This detailed lesson outlines the characteristics features of the kingdoms Protoctista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover point 18.2 [c] of the CIE International A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to describe the features of these four eukaryotic kingdoms. This lesson begins with a knowledge recall as students have to recognise that prior to 1990, kingdom was the highest taxa in the classification hierarchy. Moving forwards, they will recall the names of the five kingdoms and immediately be challenged to split them so that the prokaryotae kingdom is left on its own. The features of this kingdom are given so that the lesson can focus on the four eukaryotic kingdoms. Students are constantly challenged on their understanding of the current topic as well as that of earlier topics, as demonstrated by a differentiated task about the structure and function of cellulose which was covered in topic 2. This task is found in the section of the lesson where the main constituent of the wall can be used to distinguish between plantae, fungi and prokaryotae. Quick quiz competitions, such as SAY WHAT YOU SEE are used to introduce key terms in a fun and memorable way. The final part of the lesson looks at the protoctista kingdom and students will come to understand how these organisms tend to share a lot of animal or plant-like features.

This fully-resourced lesson will prepare students for the range of mathematical-based questions that they may face on Paper 2 & 4. It is specificallly designed for students who have studied the Extended subject content (Core & Supplement) as detailed on the CIE IGCSE Chemistry specification. The lesson contains a wide range of activities which includes 8 quiz competition rounds spread across the duration of the lesson to maintain engagement whilst the students assess their understanding. The mathematical skills covered in this lesson include: Calculating the number of sub-atomic particles in atoms and ions Writing chemical formulae for ionic compounds Identifying isotopes Using Avogadro’s constant to calculate the number of particles Calculating the relative formula mass Calculating amount in moles using the mass and the relative formula mass Balancing chemical symbol equations Calculating reacting masses Gas calculations using molar volume Calculating concentration of solutions Titration calculations Deducing the empirical formula Calculating energy changes in reactions Most of the resources have been differentiated two ways to allow students of differing abilities to access the work whilst still being challenged. In addition, step by step guides are used to demonstrate how to carry out some of the more difficult calculations such as the harder mole calculations and calculating masses in reactions. Due to the extensiveness of this lesson, it is estimated that it will take in excess of 3 teaching hours to complete all of the tasks and questions

This fully-resourced lesson describes the roles of the SAN, AVN, the bundle of His and Purkyne tissue in the coordination of the heartbeat. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover points 7.12 (i) & (ii) of the Edexcel International A-level Biology specification and also describes the myogenic nature of cardiac muscle. The lesson begins with the introduction of the SAN as the natural pacemaker and then time is given to study each step of the conduction of the impulse as it spreads away from the myogenic tissue in a wave of excitation. The lesson has been written to make clear links to the cardiac cycle and the structure of the heart and students are challenged on their knowledge of this system from topic 1. Moving forwards, students are encouraged to consider why a delay would occur at the AVN and then they will learn that the impulse is conducted along the Bundle of His to the apex so that the contraction of the ventricles can happen from the bottom upwards. The structure of the cardiac muscle cells is discussed and the final task of the lesson challenges the students to describe the conducting tissue, with an emphasis on the use of key terminology

This lesson describes the effects of gene mutations can have on amino acid sequences, as illustrated by sickle cell anaemia. The engaging and detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of the first lesson in a series of 2 lessons which have been designed to cover point (f) in topic 3 of A2 unit 4 of the WJEC A-level Biology specification and includes substitutions, deletions and insertions In order to understand how a change in the base sequence can affect the order of the amino acids, students must be confident in their understanding and application of protein synthesis which was covered earlier in this topic. Therefore, the start of the lesson focuses on transcription and translation and students are guided through the use of the codon table to identify amino acids. Moving forwards, a task called known as THE WALL is used to introduce to the names of three types of gene mutation whilst challenging the students to recognise three terms which are associated with the genetic code. The main focus of the lesson is substitutions and how these mutations may or may not cause a change to the amino acid sequence. The students are challenged to use their knowledge of the degenerate nature of the genetic code to explain how a silent mutation can result. Students will learn that a substitution is responsible for the new allele that causes sickle cell anaemia and they are tested on their understanding through an exam-style question. As with all of the questions, a mark scheme is included in the PowerPoint which can be displayed to allow the students to assess their understanding. The rest of the lesson looks at base deletions and base insertions and students are introduced to the idea of a frameshift mutation. One particular task challenges the students to evaluate the statement that base deletions have a bigger impact on primary structure than base substitutions. This is a differentiated task and they have to compare the fact that the reading frame is shifted by a deletion against the change in a single base by a substitution

This detailed lesson describes how the Link reaction and the Krebs cycle, that take place in the matrix, result in the complete oxidation of pyruvate. The PowerPoint and the accompanying resource have been designed to cover points 5.3 (i) & (ii) of the Edexcel A-level Biology B specification and describes how these reactions result in carbon dioxide, reduced NAD (and FAD) and ATP The lesson begins with a challenge, where the students have to recall the details of glycolysis in order to form the word matrix. This introduces the key point that these two stages occur in this part of the mitochondria and time is taken to explain why the reactions occur in the matrix as opposed to the cytoplasm like glycolysis. Moving forwards, the Link reaction is covered in 5 detailed bullet points and students have to add the key information to these points using their prior knowledge as well as knowledge provided in terms of NAD. The students will recognise that this reaction occurs twice per molecule of glucose and a quick quiz competition is used to test their understanding of the numbers of the different products of this stage. This is just one of the range of methods that are used to check understanding and all answers are explained to allow students to assess their progress. The rest of the lesson focuses on the Krebs cycle. In line with the detail of the specification, students will understand how decarboxylation and dehydrogenation reactions result in the regeneration of the oxaloacetate It is estimated that it will take about 2 hours of A-level teaching time to cover the detail of the lesson and therefore the detail of the specification point 5.3

This fully-resourced lesson describes the ultrastructure of plant cells and includes the cell walls, chloroplasts, amyloplasts, vacuole, tonoplast, plasmodesmata, pits and middle lamella. The detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover point 4.7 of the Pearson Edexcel A-level Biology specification and also compares this structure against animal cells that was covered at the beginning of topic 3. The lesson begins with a task called REVERSE GUESS WHO which will challenge the students to recognise a particular organelle from a description of its function. This will remind students that plant cells are eukaryotic and therefore contain a cell-surface membrane, a nucleus (+ nucleolus), a mitochondria, a Golgi apparatus, ribosomes and rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum like the animal cells. Moving forwards, the next part of the lesson focuses on the relationship between the structure and function of the vacuole, chloroplast, plasmodesmata and cellulose cell wall. When considering the vacuole, key structures such as the tonoplast are described as well as critical functions including the maintenance of turgor pressure. A detailed knowledge of the structure of the chloroplast at this early stage of their A-level studies will increase the likelihood of a clear understanding of photosynthesis when covered in topic 5. For this reason, time is taken to consider the light-dependent and light-independent reactions and to explain how these stages are linked. Students will learn that chloroplasts and amyloplasts can contain stores of starch so an opportunity is taken to challenge them on their knowledge of this polysaccharide as it was covered in topic 1. The final task challenges them to recognise descriptions of the cell wall, chloroplast, amyloplasts, vacuole, tonoplast and plasmodesmata which will leave 2 remaining which describe the pits and middle lamella.

An engaging lesson presentation (73 slides) and associated worksheets that uses a combination of exam questions, quick tasks and quiz competitions to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within unit C5 of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Chemistry specification. The topics that are tested within the lesson include: Percentage yield Concentration of solution Titrations Titration calculations Gas calculations Rate of reaction Factors affecting the rate of reaction Reversible reactions Equilibrium position Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “Under PRESSURE” and “Number CRAZY” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention

This revision resource has been designed with the simple aim of motivating the students whilst they assess their understanding of the content found in module 2.1.6 (Cell division, cell diversity and cellular organisation) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification. The resource includes a detailed and engaging Powerpoint (75 slides) and an associated worksheet, which has been differentiated to allow students of differing abilities to access that task. The range of activities have been designed to cover as much of the content as possible but the following sub-topics have been given particular attention: The main stages of mitosis The cell cycle including the stages of interphase and cytokinesis The significance of meiosis in terms of variation The main stages of meiosis How the cells of animals are specialised to perform particular functions The features of squamous and ciliated epithelium How the cells of plants are specialised to perform particular functions In addition to these topics, some topics from other modules such as organelles and magnification are tested in order to challenge the students on their ability to make links between the modules. The range of activities include exam questions and understanding checks as well as quiz competitions to maintain student engagement.

This detailed and engaging lesson has been written to challenge the students on their recall and application of the 30 equations which they have to know for the CIE IGCSE Physics exams. The lesson is designed to not only check that they know these equations but also on their ability to rearrange formulae when required and to convert between units. The main task of the lesson consists of 15 exam-style questions which challenge 17 of these recall equations and then an engaging quiz competition and class discussions are used to identify the other 13. Students are guided throughout the lesson in the use of the mathematical skills and are shown examples to aid their progress. The detail of this lesson means that it can be used at numerous times throughout the duration of the IGCSE course to check on their progress with the equations. This lesson has been designed to tie in with the other 5 uploaded revision lessons which cover the content of the 5 topics on the specification

This lesson looks at the structure of the DNA that is found in the nucleus, mitochondria and chloroplasts of eukaryotic cells and in prokaryotic cells. Both the engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the first part of point 4.1 of the AQA A-level Biology specification. As students will already have some knowledge of this nucleic acid from GCSE and from the earlier A-level topics, the lesson has been written to build on this prior knowledge and then to add key detail. As well as focusing on the differences between the DNA found in these two types of cells which includes the length, shape and association with histones, the various tasks will ensure that students are confident to describe how this double-stranded polynucleotide is held together by hydrogen and phosphodiester bonds. These tasks include exam-style questions which challenge the application of knowledge as well as a few quiz competitions to maintain engagement.

This fully-resourced lesson describes the key events that occur during the three stages of the cardiac cycle and relates these to the structure of the mammalian heart. The engaging and detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover point 1.8 of the Edexcel International A-level Biology specification As the structure of the heart was covered at iGCSE, the lesson has been planned to build on this prior knowledge whilst adding the key details which will enable students to provide A-level standard answers. The primary focus is the identification of the different structures of the heart but it also challenges their ability to recognise the important relationship to function. For example, time is taken to ensure that students can explain why the atrial walls are thinner than the ventricular walls and why the right ventricle has a thinner wall than the left ventricle. Opportunities are taken throughout the lesson to link this topic to the others found in topic 1 including those which have already been covered like the blood vessels. There is also an application question where students have to explain why a hole in the ventricular septum would need to be repaired if it doesn’t naturally close over time. The next part of the lesson introduces the cardiac cycle through the use of quick quiz competition which generates the key term systole. Students will learn that there are three stages in the cycle are atrial and ventricular systole followed by cardiac diastole and that the uni-directional movement of blood during these stages is maintained by the atrioventricular and semi-lunar valves. This leads into the emphasis of the key point that pressure changes in the chambers and the major arteries is the cause of the opening and closing of these sets of valves. Students are given a description of the pressure change that results in the opening of the AV valves and shown where this would be found on the graph detailing the pressure changes of the cardiac cycle. They then have to use this as a guide to write descriptions for the closing of the AV valve and the opening and closing of the semi-lunar valves and to locate these on the graph. By providing the students with this graph, the rest of the lesson can focus on explaining how these changes come about. Students have to use their current and prior knowledge of the chambers and blood vessels to write 4 descriptions that cover the cardiac cycle. The final part of the lesson covers the changes in the volume of the ventricle. It is estimated that it will take in excess of 2 hours of allocated A-level teaching time to cover the detail included in this lesson as required by this specification point

This fully-resourced lesson describes the role of mitosis and the cell cycle in producing identical cells for growth and asexual reproduction. The detailed PowerPoint and accompanying differentiated resources have been designed to cover point 3.10 of the Pearson Edexcel A-level Biology A specification In the previous lesson covering meiosis (3.9), students were introduced to the different phases and structures involved in the cycle so this lesson builds on that by providing greater detail of the key events in each phase. Beginning with a focus on interphase, the importance of DNA replication is explained so that students can initially recognise that there are pairs of identical sister chromatids and then can understand how they are separated later in the cycle. A quiz competition has been written into the lesson and this runs throughout, challenging the students to identify the quantity of DNA in the cell (in terms of n) at different points of the cycle. The main part of the lesson focuses on prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase and describes how the chromosomes behave in these stages. Students will understand how the cytoplasmic division that occurs in cytokinesis results in the production of genetically identical daughter cells. This leads into a series of understanding and application questions where students have to identify the various roles of mitosis in living organisms as well as tackling a Maths in a Biology context question. The lesson concludes with a final round of MITOSIS SNAP where they only shout out this word when a match is seen between the name of a phase, an event and a picture.

This lesson describes the ecological, economic and aesthetic reasons for maintaining biodiversity. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are filled with real-life biological examples and have been designed to cover point 4.2.1 (g) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification. Many hours of research have gone into the planning of the lesson so that interesting examples are included to increase the relevance of the multitude of reasons to maintain biodiversity. These include the gray wolves and beavers of Yellowstone National Park and the Za boabab in the Madagascar rainforests as examples of keystone species. Students will learn that these species have a disproportionate effect on their environment relative to their abundance and exam-style questions and guided discussion periods are used to challenge them to explain their effect on other species in the habitat. The OCR exams have a heavy mathematical content and this is reflected in this lesson as students are challenged to complete a range of calculations to manipulate data to support their biological-based answers. All of the exam questions that are included throughout the lesson have mark schemes embedded into the PowerPoint to allow the students to assess their progress. Moving fowards, the economic ans aesthetic reasons to maintain biodiversity are considered, and there is a focus on the soil depletion that occurs when a continuous monoculture is used. The 1 Billion tree scheme that began in New Zealand in 2018 is introduced and the reasons that some groups of people are objecting to what they consider to be a pine monoculture are discussed. Students will recognise that the clear felling of the trees dramatically changes the landscape and that the increased runoff that results can have catastrophic affects for both aquatic life and for humans with floods. A number of quiz competitions are included in the lesson to introduce key terms in a fun and memorable way and some of the worksheets have been differentiated to allow students of differing abilities to access the work

This is an engaging revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quiz tasks and quiz competitions to enable students to assess their understanding of the content within topic 9 (The Periodic Table) of the Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry (0620) specification. The lesson covers the content in both the core and supplement sections of the specification and therefore can be used with students who will be taking the extended papers as well as the core papers. The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include: CORE Describe the Periodic Table as a method of classifying elements and its use to predict properties of elements Describe the change from metallic to nonmetallic character across a period Describe lithium, sodium and potassium in Group I as a collection of relatively soft metals showing a trend in melting point, density and reaction with water Describe the halogens, chlorine, bromine and iodine in Group VII, as a collection of diatomic non-metals showing a trend in colour and density and state their reaction with other halide ions Predict the properties of other elements in Group VII, given data where appropriate Describe the transition elements as a collection of metals having high densities, high melting points and forming coloured compounds, and which, as elements and compounds, often act as catalysts Describe the noble gases, in Group VIII or 0, as being unreactive, monoatomic gases and explain this in terms of electronic structure State the uses of the noble gases in providing an inert atmosphere, i.e. argon in lamps, helium for filling balloons SUPPLEMENT Describe and explain the relationship between Group number, number of outer shell electrons and metallic/non-metallic character Identify trends in Groups, given information about the elements concerned Know that transition elements have variable oxidation states The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “Make sure you check every passage PERIODICALLY” where they have to scan summary passages about the table and decide if it is 100% correct whilst crucially being able to recognise the areas of this topic which need their further attention. This lesson can be used as revision resource at the end of the topic or in the lead up to mocks or the actual GCSE exams

This lesson describes the basic structure of mononucleotides and the resulting structural similarities and differences between DNA and RNA. The PowerPoint and accompanying resource have been designed to cover points 2.9 (i) and (ii) of the Edexcel International A-level Biology specification and makes regular links to upcoming lessons which cover DNA replication and protein synthesis. In a lesson in topic 1, the students were introduced to monosaccharides as an example of a monomer and were informed that a nucleotide was another example. In line with this, the start of the lesson challenges them to recognise the key term nucleotide when only the letters U, C and T are shown. The next part of the lesson describes the structure of a DNA nucleotide and an RNA nucleotide so that the pentose sugar and the bases adenine, cytosine and guanine can be recognised as similarities whilst deoxyribose and ribose and thymine and uracil are seen as the differences. Time is taken to discuss how a phosphodiester bond is formed between adjacent nucleotides and their prior knowledge and understanding of condensation reactions is tested through a series of questions. Students are then introduced to the purine and pyrimidine bases and this leads into the description of the double-helical structure of DNA and the hydrogen bonds between complementary bases. The final section of the lesson describes the structure of mRNA, tRNA and rRNA and students are challenged to explain why this single stranded polynucleotide is shorter than DNA In addition to the current understanding and prior knowledge checks, a number of quiz rounds have been written into the lesson to introduce key terms in a fun and memorable way and the final round acts as a final check on the structures of DNA and RNA.

A concise lesson presentation that focuses on the key details that students need to know about diodes for the GCSE examinations. The lesson begins by introducing the idea that diodes only allow current to flow in one direction. Moving forwards, time is taken to go through the potential difference vs current graph in 3 parts so that students can explain how the diode functions. Moving forwards, students will meet a LED and then in the style commonly associated with the 6 mark exam question, they are challenged to use data in a table to compare the effectiveness of a LED against other light bulbs.

This fully-resourced lesson describes the development of the humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. The detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover points 6.7 (ii) & (iii) as detailed in the Edexcel A-level Biology B specification and includes descriptions of the roles of antigen-presenting cells, T helper cells, cytokines, T killer cells, B cells, clonal selection and plasma cells. Antigen presentation was introduced at the end of the previous lesson so the task at the start of this lesson challenges students to recognise the name of this process and then they have to spot the errors in the passage that describes the details of this event. This reminds them that contact between the APC and T lymphocytes is necessary to elicit a response which they will come to recognise as the cell-mediated response. A series of quick quiz rounds reveals key terms in a memorable way and one that is introduced is helper T cells. Time is then taken to describe the importance of cell signalling for an effective response and students will learn how the release of chemicals by these cells activates other aspects of the response. The role of the killer T cells and their production of cytotoxins is also described before an exam-style question is used to check on their understanding at this point of the lesson. This leads into the section of the lesson that deals with the humoral response and students will understand how this involves the antibodies that are produced by the plasma cells that are the result of clonal selection and expansion. The T and B memory cells are also introduced so that students can understand how they are retained in the body even after the pathogen has been overcome and will play a critical role in the development of immunity. This prepares the students for the next lesson about the role of these memory cells in the secondary immune response.

This engaging lesson describes the structure, properties and functions of the monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides. The PowerPoint lesson has been designed to cover point [c] as detailed in AS unit 1, topic 1 of the WJEC A-level Biology specification and it makes clear links to the upcoming lessons in this topic on alpha and beta glucose and the properties of starch, glycogen, cellulose and chitin. The lesson begins with a made-up round of the quiz show POINTLESS, where students have to try to identify four answers to do with carbohydrates. In doing so, they will learn or recall that these molecules are made from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, that they are a source of energy which can sometimes be rightly or wrongly associated with obesity and that the names of the three main groups is derived from the Greek word sakkharon. A number of quick quiz rounds have been written into the lesson to introduce key terms in a fun and memorable way and the first round allows the students to meet some of common monosaccharides. Moving forwards, students will learn that a disaccharide is formed when two of these monomers are joined together and they are then challenged on their knowledge of condensation reactions which were originally encountered during the lesson on water. Students will understand how multiple reactions and multiple glycosidic bonds will result in the formation of a polysaccharide and glycogen, starch and cellulose are recalled and there is a brief introduction to chitin. The final part of the lesson considers how hydrolysis reactions allow polysaccharides and disaccharides to be broken back down into monosaccharides.

This detailed lesson describes the transport of sodium and potassium ions in the maintenance of resting potential and how an action potential is formed. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the detail included in points 9.5 (i) & (ii) of the Edexcel A-level Biology B specification. This topic is commonly assessed in the terminal exams so a lot of time has been taken to design this resource to include a wide range of activities that motivate the students whilst ensuring that the content is covered in the depth of detail that will allow them to have a real understanding. Interspersed within the activities are understanding checks and prior knowledge checks to enable the students to not only assess their progress against the current topic but also to challenge themselves on the links to earlier topics such as methods of movements across cell membranes. There are also a number of quiz competitions which are used to introduce key terms and values in a fun and memorable way and discussion points to encourage the students to consider why a particular process or mechanism occurs. Over the course of the lesson, the students will learn and discover how the movement of ions across the membrane causes the membrane potential to change. They will see how the resting potential is maintained through the use of the sodium/potassium pump and potassium ion leakage. There is a real focus on depolarisation to allow students to understand how generator potentials can combine and if the resulting depolarisation then exceeds the threshold potential, a full depolarisation will occur. At this point in the lesson students will discover how the all or nothing response explains that action potentials have the same magnitude and that instead a stronger stimulus is linked to an increase in the frequency of the transmission. The rest of the lesson challenges the students to apply their knowledge to explain how repolarisation and hyperpolarisation result and to suggest advantages of the refractory period for nerve cells.

This lesson focuses on the organisation of the nervous system into the CNS and the several divisions of the PNS. The PowerPoint and accompanying resource are part of the 1st lesson in a series of 17 lessons that cover the details of the brain and neuropsychology topic of the AQA GCSE Psychology specification. This lesson has been designed to act as an introduction to the topic to allow students to understand how the brain and spinal cord (as part of the CNS) and the SNS and ANS (as part of the PNS) fit into the organisation of the system. The functions of each part are briefly introduced to give an understanding that can then be built upon in future lessons in the topic. The students will learn that the main part of the brain is the cerebrum and that this organ is divided into hemispheres. They’ll learn that the brain is connected to the other part of the CNS, the spinal cord, by the brain stem, and that these nerves are responsible for conducting impulses between the brain and the rest of the body. The differences between the somatic and autonomic nervous systems are introduced before a worksheet task challenges the students to recognise which responses are brought about by the SNS and which by the ANS. This topic of the brain and neuropsychology has proved particularly difficult for the students in recent years, so I have taken time to analyse the lesson sequencing. There’s a lot of content to absorb and to understand before moving onto the next part, so I’ve tried to ensure that cross topics links and prior knowledge checks run throughout the lessons. I have organised the lessons to run through the biology content first before moving onto the psychology parts as shown by the 17 lessons below: #1 Organisation of the nervous system #2 The structure and function of the cerebral lobes #3 The cerebellum #4 The structure and function of the sensory and motor neurones #5 The relay neurones #6 Synaptic transmission #7 Excitation and inhibition at the synapse #8 The somatic nervous system #9 The autonomic nervous system #10 The fight or flight response #11 James-Lange theory of emotion #12 James-Lange theory of emotion part 2 #13 Penfield’s study of the interpretative index #14 Hebb’s theory of learning and neuronal growth #15 An introduction to neuropsychology #16 Brain scanning techniques #17 Tulving’s gold memory study