A fully-resourced lesson which has been designed for GCSE students and includes an engaging lesson presentation and associated worksheets. This lesson looks at the three limiting factors of photosynthesis, focusing on the graphs that they produce and ensures that students can explain why temperature is a factor. This lesson begins by introducing the students to the definition of a limiting factor. They are challenged to recognise that it would be photosynthesis which is limited by carbon dioxide concentration and light intensity. The third factor, temperature, is not introduced until later in the lesson so that students are given thinking time to consider what it might be. Having been presented with two sets of data, students are asked to draw sketch graphs to represent the trend. The limiting factors on the light intensity graph are taught to the students so they can use this when working out the limiting factors on the carbon dioxide graph. The remainder of the lesson focuses on temperature and more specifically why a change in this factor would cause a change in the rate of photosynthesis because of enzymes. The student’s knowledge of that topic is tested alongside. Progress checks have been written into the lesson at regular intervals so that students can constantly assess their understanding.

An engaging lesson presentation which looks at the organs of the human endocrine system, the hormones they release and briefly considers some of their functions. This lesson has been designed for GCSE students but could be used with younger students at KS3 who are studying the different organ systems in the human body. The lesson begins by looking at the meaning of endo and crine so that students recognise that this is also known as the hormonal system and the hormones are always released directly into the blood. A number of quick competitions have been written into the lesson to maintain engagement and provide opportunities to check understanding in an alternative way to simple questions. This first of these games is called “Any sign of the ENDOCRINE”, where students are challenged to pick the endocrine gland out of a selection of three and then come to board to point to where it would be found on a body outline. The students have to label the diagram on the worksheet included in this lesson and then allocate hormones to 5 of the 6 glands. Time is taken to focus on the pituitary gland and three of the hormones that it releases in FSH, LH and TSH because these relate to the menstrual cycle and the thyroid gland. The final part of the lesson involves students being shown an acronym, HBGT, that they can use in longer answers to ensure that they mention the hormone, blood, the gland that releases the hormone and the target tissue.

An informative lesson that looks at how energy is lost at each stage of a food chain and how this affects the biomass of consumers. This lesson has been written for GCSE students but could be used with A-level students who are revisiting this ecology topic. The lesson begins by posing a question to the students about why herbivores tend to be raised for food rather than carnivores to see how they would tackle it at this early stage. This exact question is revisited at the end of the lesson once learning has occurred so that students can monitor their own progress. Time is taken to look back at pyramids of biomass and food chains so that students are reminded of key terminology such as trophic level and also recognise that the biomass decreases at each level. A number of quick competitions have been written into the lesson to maintain engagement but also to introduce key terms and numbers (like 10%) in a different way. The main part of the lesson looks at how the energy is lost by organisms that leads to the decrease in biomass and links are made to related topics such as respiration and homeostasis.

A fully-resourced lesson which includes a detailed and engaging lesson presentation (36 slides) and an assistance worksheet for those students who feel that they need extra assistance with the final description. This lesson looks at how body temperature is controlled in humans through a homeostatic mechanism and includes details of a negative feedback loop. The lesson begins with a three pronged task where students have to use the clues to come up with the word homeostasis and the number 37 and then see if they can make the link in the human body. Time is taken to ensure that students recognise why maintaining the temperature around this set-point is so crucial in terms of the effectiveness of enzymes in reactions. There is a real focus on key terminology throughout such as thermoreceptors and hypothalamus and guidance is given on how to use these terms accurately. Discussion points and progress checks are written into the lesson at regular intervals so that students are encouraged to challenge the Biology whilst being able to assess their understanding. They are shown how to write a detailed description of the response to an increase in temperature so they are able to form their own description of the response to a fall in temperature. This lesson has been written for GCSE students but is perfectly suitable for older students studying thermoregulation at A-level and want to revisit the knowledge.

This engaging lesson guides students through the homeostatic control mechanism which is involved in controlling blood glucose concentrations and focuses on the critical interconversion between glucose and glycogen which is often poorly understood. The lesson begins by introducing glucose and ensuring that students recognise that this is a simple sugar which is critical for respiration. Links are made here and throughout the lesson to relateable topics such as the endocrine system so that students can recognise how exam questions will often encompass more than one topic. Students are challenged to recall knowledge about the pancreas and its release of insulin into the blood to travel to the liver. A quick competition is then used to maintain engagement and to introduce glycogen. Due to the large number of words beginning with g that are involved in this topic, time is taken to describe the role of glycogen so that it is not mistaken for glucose or glucagon. Students will learn how the conversion from glucose to glycogen and also the other way round is critical to how the concentration is controlled. The main student tasks involve them completing a partially finished passage about responding to an increase in blood glucose concentration and then using this as a guide to write their own full versions for when concentrations are low. These are just two of a number of progress checks that are written into the lesson at regular intervals so that students can constantly assess their understanding. This lesson has been written for GCSE students (14 - 16 year olds in the UK) but could be used for A-level lessons that are recapping on this topic before extra knowledge is added at this higher level

A fast-paced lesson that explores the meaning of “health” and introduces the idea of communicable and non-communicable diseases. The lesson begins by showing the students an example of a health survey so they can complete a definition of the meaning of this term. Despite being widely used in the English language, the actual Scientific definition is not always well known by students so this 1st task is an important one. Moving forwards, students are given 5 minutes to see if they can fill an A-Z with the names of different diseases. Students will learn that diseases can be grouped as communicable or non-communicable and will be encouraged to discuss what the determining factor is on this classification. A quiz competition called “TO COM or NOT TO COM” is a play on words of Shakespeare’s famous saying but acts to test whether the students can distinguish a number of diseases as being spread by pathogens or not. After each disease is revealed, time is taken to look at the details of some of them like cystic fibrosis and the zika virus. The lesson concludes with the example of the human-papilloma virus and the connection between this and cervical cancer so that students can recognise that sometimes both types of disease are involved. This lesson has been written for GCSE students (14 - 16 year olds in the UK) but could be used with younger students who are looking at the healthy living topic.

A detailed lesson which looks at the type of cell division known as mitosis and aims to ensure that students understand that it leads to the production of genetically identical daughter cells. In order to understand this type of cell division and any related topic such as meiosis, students have to be confident with the use of terms like diploid. In addition to this, time is taken to introduce them to a way of considering the quantity of DNA within a cell in terms of n. If they are able to use this correctly, then no matter the organism which is involved in a mitosis exam question, they will be able to answer successfully. Discussion points and progress checks are written into the lesson at regular intervals so their understanding can be assessed. The last part of the lesson provides the students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge of mitosis to a range of exam questions and they can assess against the displayed mark schemes. This lesson has been designed for GCSE students (14 - 16 year olds in the UK) but is also appropriate for older students who want to recap on the key details of the division before extended knowledge is added.

A fully-resourced lesson, which has been designed for GCSE students, and includes an engaging and informative lesson presentation (37 slides) and differentiated worksheets. This lesson explores the type of cell division known as meiosis and focuses on the use of key terminology so that students can apply their knowledge to any organism that carries out this division, and not just humans. For this reason, time is taken at the start of the lesson to go over the meaning of the terms, diploid and haploid. Students are also taught how to think about the quantity of DNA inside a cell in terms of n, so that they can see and understand how this quantity changes through the cell cycle. They are encouraged to fill in a table at each stage of the cycle to show the quantity of DNA. In this way, students will understand how a diploid parent cell goes through interphase and as a result of DNA replication, the quantity of DNA is 4n as the first meiosis division is about to start. Although this could be viewed as high end knowledge, the format of this lesson should allow all abilities to understand and therefore have more chance of being successful with meiosis questions. Students are encouraged to think for themselves to work out how many daughter cells will result at the end of two divisions and to consider the quantity of DNA found inside those cells. At this stage of the lesson, students have to summarise all they have learnt into two key points (as shown on the cover image). The remainder of the lesson gives them the opportunity to apply their knowledge with a range of questions and it is not until right at the end that they are allowed to finally relate this cell division to humans. Although this lesson has been primarily designed for GCSE students (14 - 16 year olds in the UK), it is highly suitable for A-level lessons, especially if a teacher wants to recap on this cell division before extending knowledge.

A thought-provoking and discussion-based lesson which looks at the different ways that biodiversity is being lost across the World. This lesson has been designed for GCSE students and includes a detailed lesson presentation (31 slides) and accompanying worksheet. The lesson begins by challenging the students to use their Biological knowledge to get to a quantitative answer, which is 80%, and then getting them to consider where this much biodiversity would be found around the World. The rainforest plays a key role in the lesson as important discussion topics such as deforestation can easily be related to this area. A range of tasks and discussion points are used to look at the different ways that humans are causing a loss in biodiversity. As well as deforestation, agriculture and eutrophication are explored and related back to the Science. This can be a word heavy topic and therefore a number of quick quiz competitions have been written into the lesson to maintain engagement and energy levels. In addition, progress checks are involved at regular points, including those which challenge mathematical skills in manipulating data. This allows students to constantly assess their understanding.

An engaging lesson which focuses on the key terms which are involved in the ecology topic of food chains and food webs. Although this lesson is primarily designed for GCSE students, the content is suitable with KS3 students who are looking at the ecological relationships between organisms. The lesson begins by ensuring that students are confident in the construction of a food chain and that any common mistakes such as the arrows pointing in the wrong direction are eliminated. As with the other ecology lessons that I have designed, “ecology bingo” runs throughout the lesson to engage the students but also to challenge their recognition of key terms from definitions. Key terms such as producers and consumers are revisited in this lesson. The students will recall the names for the three types of consumers, based on their diets, and will make the link between the positions of producers, herbivores and carnivores in food chains. The remainder of the lesson focuses on the construction of a food web and describing changes in the numbers of organisms when there is a change to one of the other populations. Progress checks have been written into the lesson at regular intervals so students can constantly assess their understanding.