This lesson focuses on the key terms associated with ecosystems and describes how populations are affected by a range of factors. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of the 1st lesson in a series of 4 lessons that cover the details of point 7.4 of the AQA A-level Biology specification As shown in the cover image, a modified version of the quiz competition BLOCKBUSTERS runs throughout the lesson and this introduces new terms as well as challenging students to recall key terms that were encountered in previous topics. These include population, ecosystems, competition, niche, abiotic factors and carrying capacity. Each time a term is met, time is taken to describe its meaning and to explain its relevance and context in this topic of populations in ecosystems. Exam-style questions are also used to challenge the students to apply their understanding and displayed mark schemes allow them to assess their progress. Prior knowledge checks interspersed within the lesson which check on topics such as the nitrogen cycle, adaptations and the biological classification of a species

An engaging lesson presentation (63 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 the Chemistry unit C3 (Quantitative chemistry) of the AQA GCSE Combined Science specification (specification point C5.3). The lesson includes useful hints and tips to encourage success in assessments. For example, students are shown how to recognise whether to use Avogadro’s constant or the moles formula in a moles calculation question. The topics that are tested within the lesson include: Conservation of mass and balanced symbol equations Relative formula mass Mass changes when a reactant or product is a gas Moles Amounts of substances in equations Concentration of solutions Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “Number CRAZY” and “Are you on FORM” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention

This is an engaging REVISION lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and quiz competitions to enable students to assess their understanding of the content within topic 2 (Electricity) of the AQA GCSE Physics (8463) specification. The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include: Standard circuit diagram symbols Current, resistance and potential difference Resistors Series and parallel circuits Direct and alternating potential difference Mains electricity Power Static charge The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “GRAFT over these GRAPHS” where they have to compete to be the 1st to recognise one of the graphs associated with the resistors whilst all the time evaluating and assessing which areas of this topic will 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

An engaging lesson presentation (64 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 C2 (Elements, compounds and mixtures) of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Chemistry specification. The topics that are tested within the lesson include: Relative formula mass Empirical formula Pure and impure substances Separation methods Electronic structures Forming ions Ionic compounds Simple molecules Giant covalent substances Carbon Nanoparticles Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “SEPARATE the fact from the fiction” and “Higher or Lower” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention

An engaging and informative lesson presentation (43 slides) that shows students how to write accurate chemical formulae for ionic compounds. In order to write accurate chemical formulae, students need to know the charges of the ions involved. For this reason, the lesson begins by reminding students how they can use the Periodic Table to work out the charge of the charged atoms. Students are shown how they can use these ion charges to write the formula and then are given the opportunity to apply this to a number of examples. Moving forwards, students are shown how some formulae need to contain brackets. The lesson finishes with a competition called “Ye Olde Chemical Formula Shop” where students get points if they are the first to work out the formula of a given substance. This lesson has been written for GCSE students.

This is a fully-resourced revision lesson that includes a detailed and engaging powerpoint (81 slides) that uses a combination of exam questions, understanding checks, quick differentiated tasks and quiz competitions to enable students to assess their understanding of the content found within Topic 8 (Grey Matter) of the Pearson Edexcel A-level Biology A (Salters Nuffield) specification. The specification points that are tested within the lesson include: Know the structure and function of sensory, relay and motor neurones including the role of Schwann cells and myelination. Understand how the nervous systems of organisms can cause effectors to respond to a stimulus. Understand how the pupil dilates and contracts. Understand how a nerve impulse (action potential) is conducted along an axon including changes in membrane permeability to sodium and potassium ions and the role of the myelination in saltatory conduction. Know the structure and function of synapses in nerve impulse transmission, including the role of neurotransmitters, including acetylcholine. Understand how IAA bring about responses in plants to environmental cues Know the location and functions of the cerebral hemispheres, hypothalamus, cerebellum and medulla oblongata in the human brain. Understand how magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) scans are used in medical diagnosis and the investigation of brain structure and function. Understand how imbalances in certain, naturally occurring brain chemicals can contribute to ill health, including dopamine in Parkinson’s disease and serotonin in depression, and to the development of new drugs. Understand the effects of drugs on synaptic transmissions, including the use of L-Dopa in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and the action of MDMA in Ecstasy. Students will be engaged by the numerous quiz rounds such as “From NUMBERS 2 LETTERS” and “COMMUNICATE the WORD” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which require their further attention during general revision or during the lead up to the actual A-level terminal exams

This is a fully-resourced REVISION resource that consists of an engaging PowerPoint (127 slides) and associated worksheets that challenge the students on their knowledge of topic 7 (Genetics, populations, evolution and ecosystems) of the AQA A-level Biology specification. A wide range of activities have been written into this resource to maintain motivation and these tasks include exam questions (with answers), understanding checks, differentiated tasks and quiz competitions. The lesson has been designed to cover as much of the content as possible, but the following sub-topics have been given particular attention: Genetic terminology Using genetic diagrams to calculate phenotypic ratios and percentages for the inheritance of a single gene Applying the Hardy-Weinberg principle Sex-linkage Codominance, multiple alleles and interpreting genetic trees Types of variation Ecological terminology Dihybrid inheritance Using the chi-squared test to determine significance Epistasis Succession Sampling to estimate populations and consider distribution The mathematic elements of this topic and specification are challenged throughout the resource and useful hints given to enable the students to pick up vital marks from questions on this topic. Due to the size of this resource, teachers may choose to use it over the course of a number of lessons and it is suitable for use at the end of topic 7, in the lead up to the mocks or in the lead up to the actual A-level exams.

This lesson guides students through the use of the chi-squared test to determine the significance of the difference between observed and expected results. It is fully-resourced with a detailed PowerPoint and differentiated task worksheets that have been designed to cover the part of point 7.1 of the AQA A-level Biology specification which states that students should be able to use the test to compare the goodness of fit between the observed phenotypic ratios and expected ratios. The lesson has been written to include a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to carry out the test in small sections. At each step, time is taken to explain any parts which could cause confusion and helpful hints are provided to increase the likelihood of success in exam questions on this topic. Students will understand how to use the phenotypic ratio to calculate the expected numbers and then how to find the critical value in order to compare it against the chi-squared value. A worked example is used to show the working which will be required to access the marks and then the main task challenges the students to apply their knowledge to a series of questions of increasing difficulty. This is the final lesson of topic 7.1 (inheritance) and links are made throughout the lesson to earlier parts of this topic such as dihybrid inheritance as well as to earlier topics such as meiosis.

This lesson looks at the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as an in vitro method to amplify DNA fragments as part of the recombinant DNA technology process. The clear PowerPoint has been designed to cover the second part of point 8.4.1 of the AQA A-level Biology specification. A quick quiz competition is used to introduce the PCR abbreviation before students are encouraged to discuss the identity of the enzyme involved and to recall the action of this enzyme. Students will learn that this reaction involves cyclical heating and cooling to a range of temperatures so the next part of this lesson looks at these particular temperatures so the important parts of each of the steps can be understood. Time is taken to examine the key points in detail, such as the specific DNA polymerase that is used and how it is not denatured at the high temperature as well as the involvement of the primers.

An engaging lesson presentation (48 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 P4 (Atomic structure) of the AQA GCSE Combined Science specification (specification point P6.4). The topics that are tested within the lesson include: The structure of an atom Isotopes Radioactive decay and nuclear radiation Nuclear equations Half-lives Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “It’s as easy as ABG” and “ALPHA or BETA” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention

This fully-resourced lesson describes how antibodies are used in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of the last lesson in a series of 7 which have been designed to cover the details within point 2.4 of the AQA A-level specification. As the last lesson in this sub-topic, prior knowledge checks are included throughout the lesson which challenge the students on their knowledge of antibodies, immunity and protein structure. The lesson begins by challenging the students to use the details of a poster to recognise that individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 could donate plasma and the antibodies be infused into newly infected individuals. They are then expected to answer a series of exam-style questions where they have to describe the structure of these specific antibodies, recognise this as artificial, passive immunity and describe the potential problems should the virus mutate and the shape of its antigens change. This leads into the introduction of the use of antibodies in other ways, namely the ELISA test. The methodology of this test has been divided into four key steps which students will consider one at a time and then answer further questions about key details such as the immobilisation of the antigen and the removal of proteins and antibodies that have not bound by the washing with the detergent after each step. The lesson focuses on the use of this test for medical diagnosis but other uses such as plant pathology and the detection of allergens is briefly introduced at the end of the lesson.

This lesson describes an ion as an atom with a positive or negative charge, and explains how cations and anions are formed in ionic compounds. The lesson PowerPoint and accompanying worksheet have been designed to cover points 1.22 - 1.24 of the Edexcel GCSE Chemistry specification and also covers the same points on the Combined Science course. The first part of the lesson focuses on atoms and specifically on getting students to recall that they contain the same number of protons and electrons and this is why they have no overall charge. By ensuring that they are confident with this fact, they will be able to understand why ions have a charge. Students will learn that ions have full outer shells of electrons and this change in the number of this sub-atomic particle leads to the charge. They are shown examples with aluminium and oxide ions and then are challenged to apply this new-found knowledge to a task where they have to explain how group 1, 2, 5 and 7 atoms become ions. The final part of the lesson looks at how ion knowledge can be assessed in a question as they have to recognise the electron configuration of one and describe how many sub-atomic particles are found in different examples. There are regular progress checks throughout the lesson to allow the students to check on their understanding. This lesson has been written for GCSE students but could be used with higher ability KS3 students who are looking to extend their knowledge past basic atomic structure

This lesson describes how to calculate the standard deviation to measure the spread of a set of data and to compare means using the t-test. The detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the part of point 4.2.2 (f) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification that includes these two statistical tests. A step by step guide walks the students through each stage of the calculation of the standard deviation and gets them to complete a worked example with the class before applying their knowledge to another set of data. This data looks at the birth weights of humans on one day in the UK and this is used again later in the lesson to compare against the birth weights of babies in South Asia when using the student’s t-test. The null hypothesis is introduced and students will learn to accept or reject this based upon a comparison of their value against one taken from the table based on the degrees of freedom.

This fully-resourced lesson describes the regulatory mechanisms that control gene expression at a transcriptional level. The detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the first part of point 6.1.1 (b) as detailed in the OCR A-level Biology A specification which states that the students knowledge should include the lac operon and examples of transcription factors in eukaryotes. . This is one of the more difficult concepts in this A-level course and therefore key points are reiterated throughout this lesson to increase the likelihood of student understanding and to support them when trying to make links to actual biological examples in living organisms. There is a clear connection to transcription and translation as covered in module 2.1.3, so the lesson begins by reminding students that in addition to the structural gene in a transcription unit, there is the promotor region where RNA polymerase binds. Students are introduced to the idea of transcription factors and will understand how these molecules can activate or repress transcription by enabling or preventing the binding of the enzyme. At this point, students are challenged on their current understanding with a series of questions about DELLA proteins so they can see how these molecules prevent the binding of RNA polymerase. Their understanding is then tested again with another example with oestrogen and the ER receptor. The final and main section of the lesson focuses on the lac operon and immediately an opportunity is taken to challenge their knowledge of biological molecules with a task where they have to spot the errors in a passage describing the formation and breakdown of this disaccharide. Students will be able to visualise the different structures that are found in this operon and time is taken to go through the individual functions. A step by step guide is used to walk students through the sequence of events that occur when lactose is absent and when it is present before they are challenged to apply their understanding to an exam question.

A highly engaging lesson presentation (74 slides) and accompanying worksheets that uses exam questions (with explained answers), quick tasks and quiz competitions to allow students to assess their understanding of the topic of Biological molecules (Topic 3.1). Students will have fun whilst recognising those areas of the specification which need further attention.

An engaging lesson presentation (41 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 P1 (Energy) of the AQA GCSE Combined Science specification (specification unit P6.1). The topics that are tested within the lesson include: Energy stores and systems Changes in energy Efficiency Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “ERRORS with the equation calculations” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention

This is a fully-resourced lesson that looks at the functional and structural differences between the transport tissues in a plant, the xylem and phloem. The lesson includes an engaging lesson presentation (41 slides), which includes numerous student-led tasks, progress checks and quick competitions and two question worksheets, one of which is a differentiated version to enable those students who are finding this topic difficult to still be able to access the learning. The lesson begins with the introduction of the two tissues as well as a brief introduction to the substances which they each carry. The next part of the lesson focuses on the xylem cells and the resulting xylem vessel, and key terms such as lignin are brought into the lesson so that students can understand how these cells are waterproofed, which causes them to decay and form hollow tubes. Having met a lot of information, students are challenged to act like an examiner to form a table based question to compare the xylem against the phloem where they have to come up with features which could be compared against. This table will form the backbone of the lesson and students will use it later in the lesson when they have to write summary passages about each of the tissues. Moving forwards, a quick competition is used to enable the students to meet the names of the cells that form the phloem tissue, the sieve tube elements and the companion cells. Students will see how they are involved in the functioning of the phloem and questions are posed which relate to other topics such as the involvement of mitochondria wherever active transport occurs. Progress checks like this are found at regular intervals throughout the lesson so that students can constantly assess their understanding. This lesson has been designed for GCSE students. If you are looking to teach about these tissues but to a higher standard, you could use my uploaded alternative called Xylem and Phloem (A-level)