetic terminology Codominance and sex-linkage Autosomal linkage Chi-squared test Phosphorylation The stages of aerobic respiration Explaining lower ATP yields in anaerobic respiration Skeletal muscle contraction Structure and function of slow and fast twitch muscle fibres The control of heart rate Electrophoresis and genetic fingerprinting The secondary messenger model The students are tested through a variety of tasks including exam questions, understanding checks, and quiz rounds to maintain engagement. Due to the mathematical content in all A-level exams, there is also a focus on these skills. The answers to all questions are embedded into the PowerPoint so students can use this resource outside of the classroom. The delivery of the whole lesson will likely need at least 2 or 3 hours of contact time so this resource could be used with students in the final weeks building up to their paper 2 exam, or alternatively with students before their mocks on these topics.

This engaging revision lesson challenges the students on their knowledge of the communicable diseases topic as detailed in the AQA GCSE combined science specification. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources include a range of tasks that enable the students to assess their knowledge of the 7 viral, bacterial, fungal and protist infections that are listed in topic B3.1. This lesson has been designed to be used as a final revision resource as the GCSE exams approach, or as part of revision for an end of topic test.

This revision lesson focuses on the properties of waves and the process of refraction as detailed in topic 6 of the AQA physics and combined specifications. Each task in the PowerPoint and accompanying resources challenges the students on their understanding of the key terms frequency, period, wavelength, amplitude, transverse and longitudinal, and reminds them how to answer refraction questions by using explanations that involve density, speed and the change in direction of the light wave.

This revision lesson challenges students to explain the results of an osmosis investigation and to calculate accelerations using 2 equations. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to check on the understanding of these two topics as detailed in the AQA GCSE biology, physics and combined specifications. The lesson contains a range of tasks including worked examples, exam questions and quizzes which will remind students that water molecules move across partially permeable membranes by osmosis and how changes in the mass of a potato can be used to compare water concentrations in the potato and solution. Students will also recall that acceleration can be calculated from velocity-time graphs using change in velocity/time as well as through the use of F=ma.

This lesson revisits the topic of random and systematic errors and also challenges students on other scientific skills such as identifying variables. Students tend to find this topic confusing, so the PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to support them to identify whether an error is random or systematic and then to understand what to do next. The lesson guides the students through a series of real life examples and shows them how to spot each type of error. There is a considerable mathematical element to this lesson, including the calculation of means or missing values in a table. The lesson concludes with a series of exam-style questions where the students have to apply their understanding of identifying errors, variables and calculating means.

This fully-resourced revision lesson allows students to check on their understanding of Linnaeus’s and Woese’s classification systems. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to challenge the details of point B6.4 of the AQA GCSE biology and combined science specifications. The lesson contains a range of tasks including exam-questions and quizzes which provide opportunities for the students to assess their knowledge of kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species as the classification taxa and to recognise the binomial naming system. The lesson also reminds students that the three domain-system divides the Prokaryote kingdom into Archaea and Bacteria and describes how this system was developed once new evidence was discovered. As well as testing the content of B6.4, this lesson uses a series of questions to challenge understanding of linked topics which include eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell structures, microscopes, communicable diseases and ecological terms. This lesson has been planned for revision purposes in the lead up to the GCSE exams or before end of topic tests or mocks.

This lesson describes the biological meaning of species, populations, gene pool and allele frequency and explains how these terms are linked. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of the 1st lesson in a series of 2 lessons that cover the detail of specification point 7.2 (Populations) of the AQA A-level biology. The two living species of the African elephant, the forest and bush elephant, are used as examples to demonstrate the meaning of species and to show how they exist as one or more populations. A quick quiz introduces the term gene pool in an engaging way and then the allele frequency of three versions of the GBA gene demonstrates how these frequencies can change in small populations. In doing so, students are briefly introduced to genetic drift which they will encounter in an upcoming topic. The students are challenged throughout the lesson with understanding checks and prior knowledge checks as well as exam-based questions where they have to comment on the validity of a scientist’s conclusion. The other lesson in topic 7.2 is the Hardy-Weinberg principle.

This lesson describes the pathway by which the translation of mRNA into proteins can be prevented by siRNA and miRNA molecules. The engaging and detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of the final lesson in a series of 4 lessons that cover the detail of point 8.2.2 of the AQA A-level biology specification. The lesson begins with an exisiting knowledge check, as the students are challenged to recognise the processes of DNA methylation and histone acetylation, before RNA interference is introduced as another way by which gene expression is controlled in eukaryotes. Moving forwards, a quick quiz round introduces small interfering RNA (siRNA) and students will learn how this double-stranded, non-coding RNA is normally just 21 base pairs long. A step by step guide then describes the action of siRNA in preventing translation, through the cutting of the target mRNA into fragments which are then degraded. Time is taken to consider the possible application of siRNA molecules in the treatment of HIV and then cystic fibrosis, and the latter involves a series of exam-style questions which challenge the students on their understanding of this topic as well as the recall of content from the other 7 AQA topics. The remainder of the lesson focuses on microRNA (miRNA) and students will understand how this molecule is produced and how its action differs to that of siRNA in mammalian cells.

This lesson describes how iPS cells are formed from fibroblasts and discusses why this method is less controversial than the use of embryonic stem cells. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of the 2nd lesson in a series of 2 lessons which covers the content of point 7.3 (stem cells) of the Edexcel A-level biology B specification. The lesson begins with a SPOT THE ERRORS task, where students have to use their knowledge of pluripotent cells from the previous lesson to identify the 3 errors and make corrections. The aim of this task is to remind them that pluripotent cells are found in embryos and can divide in unlimited numbers before finally becoming fully differentiated somatic cells. Moving forwards, the students are introduced to fibroblasts as examples of these somatic cells and the opportunity is taken to challenge their knowledge of collagen as this is a substance produced by these cells. The answers are embedded into the PowerPoint to allow the students to assess their recall of this topic 1 content. A quick quiz is used to introduce the acronym iPS and students will learn that fibroblasts can be reprogrammed to form induced pluripotent cells using specific transcription factors. The remainder of the lesson challenges them to answer questions about the use of iPS cells in regenerative medicine after reading a passage about an example. This allows them to recognise that deriving these cells from adult tissues as opposed to embryonic stem cells raises less problems and the transplant into the same person reduces the risk of rejection.

At the end of topic 3, or in the lead up to mocks or final A-level exams, students can use this lesson to assess their understanding of topic 3 content. The lesson consists of 20 multiple-choice questions, which have been written to challenge the students on the detail of their knowledge, as well as a PowerPoint which contains the answers, explanations and key points related to the specification. The PowerPoint also contains other topic 3 knowledge checks on content which isn’t directly questioned in the multiple-choice assessment, and prior knowledge checks to encourage the students to recognise the links to topic 1 and 2. The following topics are challenged by the multiple-choice questions: Surface area to volume ratio Gas exchange (in animals and plants) Digestion and absorption Mass transport in animals Mass transport in plants

This revision lesson contains an assessment of 20 multiple-choice questions and a PowerPoint with the answers and related key points from the specification. The 20 questions have been written to cover the content of topic 4 of the AQA A-level biology specification, providing the students with an opportunity to assess their understanding and highlight those areas which need further attention. All 7 sub-topics of topic 4 are covered by at least one question and there are several questions which challenge mathematical skills, which aligns with the high mathematical content of the final assessments.

This detailed and engaging lesson describes the different ecological techniques used to assess the abundance and distribution of organisms in a habitat. In line with point 10.1 (iv) of the Edexcel A-level biology B specification, the following techniques are included in the PowerPoint and accompanying resources: quadrats (of differing areas) transects ACFOR scale percentage cover The mathematical element of the course is challenged in the early stages of this lesson, when the students have to estimate the populations of different plant species using data obtained with a quadrat. Understanding checks are used throughout the lesson to allow the students to assess their progress against the current topic and they are encouraged to consider the advantages and disadvantages of each technique.

This lesson describes how recombinant DNA can be produced, including the role of restriction endonucleases and DNA ligase. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the content of point 7.4 (i) of the Edexcel A-level Biology B specification. This lesson begins with the introduction of recombinant DNA technology as a process where fragments of DNA are transferred from one species to another. Over the course of the lesson, the students are guided through 5 steps in the production of the recombinant DNA, with a focus on the enzymes involved, which are reverse transcriptase, DNA polymerase, restriction endonuclease, and DNA ligase. Understanding checks and prior knowledge checks are used throughout the lesson and the answers are embedded into the PowerPoint to allow the students to assess their progress.