This highly detailed, fully-resourced lesson has been designed to cover the content of specification point 5.1.4 (d) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification which states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply an understanding of the regulation of blood glucose concentration. There is focus on the negative feedback mechanisms that release insulin or glucagon and the role of the liver. It challenges the students recall of the control of insulin release from the beta cells which was taught in an earlier lesson. A wide range of activities will maintain motivation and engagement whilst the content is covered in detail to enable the students to explain how the receptors in the pancreas detect the concentration change and how the hormones attaching to receptor sites on the liver triggers a series of events in this effector organ. This is a topic which has a huge amount of difficult terminology so time is taken to look at all of the key words, especially those which begin with the letter G so students are able to use them accurately in the correct context. The action of adrenaline is also considered and linked to the breakdown of glycogen to glucose during glycogenolysis. This lesson has been written for students studying on the OCR A-level Biology A course and ties in with the lesson on the differences between type I and II diabetes mellitus as well as the human endocrine system

This lesson has been written to cover the part of specification point 5.1.2 © of the OCR A-level Biology A specification which states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply an understanding of the process of selective reabsorption. It has specifically been designed to build on the knowledge gained in the previous lessons on the structure of the nephron and ultrafiltration. The lesson begins by challenging the students to recall the substances that are found in the glomerular filtrate so that each of them can be considered over the course of the rest of the lesson. Moving forwards, the first of the numerous discussion points which are included in the lesson is used to get students to predict the component of the filtrate which won’t be found in the urine when they are presented with pie charts from each of these situations. Upon learning that glucose is 100% reabsorbed, along with most of the ions and some of the water, the rest of the lesson focuses on describing the relationship between the structure of the PCT and the function of selective reabsorption. Again, this section begins by encouraging the students to discuss and to predict which structures they would expect to find in a section of the kidney if the function is to reabsorb. They are given the chance to see the structure (as shown in the cover image) before each feature is broken down to explain its importance. Time is taken to look at the role of the cotransporter proteins to explain how this allows glucose, along with sodium ions, to be reabsorbed from the lumen of the PCT into the epithelial cells. The final part of the lesson focuses on urea and how the concentration of this substance increases along the tubule as a result of the reabsorption of some of the water. This lesson has been designed for students studying on the OCR-A level Biology A course and ties in nicely with the other lessons from 5.1.2 (c and d) on the structure and function of the kidney

This detailed lesson has been written to cover the part of specification point 5.1.2 © of the OCR A-level Biology A specification which states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply an understanding of the process of ultrafiltration. The aim of the design was to give the students the opportunity to discover this particular function and to be able to explain how the mechanisms found in the glomerulus and the Bowman’s capsule control the movement of small molecules out of the blood plasma. Key terminology is used throughout and students will learn how the combination of the capillary endothelium and the podocytes creates filtration slits that allow glucose, water, urea and ions through into the Bowman’s capsule but ensure that blood cells and plasma proteins remain in the bloodstream. A number of quiz competitions are used to introduce key terms and values in a fun and memorable way whilst understanding and prior knowledge checks allow the students to assess their understanding of the current topic and to challenge themselves to make links to earlier topics. The final task of the lesson challenges the students to apply their knowledge by recognising substances found in a urine sample that shouldn’t be present and to explain why this would cause a problem This lesson has been written for students studying on the OCR A-level Biology A course and ties in nicely with the other 5.1.2 kidney lessons on the structure of the nephron, selective reabsorption, osmoregulation and kidney failure

This is a highly-detailed and fully-resourced lesson which covers the detail of specification point 5.1.2 (d) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification which states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply an understanding of the roles of the hypothalamus, posterior pituitary, ADH and the collecting duct in the control of the water potential of the blood. Students learnt about the principles of homeostasis and negative feedback in an earlier module, so this lesson acts to build on that knowledge and challenges them to apply their knowledge. A wide range of activities have been included in the lesson to maintain motivation and engagement whilst the understanding and prior knowledge checks will allow the students to assess their progress as well as challenge themselves to make links to other Biology topics. The lesson begins with a discussion about how the percentage of water in urine can and will change depending on the blood water potential. Students will quickly be introduced to osmoregulation and they will learn that the osmoreceptors and the osmoregulatory centre are found in the hypothalamus. A considerable amount of time is taken to study the cell signalling between the hypothalamus and the posterior pituitary gland by looking at the specialised neurones (neurosecretory cells). Links are made to the topics of neurones, nerve impulses and synapses and the students are challenged to recall the cell body, axon and vesicles. The main section of the lesson forms a detailed description of the body’s detection and response to a low blood water potential. The students are guided through this section as they are given 2 or 3 options for each stage and they have to use their knowledge to select the correct statement. The final task asks the students to write a detailed description for the opposite stimulus and this task is differentiated so those who need extra assistance can still access the work. This lesson has been written for students studying on the OCR A-level Biology A course and ties in nicely with the other uploaded lessons in module 5.1.2 which include the structure of the nephron, ultrafiltration and selective reabsorption.

This lesson has been written to cover the part of specification point 6.4.3 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to describe how water and glucose are reabsorbed in the proximal convoluted tubule. It has specifically been designed to build on the knowledge gained in the previous lessons on the structure of the nephron and ultrafiltration. The lesson begins by challenging the students to recall the substances that are found in the glomerular filtrate so that each of them can be considered over the course of the rest of the lesson. Moving forwards, the first of the numerous discussion points which are included in the lesson is used to get students to predict the component of the filtrate which won’t be found in the urine when they are presented with pie charts from each of these situations. Upon learning that glucose is 100% reabsorbed, along with most of the ions and some of the water, the rest of the lesson focuses on describing the relationship between the structure of the PCT and the function of selective reabsorption. Again, this section begins by encouraging the students to discuss and to predict which structures they would expect to find in a section of the kidney if the function is to reabsorb. They are given the chance to see the structure (as shown in the cover image) before each feature is broken down to explain its importance. Time is taken to look at the role of the cotransporter proteins to explain how this allows glucose, along with sodium ions, to be reabsorbed from the lumen of the PCT into the epithelial cells. The final part of the lesson focuses on urea and how the concentration of this substance increases along the tubule as a result of the reabsorption of some of the water. This lesson has been designed for students studying on the AQA-A level Biology course and ties in nicely with the other lessons from 6.4.3 as well as the other uploaded lessons from topic 6

This detailed lesson has been written to cover the part of specification point 6.4.3 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to describe how the structure of the nephron allows for the formation of glomerular filtrate. The aim of the design was to give the students the opportunity to discover the function of ultrafiltration and to be able to explain how the mechanisms found in the glomerulus and the Bowman’s capsule control the movement of small molecules out of the blood plasma. Key terminology is used throughout and students will learn how the combination of the capillary endothelium and the podocytes creates filtration slits that allow glucose, water, urea and ions through into the Bowman’s capsule but ensure that blood cells and plasma proteins remain in the bloodstream. A number of quiz competitions are used to introduce key terms and values in a fun and memorable way whilst understanding and prior knowledge checks allow the students to assess their understanding of the current topic and to challenge themselves to make links to earlier topics. The final task of the lesson challenges the students to apply their knowledge by recognising substances found in a urine sample that shouldn’t be present and to explain why this would cause a problem This lesson has been written for students studying on the AQA A-level course and ties in nicely with the other kidney lessons on the structure of the nephron, selective reabsorption and osmoregulation

This detailed lesson has been planned to cover the 1st part of specification point 6.4.3 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to describe the detailed structure of the nephron and understand its role in ultrafiltration, selective reabsorption and osmoregulation. The lesson was designed at the same time as the other lessons in this topic on ultrafiltration, selective reabsorption and osmoregulation so that a common theme runs throughout and students can build up their knowledge gradually in order to develop a deep understanding of this organ. Students will come to recognise the renal cortex and renal medulla as the two regions of the kidney and learn the parts of the nephron which are found in each of these regions. Time is taken to look at the vascular supply of this organ and specifically to explain how the renal artery divides into the afferent arterioles which carry blood towards the glomerulus and the efferent arterioles which carry the blood away. The main task of the lesson challenges the students to relate structure to function. Having been introduced to the names of each of the parts of the nephron, they have to use the details of the structures found at these parts to match the function. For example, they have to make the connection between the microvilli in the PCT as a sign that this part is involved in selective reabsorption. This lesson has been designed for students studying on the AQA A-level Biology course

This engaging lesson covers the final details of specification point 6.4.2 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to describe the causes and control of diabetes mellitus type I and II. The lesson has been designed to take place in a diabetes clinic where students will be challenged to perform a number of roles such as diagnosing a patient with either type I or II and to write a letter to this patient explaining how the disease was caused and any treatments that will be recommended to control the disease. It has been planned to build on the knowledge that they will have of these diseases from GCSE and links are made to other A-level topics such as the beta cells of the pancreas which they considered during the lesson on the control of blood glucose concentration. This lesson has been designed for students taking the AQA A-level Biology course and runs alongside the uploaded lesson on the control of blood glucose concentration as well as the other lessons that have been added on topic 6

This fully-resourced lesson is highly detailed and in combination with the uploaded lesson on the causes of diabetes type I and II, it covers all of specification point 6.4.2 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to describe the homeostatic control of blood glucose concentration using negative feedback mechanisms that release insulin or glucagon. A wide range of activities will maintain motivation and engagement whilst the content is covered in detail to enable the students to explain how the receptors in the pancreas detect the concentration change and how the hormones attaching to receptor sites on the liver triggers a series of events in this effector organ. This is a topic which has a huge amount of difficult terminology so time is taken to look at all of the key words, especially those which begin with the letter G so students are able to use them accurately in the correct context. The action of adrenaline is also considered and linked to the breakdown of glycogen to glucose during glycogenolysis. This lesson has been written for students studying on the AQA A-level Biology course and ties in with the already mentioned lesson on diabetes but also with the other uploaded lessons on topic 6 such as nerve impulses and kidney function

This detailed lesson has been planned to cover the 1st part of specification point 5.1.2 © of the OCR A-level Biology A specification which states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply an understanding of the gross structure of the kidney included the detailed structure of the nephron. The lesson was designed at the same time as the other lessons in this topic on ultrafiltration, selective reabsorption and osmoregulation so that a common theme runs throughout and students can build their knowledge up gradually and develop a deep understanding of this organ. Students will come to recognise the renal cortex and renal medulla as the two regions of the kidney and learn the parts of the nephron which are found in each of these regions. Time is taken to look at the vascular supply of this organ and specifically to explain how the renal artery divides into the afferent arterioles which carry blood towards the glomerulus and the efferent arterioles which carry the blood away. The main task of the lesson challenges the students to relate structure to function. Having been introduced to the names of each of the parts of the nephron, they have to use the details of the structures found at these parts to match the function. For example, they have to make the connection between the microvilli in the PCT as a sign that this part is involved in selective reabsorption. This lesson has been designed for students studying on the OCR A-level Biology course

This is a highly-detailed and fully-resourced lesson which covers the part of specification point 6.4.3 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to describe the roles of the hypothalamus, posterior pituitary and ADH in osmoregulation. Students learnt about the principles of homeostasis and negative feedback in an earlier lesson, so this lesson acts to build on that knowledge and challenges them to apply their knowledge. A wide range of activities have been included in the lesson to maintain motivation and engagement whilst the understanding and prior knowledge checks will allow the students to assess their progress as well as challenge themselves to make links to other Biology topics. The lesson begins with a discussion about how the percentage of water in urine can and will change depending on the blood water potential. Students will quickly be introduced to osmoregulation and they will learn that the osmoreceptors and the osmoregulatory centre are found in the hypothalamus. A considerable amount of time is taken to study the cell signalling between the hypothalamus and the posterior pituitary gland by looking at the specialised neurones (neurosecretory cells). Links are made to the topics of neurones, nerve impulses and synapses and the students are challenged to recall the cell body, axon and vesicles. The main section of the lesson forms a detailed description of the body’s detection and response to a low blood water potential. The students are guided through this section as they are given 2 or 3 options for each stage and they have to use their knowledge to select the correct statement. The final task asks the students to write a detailed description for the opposite stimulus and this task is differentiated so those who need extra assistance can still access the work. This lesson has been written for students studying on the AQA A-level Biology course and ties in nicely with the other uploaded lessons which cover this specification point as well as the whole of topic 6.

This lesson describes how homeostasis in mammals involves control systems that maintain the internal environment within narrow limits. The detailed and engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the content of point 6.4.1 of the AQA A-level biology specification, which is the titled “Pripnciples of homeostasis and negative feedback”. As homeostasis is a topic met at GCSE, this lesson has been written to build on this knowledge as well as to check on their prior knowledge of earlier A-level topics such as osmosis when considering blood water potential and the use of glucose as a respiratory substrate. Discussion points are written into the lesson at regular intervals to encourage the students to consider why a particular process or method takes place and understanding checks allow them to assess their progress. Students will recall how body temperature, blood water potential and blood glucose concentration are maintained within restricted limits and the importance of these systems are looked into in detail. Time is taken to consider the importance of maintaining these aspects, specifically with relation to the activity of enzymes. As such, students will also discuss how the pH of the blood is maintained. The key components of the control system are recalled and then time is taken to focus on the cell signalling that occurs between the coordination centre and the effectors. Students will learn to associate the response with either the use of the neuronal or hormonal system. The final part of the lesson looks at the importance of negative feedback in reversing the change in order to bring the aspect back to the optimum and the added degree of control which this provides. Positive feedback is also briefly mentioned at the end.

This is a fully-resourced lesson that covers the content of specification point 6.3 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should understand how skeletal muscles are stimulated to contract by nerves and act as effectors. The wide range of activities included in the lesson will engage and motivate the students whilst the understanding and previous knowledge checks will not only allow them to assess their progress but also challenge them to make links to other Biology topics. The following content is covered in detail in this lesson: The ultrastructure of a myofibril The roles of actin and myosin in myofibril contraction The need for calcium ions and ATP in myofibril contraction The roles of calcium ions and tropomyosin in cross-bridge formation The roles of ATP and phosphocreatine in muscle contraction This lesson has been designed for students studying the AQA A-level Biology course and ties in nicely with the other uploaded lessons from topic 6 such as synapses and NMJs and nerve impulses

This is a fully-resourced lesson that covers the content of specification point 5.1.5 (l) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification which states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply their knowledge and understanding of the sliding filament model of muscular contraction. The wide range of activities included in the lesson will engage and motivate the students whilst the understanding and previous knowledge checks will not only allow them to assess their progress but also challenge them to make links to other Biology topics. The lesson begins by using an idea from the quiz show POINTLESS to get them to recognise that myology is the study of muscles. This leads nicely into the next task, where they have to identify three further terms (from 12) which will also begin with myo and are the names of structures involved in the arrangement of skeletal muscle. Key terminology is used throughout the lesson so that students feel comfortable when they encounter this in questions. Students are introduced to the sarcomere and the bands and zones that are found within a myofibril so they can discover how most of these structures narrow but the A band, which is the length of the myosin filament, stays the same length between resting and contracted muscle. This has been designed to lead into a discussion point where they are encouraged to consider how the sarcomere can narrow but the lengths of the myofilaments can remain the same. The main task of the lesson involves the formation of a bullet point description of the sliding filament model where one event is the trigger for the next. Time is taken during this section to focus on the involvement of the calcium ions but also ATP and the idea of the sources of this molecule, including creatine phosphate, are discussed in more detail later in the lesson. The final part of the lesson involves students having to apply their knowledge by describing the effect on muscle contraction when a part of a structure is unable to function correctly. This lesson has been designed for students studying the OCR A-level Biology course and ties in nicely with the other lessons on this particular topic such as neuromuscular junctions as well as the other uploaded lessons from module 5

This engaging lesson covers the detail of the 2nd part of specification point 6.2.2 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to explain temporal and spatial summation as well as understand inhibition by inhibitory synapses. This is a topic which is generally poorly understood by students or brushed over so considerable time has been taken to design the activities to motivate the students so that the content is memorable whilst still being covered in detail. Links are continually made to earlier topics in this module such as synapses and generator potentials but also to topics covered in the previous year and still to be covered. The lesson begins by challenging the students to recognise a description of generator potential and they will then discover that this is also known as an EPSP. Students will recall that a small depolarisation may not lead to the opening of the voltage gated channels and therefore the full depolarisation which is needed for the initiation of an action potential and will discuss how this problem could be overcome. Lots of discussion points like this are included in the lesson to encourage the students to challenge and debate why a particular process of mechanism occurs. Students will therefore learn that EPSPs can be combined and this is known as summation. A quiz round is used to introduce temporal and spatial summation. Moving forwards, students are presented with a number of examples where they have to decide why type of summation is involved. Again, the lesson has been written to include real-life examples such as chronic pain conditions so the chances of the content sticking is increased. The final part of the lesson introduces IPSPs and the effect of these on summation and action potentials is discussed. This lesson has been designed for students studying on the AQA A-level Biology course and ties in well with the other uploaded lessons from topic 6 which include cholinergic synapses and neuromuscular junctions, sensory receptors and nerve impulses

This fully-resourced lesson covers the content of the first part of specification point 6.2.2 of the AQA A-level Biology specification that states that students should be able to describe the detailed structure of a cholinergic synapse and a neuromuscular junction and be able to compare the transmission across both of these structures. The majority of the lesson uses the cholinergic synapse as the example but other neurotransmitters and drugs are considered so students are prepared to describe the differing effects on the synapse. The lesson begins by using a version of the WALL (as shown in the cover image) which asks the students to group 12 words into three groups of 4. Not only will this challenge their prior knowledge from topics earlier in this module but it will also lead to the discovery of four of the structures that are found in a synapse. Moving forwards, students are introduced to aectylcholine as the neurotransmitter involved at cholinergic synapses and they will start to add labels to the structures found in the pre-synaptic bulb. Time is taken to focus on certain structures such as the voltage gated channels as these types of channel were met previously when looking at the depolarisation of a neurone. There is plenty of challenge and discovery as students are pushed to explain why organelles like mitochondria would be found in large numbers in the bulb. With this process being a cascade of events, a bullet point format is used to ensure that the key content is taken in by the students and again key points like exocytosis and the action of acetylcholinesterase are discussed further. The next part of the lesson challenges the application aspect of the specification as students are introduced to unfamiliar situations in terms of synapses with new drugs like MDMA and are asked to work out and explain how these affect the nervous transmission. The final part of the lesson focuses on the NMJ and challenges the students to use the knowledge gained from earlier in the lesson to develop their understanding of these junctions. Time is taken to look at the structure of the sarcolemma to enable students to understand how the binding of the acetylcholine leads to the wave of depolarisation passing to the transverse tubules. Understanding checks and prior knowledge checks are included throughout the lesson so that students can not only assess their progress against the current topic but also see whether they can make links to earlier topics. This lesson has been designed for students studying the AQA A-level Biology course but could be used with very able GCSE students who are keen to develop their understanding of synapses over and above the small detail that is provided at that level. This lesson also ties in nicely with the other uploaded lessons from topic 6

This concise lesson covers the content of specification point 5.1.5 (l) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification which states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply an understanding of the action of neuromuscular junctions. Due to a number of similarities between these structures and cholinergic synapses, this lesson uses prior knowledge of these connections between neurones to build a good understanding of the junctions. Students will discover that the events that occur at an axon tip mirror those which happen at the pre-synaptic bulb and this is then developed to look at the differences in terms of the events once the acetylcholine has bound to its receptor sites. There is a focus on the structure of the sarcolemma and time is taken to explain how the action potential is passed from this membrane to the transverse tubules in order to stimulate the release of calcium ions from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. As a result, this lesson ties in nicely with the following lesson on the contraction of skeletal muscle and students will be able to link the binding to troponin in that lesson to the release of these ions from this lesson. Both of the main tasks of the lesson have been differentiated so that students of all abilities can access the work and make progress. This lesson has been designed for those students studying on the OCR A-level Biology course and ties in nicely with the other uploaded lessons on module 5.1.5 (Animal and plant responses)

This fully-resourced lesson covers the content of the first part of specification point 5.1.3 (d) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification that states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply an understanding of the structures and roles of synapses in nervous transmission. The majority of the lesson uses the cholinergic synapse as the example but other neurotransmitters are considered to provide the students with a wider view of this topic. The lesson begins by using a version of the WALL (as shown in the cover image) which asks the students to group 12 words into three groups of 4. Not only will this challenge their prior knowledge from topics earlier in this module but it will also lead to the discovery of four of the structures that are found in a synapse. Moving forwards, students are introduced to aectylcholine as the neurotransmitter involved at cholinergic synapses and they will start to add labels to the structures found in the pre-synaptic bulb. Time is taken to focus on certain structures such as the voltage gated channels as these types of channel were met previously when looking at the depolarisation of a neurone. There is plenty of challenge and discovery as students are pushed to explain why organelles like mitochondria would be found in large numbers in the bulb. With this process being a cascade of events, a bullet point format is used to ensure that the key content is taken in by the students and again key points like exocytosis and the action of acetylcholinesterase are discussed further. The final part of the lesson challenges the application aspect of the specification as students are introduced to unfamiliar situations in terms of synapses with new drugs like MDMA and are asked to work out and explain how these affect the nervous transmission. Understanding checks and prior knowledge checks are included throughout the lesson so that students can not only assess their progress against the current topic but also see whether they can make links to earlier topics. This lesson has been designed for students studying the OCR A-level Biology A course but could be used with very able GCSE students who are keen to develop their understanding of synapses over and above the small detail that is provided at that level. This lesson also ties in nicely with the other uploaded lessons from module 5.1.3 (neuronal communication) which are sensory receptors, neurones, nerve impulses and summation.

This engaging lesson covers the detail of the 2nd part of specification point 5.1.3 (d) of the OCR A-level Biology specification which states that students should demonstrate and apply an understanding of the importance of synapses in summation and control, including inhibitory and excitatory synapses. This is a topic which is generally poorly understood by students or brushed over so considerable time has been taken to design the activities to motivate the students so that the content is memorable whilst still being covered in detail. Links are continually made to earlier topics in this module such as synapses and generator potentials but also to topics covered in the previous year and still to be covered. The lesson begins by challenging the students to recognise a description of generator potential and they will then discover that this is also known as an EPSP. Students will recall that a small depolarisation may not lead to the opening of the voltage gated channels and therefore the full depolarisation which is needed for the initiation of an action potential and will discuss how this problem could be overcome. Lots of discussion points like this are included in the lesson to encourage the students to challenge and debate why a particular process of mechanism occurs. Students will therefore learn that EPSPs can be combined and this is known as summation. A quiz round is used to introduce temporal and spatial summation. Moving forwards, students are presented with a number of examples where they have to decide why type of summation is involved. Again, the lesson has been written to include real-life examples such as chronic pain conditions so the chances of the content sticking is increased. The final part of the lesson introduces IPSPs and the effect of these on summation and action potentials is discussed. This lesson has been designed for students studying on the OCR A-level Biology course and ties in well with the other uploaded lessons from module 5.1.3 on sensory receptors, neurones, nerve impulses and cholinergic synapses