This fully-resourced lesson covers part #1 of specification point 6.2.1 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should know the structure of a myelinated motor neurone and be able to explain why saltatory conduction enables a faster conduction along with the effect of axon diameter and temperature. A wide range of activities have been written into this resource to maintain the motivation of the students whilst ensuring that the detail is covered in real depth. Interspersed with the activities are understanding checks and prior knowledge checks to allow the students to not only assess their understanding of the current topic but also challenge themselves to make links to earlier topics such as the movement of ions across membranes and biological molecules. Time at the end of the lesson is also given to future knowledge such as the involvement of autonomic motor neurones in the stimulation of involuntary muscles.
Over the course of the lesson, students will learn and discover how the structure of a motor neurone is related to its function over conducting impulses from the CNS to the effector. There is a focus on the myelin sheath and specifically how the insulation is not complete all the way along which leaves gaps known as the nodes of Ranvier which allow the entry and exit of ions. Saltatory conduction is poorly explained by a lot of students so time is taken to look at the way that the action potential jumps between the nodes and this is explained further by reference to local currents. The rest of the lesson focuses on the other two factors which are axon diameter and temperature and students are challenged to discover these two by focusing on the vampire squid.
This lesson has been designed for students studying the AQA A-level Biology course
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AQA A-level Biology Topic 6: Organisms respond to changes in their internal and external environments
This bundle contains 20 fully-resourced and detailed lessons that have been designed to cover the content of topic 6 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which concerns the responses of organisms to stimuli. The wide range of activities included in each lesson will engage the students whilst the detailed content is covered and the understanding and prior knowledge checks allow them to assess their progress on the current topic as well as challenging them to make links to other related topics. Many of the tasks are differentiated to allow differing abilities to access the work and be challenged. The following sub-topics are covered in this bundle of lessons: * Survival and response in flowering plants * The protective effect of a simple reflex * The role of sensory receptors as outlined by the Pacinian corpuscle * The human retina as a sensory receptor * The differences in rods and cones that enable different sensitivity to light, colour and visual acuity * The roles of the SAN, AVN, Bundle of His and Purkyne fibres in the conduction system of the heart * The control of heart rate * The structure of a myelinated motor neurone * The factors that affect the speed of conduction of an impulse * The generation and transmission of nerve impulses * The transmission at a cholinergic synapse and a neuromuscular junction * Summation * The contraction of skeletal muscles * The structure and properties of slow and fast skeletal muscle fibres * The principles of homeostasis including negative feedback systems * The control of blood glucose concentration by the controlled release of insulin and glucagon * The causes and control of diabetes type I and II * The gross structure of the kidney * The detailed structure of the nephron * The production of glomerular filtrate * The reabsorption of glucose and water in the PCT * Maintaining a gradient of sodium ions in the medulla by the loop of Henle * The role of the hypothalamus, posterior pituitary and ADH in osmoregulation This is one of the 8 topics which have to be covered over the length of the 2 year course and therefore it is expected that the teaching time for this bundle will be in excess of 2 months If you want to see the quality of the lessons before purchasing then the lessons on responses in flowering plants, saltatory conduction, the contraction of skeletal muscles and ultrafiltration are free resources to download
Topic 6.2: Nervous coordination (AQA A-level Biology)
All 4 lessons included in this bundle are fully-resourced and have been designed to cover the content as detailed in topic 6.2 (Nervous coordination) of the AQA A-Level Biology specification. The specification points that are covered within these lessons include: * The structure of a myelinated motor neurone * The establishment of a resting potential * Depolarisation * All or nothing principle * Factors affecting the speed of conductance The lessons have been written to include a wide range of activities and numerous understanding and prior knowledge checks so students can assess their progress against the current topic as well as be challenged to make links to other topics within this module and earlier modules If you would like to sample the quality of the lessons, download the saltatory conduction lesson which is free
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Interesting and sticks closely to the spec. Very useful.
A great resource for keeping the students interested. Thanks for sharing!
Really useful
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