I am a secondary science teacher from Plymouth, United Kingdom. I have a passion for designing interactive, engaging and well scaffolded resources that are inclusive for all pupils. I teach all years, from years 7-13. I teach KS3 Activate (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy (Biology and Chemistry), AQA GCSE Biology, AQA GCSE Chemistry, and A Level Biology (OCR A).
I am a secondary science teacher from Plymouth, United Kingdom. I have a passion for designing interactive, engaging and well scaffolded resources that are inclusive for all pupils. I teach all years, from years 7-13. I teach KS3 Activate (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy (Biology and Chemistry), AQA GCSE Biology, AQA GCSE Chemistry, and A Level Biology (OCR A).
This lesson is designed for a year 7 class studying the KS3 Activate curriculum in science.
This lesson is focused on fertilisation and germination in plants.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Describe the process of fertilisation in plants, including the formation of a pollen tube
Describe how fruits and seeds develop
Describe the process of germination
Name three conditions that are required for germination to occur
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
This is a worksheet designed for a KS3 class studying the structure of a flower.
Students use the key word bank to identify and label the key reproductive organs in a flower (anther, carpel, filament, ovary, stamen, stigma, style).
Students will also describe the function of each reproductive organ. Students can select the correct function from the support box.
Includes an answer key.
These definitions are in line with the KS3 Activate curriculum.
This lesson is designed for a year 7 class studying the KS3 Activate curriculum in science.
This lesson is focused on ‘compounds’ from ‘Chapter 2: Elements, atoms, and compounds’ from Activate 1.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
State the meaning of ‘compound’
Explain whether a molecule diagram shows an element or compound
Explain why a compound has different properties to the elements whose atoms are in it
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
This lesson is designed for a mixed ability year 9 class studying the AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy specification, at the start of the topic ‘Quantitative Chemistry’.
This lesson is focused on changes in mass during a chemical reaction where a product is a gas.
This lesson contains a guided practical activity (the reaction between calcium carbonate marble chips and hydrochloric acid).
A risk assessment is included.
There are also plenty of independent practice tasks, as well as exam questions with modelled answers.
This lesson also briefly recaps state symbols and balancing symbol equations.
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A worksheet on writing chemical formulae, with answers.
Two versions are included, PowerPoint and Word.
In this worksheet, students will develop the skills of:
Using a particle diagram to identify which elements are in a compound, and the relative numbers of atoms of each element in the compound
Using particle diagrams and/or written information to write the chemical formulae for compounds
Naming familiar two-element compounds
Drawing particle diagrams for compounds
This worksheet is scaffolded with some gaps filled in to model how to correctly complete the table.
This is based on the KS3 Activate curriculum, from Chapter 2 “Elements, atoms and compounds” from Activate 1. However, this should be suitable for any KS3 class or lower ability KS4 class studying chemical formulae.
A full unit of work from the KS3 Activate ‘Elements, atoms and compounds’ topic (from Activate 1, Chemistry, chapter 2), designed for a mixed ability year 7 class. This unit of work contains 4 full hour lessons.
These lessons are designed to be engaging and interactive, with frequent use of AFL as well as longer independent tasks. These should be suitable to be delivered by a teacher of any specialism.
All answers and given on the slides to independent tasks.
The lessons should be delivered in this sequence:
Elements
Atoms
Compounds
Chemical formulae
Each of my lesson resources contains:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 7 class.
This is the 3rd lesson in “Chapter 4 - Acids and Alkalis” from Activate 1, Chemistry.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Chemistry class, even by those where Chemistry is not their specialism.
This lesson includes a class practical, where students test common household substances with universal indicator solution.
It also includes a printable worksheet.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Identify acids, alkalis and neutral solutions on the pH scale
Describe the colour change of universal indicator in strong acids, weak acids, neutral solutions, weak alkalis, and strong alkalis
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 7 class introducing them to mixtures and solutions.
This lesson is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of AFL and independent tasks.
The lesson contains interesting links such as to George’s Marvellous Medicine and skittles!
This lesson resource is designed so it should be teachable by non-specialists.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Explain what is meant by the term ‘mixture’ in Chemistry
Identify mixtures from particle diagrams
Define the key terms ‘solution’, ‘solute’ and ‘solvent’
Identify solutions, solvents and solutes from given examples
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 7 class.
This is the second lesson in “Chapter 2 - Sound” from Activate 1, Physics. This lesson is on ‘sound’, focusing on how sound waves travel and the speed of sound.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Physics class, even by those where physics is not their specialism.
This lesson (and all lessons in this unit) is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of real world examples and independent tasks.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Describe how sound is produced
Describe how a sound wave travels
Recall that speed travels the fastest in solids and slowest in gases
Use the particle model to explain why the speed of sound is different in different materials
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 7 class.
This is the fourth lesson in “Chapter 2 - Sound” from Activate 1, Physics. This lesson is on ‘detecting sound’, and mainly focuses on the structure of the ear and how the ear works.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Physics class, even by those where physics is not their specialism.
This lesson (and all lessons in this unit) is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of real world examples and independent tasks.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Label a diagram of the ear (pinna, auditory canal, eardrum, ossicles, oval window, cochlea, auditory nerve)
Describe the function of the main organs in the ear (pinna, auditory canal, eardrum, ossicles, oval window, cochlea, auditory nerve)
Describe how we hear
Describe how a microphone works and its similarities to the ear
Recall the audible range of humans (20 Hz - 20,000 Hz)
Recall the definitions of ‘infrasound’ and ‘ultrasound’
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 7 class.
This is the fourth lesson in “Chapter 1 - Forces” from Activate 1, Physics. This lesson is on drag forces (air resistance and water resistance). It is taught separately to ‘friction��.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Physics class, even by those where physics is not their specialism.
This lesson (and all lessons in this unit) is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of real world examples and independent tasks.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Give a definition for the term ‘drag force’
Explain what causes air resistance
Describe the effect that air resistance has on moving objects
Explain what causes water resistance
Describe the effect that water resistance has on moving objects
Describe how to reduce the effect of drag and give examples of this
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 7 class.
This is the 7th and final lesson in “Chapter 2 - Reactions” from Activate 1, Chemistry. This lesson is on endothermic and exothermic changes.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Chemistry class, even by those where chemistry is not their specialism.
This lesson (and all lessons in this unit) is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of real world examples and independent tasks.
This lesson includes a practical carousel activity.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Describe the energy changes in endothermic and exothermic changes
Give examples of endothermic and exothermic reactions
Predict whether a given change is endothermic or exothermic
Identify endothermic and exothermic changes from temperature data
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 8 class.
This is the 6th and final lesson in “Chapter 3 - Motion and Pressure” from Activate 2, Physics. This lesson is on ‘turning forces’.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Physics class, even by those where physics is not their specialism.
This lesson (and all lessons in this unit) is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of real world examples and independent tasks.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Recall the definition for a ‘moment’ and use the term ‘moment’ correctly in a sentence
Recall the formula for calculating moments
Recall the law of moments
Explain why levers, e.g. spanners and crowbars, mean a smaller force can have a greater effect
Use the formula to calculate moments
Apply the law of moments and formula for calculating moments to predict whether a seesaw will be balanced or not
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 8 class.
This is the 1st lesson in “Chapter 3 - Motion and Pressure” from Activate 2, Physics. This lesson is on ‘speed’.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Physics class, even by those where physics is not their specialism.
This lesson (and all lessons in this unit) is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of real world examples and independent tasks.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Give a scientific definition for the term ‘speed’
Identify units of speed
Recall typical speeds for a range of methods of travel in m/s
Use the formula distance / time to calculate speed
Describe the difference between average speed and instantaneous speed
Describe relative motion
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 8 class.
This is the 6th lesson in “Chapter 2 - Energy” from Activate 2, Physics. This lesson is on ‘radiation - energy transfers’.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Physics class, even by those where physics is not their specialism.
This lesson (and all lessons in this unit) is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of real world examples and independent tasks.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Define the term ‘radiation’
Recognise that energy can be transferred through a vacuum by radiation
Determine whether energy is being transferred by conduction, convection or radiation from given examples
Compare methods of energy transfer by conduction, convection and radiation
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 7 class.
This is the 2nd lesson in “Chapter 4 - Space” from Activate 1, Physics. This lesson is on ‘the solar system’.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Physics class, even by those where physics is not their specialism.
This lesson (and all lessons in this unit) is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of real world examples and independent tasks.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Identify and compare the inner planets / terrestrial planets, and outer planets / gas giants
To recall that our planets orbit the Sun in an elliptical shape
Compare the sizes and surface temperatures of the planets in our Solar System
Briefly describe how the Solar System was formed
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 8 class.
This is the 5th lesson in “Chapter 2 - Energy” from Activate 2, Physics. This lesson is on conduction and convection (energy transfer - particles).
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Physics class, even by those where physics is not their specialism.
This lesson (and all lessons in this unit) is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of real world examples and independent tasks.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Describe how energy is transferred through solids by conduction
Explain why metals are better thermal conductors than non-metals
Describe how energy is transferred through fluids by convection
Explain what causes a sea breeze
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 8 class.
This is the 2nd lesson in “Chapter 2 - Energy” from Activate 2, Physics. This lesson is on ‘energy resources’.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Physics class, even by those where physics is not their specialism.
This lesson (and all lessons in this unit) is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of real world examples and independent tasks.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Explain what a non-renewable energy resource is
Describe some uses of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas)
Describe how fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) are formed
Evaluate the use of thermal power plants and nuclear power plants
Explain what a renewable energy resource is
Give some examples of renewable energy resources
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A revision placemat designed for KS3 sutdents based on nutrition.
This could also be suitable for lower ability KS4 students.
The revision placemat covers:
Which nutrients are found in which foods
The function of each nutrient in the body
Labelling the digestive system
The action of protease, lipase and amylase
Labelling the parts of an enzyme / Lock and key theory
Food tests
Effect of temperature on enzymes
A full 1 hour lesson resource designed for a mixed ability year 12 class studying the OCR Biology A specification.
This is from the unit 4.2.2 Classification and Evolution, from the specification point i) “how evoluton in some species has implicatons for human populatons.”
This lesson resource contains:
A “5 in 5” style retrieval starter
A linked video on how MRSA evolved
Direct instruction on antibiotic resistance (dual coding, reduced cognitive load)
A linked video visually showing the evolution of antibiotic resistance
Checkpoints (MCQs from exams with answers)
A discussion on antiviral resistance in HIV
An application question on drug resistance in malaria from the CGP textbook (with guided self assessment)
An embedded video - a news report on pesticide resistance in bed bugs
A case study on DDT resistance in house flies, with a guided discussion
An exam-style question on pesticide resistance from the CGP textbook (with guided self assessment)