OCR GCSE (9-1) Biology - The circulatory system

This is a lesson designed to meet specification points for the new OCR GCSE (Gateway) Biology 'Scaling up’ scheme of work.

The lesson begins by completing an activity which recaps the role of each of the components of blood.

Pupils are then introduced to the three types of blood vessels - artery, vein and capillary. Looking at a diagram provided pupils will need to consider the differences between the three in terms of structure an function.

Pupils will then watch a video and answer questions about arteries and capillaries, the answers to the video are provided so that pupils can then self-assess their work.

The next slide will show how veins are structured and how they work to move blood back to heart from the rest of the body. Pupils could draw a diagram to represent this if there was time.

The next part of the lesson is the longest activity, pupils will need to either copy the blank table into their books or be given a printout of the table. Using cards of information pupils will need to complete the table, which shows the structural features of each of the blood vessels. The answers to this activity are provided so that pupils can either peer or self-assess their work.

The next activity is a quick fill-in-the-blank task to demonstrate the role of the capillaries within the body.

Students are now introduced to the idea of a double-circulatory system, using a diagram and a description of the system pupils will need to answer questions about the role of this system, which can then be self-assessed.

The plenary task is for pupils to pick one question to answer from a list of traffic-light questions, green for most difficult and red for easiest.