A Science teacher by trade, I've also been known to be found teaching Maths and PE! However, strange as it may seem, my real love is designing resources that can be used by other teachers to maximise the experience of the students. I am constantly thinking of new ways to engage a student with a topic and try to implement that in the design of the lessons.
A Science teacher by trade, I've also been known to be found teaching Maths and PE! However, strange as it may seem, my real love is designing resources that can be used by other teachers to maximise the experience of the students. I am constantly thinking of new ways to engage a student with a topic and try to implement that in the design of the lessons.
This bundle of 14 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic B6 (Inheritance, Variation and Evolution) of the AQA Trilogy GCSE Combined Science specification. The topics covered within these lessons include:
DNA
Reproduction
Meiosis
X and Y chromosomes
Genetic diagrams
Inherited disorders
Variation
Evolution
Selective breeding
Genetic engineering
Fossils
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Classification
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding.
This bundle of 4 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic B4 (Bioenergetics) of the AQA Trilogy GCSE Combined Science & GCSE Biology specifications. The topics covered within these lessons include:
Photosynthesis
Uses of glucose from photosynthesis
Limiting factors
Aerobic respiration
Anaerobic respiration
Response to exercise
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding.
This lesson has been written for GCSE students, with the main focus being to introduce reversible reactions, show them how to represent them in both word and symbol equations, and to look at some well-known examples. Related topics such as the position of the equilibrium and endothermic and exothermic reactions are briefly mentioned so that students can recognise the potential crossover between topics. Some time is taken during the lesson to challenge the students to write a balanced symbol equation having been given a description of a reversible reaction. This task is differentiated with an assistance sheet so that all are able to access the learning. There are a number of these progress checks in this short lesson so that students can assess their understanding on a regular basis. Students will learn that the reaction in one direction will be exothermic and why this matters in terms of temperature and the equilibrium position. Increasing pressure and the number of moles is also discussed and an answer explained.
This is a concise, fast-paced lesson which guides students through the critical skills needed to calculate the atom economy of a chemical reaction. It has been designed for GCSE students and focuses on the calculation as well as interpreting the final value. In order to calculate the mass of the desired product and other products, students have to be able to calculate the relative formula mass - therefore time is taken to revisit these skills and worked examples are used with this and the actual calculations to enable the students to visualise how they should set their work out. The lesson finishes with some progress check questions where students are challenged to state which of four chemical reactions has the highest atom economy. This lesson could be taught in combination with the percentage yield topic and an accompanying lesson on that calculation is available on this site.
This bundle of 10 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic P2 of the Edexcel GCSE Combined Science specification. The topics covered within these lessons include:
Scalar and vector quantities
Velocity
Calculating speed
Distance-time graphs
Recall and use the acceleration equation
Use the equations of motion equation
Velocity-time graphs
Recall some everyday speeds
Use the equation to calculate weight
The relationship between weight and gravitational field strength
Recall and use the equation for momentum
Momentum in collisions
The factors affecting stopping distances
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding.
This bundle of 7 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic C9 (Separate Chemistry 2) of the Edexcel GCSE Chemistry specification. The topics covered within these lessons include:
Detecting cations
Detecting anions
Alkanes as saturated hydrocarbons
Alkenes as unsaturated hydrocarbons
Testing with bromine water
Complete combustion of hydrocarbons
Polymers
Biological polymers
Alcohols
Carboxylic acids
Production of ethanol
Nanoparticles
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding.
This bundle of 5 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic P3 (Conservation of energy) of the Edexcel GCSE Combined Science & GCSE Physics specifications. The topics covered within these lessons include:
Calculating change in gravitational potential energy
Kinetic energy
Conservation of energy
Reducing unwanted energy transfer
Efficiency
Increasing efficiency
Energy sources
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding
This bundle of 4 lessons covers a lot of the content in Topic B4 (Natural selection and genetic modification) of the Edexcel GCSE Combined Science specification. The topics covered within these lessons include:
The theory of evolution by natural selection
Resistant bacteria as evidence for natural selection
Classification
Selective breeding and the impact
The main stages of genetic engineering
The risks of genetic engineering
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding.
This bundle of 7 lessons covers a lot of the content in Topic P6 (Radioactivity) of the Edexcel GCSE Combined Science specification. The topics covered within these lessons include:
The atom
Isotopes
Background radiation
Alpha, beta and gamma radiation
Nuclear decay equations
The unit of radioactivity
Half-life
The dangers of ionising radiation
The differences between irradiation and contamination
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding.
This lesson uses the example of the genetic engineering of bacteria to produce insulin to walk students through the steps involved in this process. It has been written for GCSE students and therefore includes the detail required at this level, such as the involvement of restriction enzymes and the sticky ends that their cut produces. The lesson begins by challenging students to recognise that insulin is being described by a series of clues. Some further details of this hormone are recalled to test their previous knowledge of the endocrine system and also to lead into the genetic engineering of bacteria to make this protein. Moving forwards, time is taken to go through the details of plasmids and how they act as vectors as well as the enzymes, restriction and ligase. The main task of the lesson uses a series of descriptions to go through the steps involved in the process. Words or phrases are missing from each description so students have to use the terms they’ve encountered in this lesson as well as their prior knowledge to complete the step. Discussion-provoking questions are added to encourage the students to consider why certain parts of the process occur. The lesson concludes by the consideration of other organisms which have been genetically engineered as well as some of the risks of the process, which students are asked to complete for homework.
As detailed above, this lesson has been designed for GCSE students but could be used with students taking A-level Biology, who are struggling to understand the detail found at this level and need to revisit the foundations.
The 5 lesson PowerPoints and multiple accompanying resources that are included in this bundle are highly-detailed and engaging. A wide variety of tasks, which include exam-style questions, differentiated tasks, discussion points and quiz competitions will check on the student understanding of the following specification points in topic 4.4 of the Edexcel A-level Biology B specification:
The structure of the heart, arteries, veins and capillaries
The advantages of a double circulatory system
The sequence of events of the cardiac cycle
The roles of the SAN, AVN and the bundle of His in the myogenic stimulation of the heart
Interpreting ECG traces and pressure changes in the cardiac cycle
The role of platelets and plasma proteins in the sequence of events leading to blood clotting
The heart & blood vessels and the double circulatory system lesson have been uploaded for free so you can sample the quality of this bundle by downloading those
This bundle of 4 fully-resourced lessons have been planned to include a wide variety of tasks which will engage and motivate the students whilst covering the following points as detailed in topic 4.2 of the Edexcel A-level Biology B specification:
The structure of the cell surface membrane, with reference to the fluid mosaic model
Passive transport is brought about by diffusion and facilitated diffusion
Passive transport is brought about by osmosis
The relationship between the properties of molecules and the method by which they are transported
Large molecules can be transported in and out of cells by endocytosis and exocytosis
The process of active transport and the role of ATP
The phosphorylation of ADP and the hydrolysis of ATP
If you would like to sample the quality of the lessons in this bundle, then download the ATP & active transport lesson as this has been shared for free
This lesson describes and explains how increasing the temperature affects the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction. The PowerPoint and the accompanying resource have been designed to cover the second part of point 1.4.2 of the AQA A-level Biology specification and ties in directly with the previous lesson on the properties of enzymes and their mechanism of action.
The lesson begins by challenging the students to recognise optimum as a key term from its 6 synonyms that are shown on the board. Time is taken to ensure that the students understand that the optimum temperature is the temperature at which the most enzyme-product complexes are produced per second and therefore the temperature at which the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction works at its maximum. The optimum temperatures of DNA polymerase in humans and in a thermophilic bacteria and RUBISCO in a tomato plant are used to demonstrate how different enzymes have different optimum temperatures and the roles of the latter two in the PCR and photosynthesis are briefly described to prepare students for these future lessons.
Moving forwards, the rest of the lesson focuses on enzyme activity at temperatures below the optimum and at temperatures above the optimum. Students will understand that increasing the temperature increases the kinetic energy of the enzyme and substrate molecules, and this increases the likelihood of successful collisions and the production of enzyme-substrate and enzyme-product complexes. When considering the effect of increasing the temperature above the optimum, continual references are made to the previous lesson and the control of the shape of the active site by the tertiary structure. Students will be able to describe how the hydrogen and ionic bonds in the tertiary structure are broken by the vibrations associated with higher temperatures and result in an active site that is no longer complementary to the substrate. Key terminology such as denaturation is used throughout.
Please note that this lesson has been designed specifically to explain the relationship between the change in temperature and the rate of reaction and not the practical skills that would be covered in a core practical lesson
This lesson describes and explains how increasing the concentration of inhibitors affects the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction. The PowerPoint and accompanying resource are the last in a series of 5 lessons which cover the content detailed in point 1.4.2 of the AQA A-level Biology specification and describes the effect of both competitive and non-competitive inhibitors.
The lesson begins with a made up round of the quiz show POINTLESS called “Biology opposites” and this will get the students to recognise that inhibition is the opposite of stimulation. This introduces inhibitors as substances that reduce the rate of a reaction and students are challenged to use their general knowledge of enzymes to identify that inhibitors prevent the formation of the enzyme-substrate complex. Moving forwards, a quick quiz competition generates the abbreviation EIC (representing enzyme-inhibitor complex) and this introduces competitive inhibitors as substances that occupy the active site. The students are asked to apply their knowledge to a new situation to work out that these inhibitors have a similar shape to the enzyme’s substrate molecule. A series of exam-style questions are used throughout the lesson and at this point, the students are challenged to work out that an increase in the substrate concentration would reduce the effect of a fixed concentration of a reversible competitive inhibitor. The rest of the lesson focuses on non-competitive inhibitors and time is taken to ensure that key details such as the disruption of the tertiary structure is understood and biological examples are used to increase the relevance. Again, students will learn that increasing the concentration of the inhibitor results in a greater inhibition and a reduced rate of reaction but that increasing the substrate concentration cannot reduce the effect as was observed with competitive inhibitors.
This fully-resourced lesson describes how enzymes function intracellularly and extracellularly and explains their mode of action. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover points 3.1 (a, b & c) and considers the details of Fischer’s lock and key hypothesis and Koshland’s induced-fit model and explains how an enzyme’s specificity is related to their 3D structure and enables them to act as biological catalysts.
The lesson has been planned to tie in with topic 2.3, and to challenge the students on their knowledge of protein structure and globular proteins. This prior knowledge is tested through a series of exam-style questions along with current understanding and mark schemes are included in the PowerPoint so that students can assess their answers.
Students will learn that enzymes are large globular proteins which contain an active site that consists of a small number of amino acids. Emil Fischer’s lock and key hypothesis is introduced to enable students to recognise that their specificity is the result of an active site that is complementary in shape to a single type of substrate. Time is taken to discuss key details such as the control of the shape of the active site by the tertiary structure of the protein. The induced-fit model is described so students can understand how the enzyme-susbtrate complex is stabilised and then students are challenged to order the sequence of events in an enzyme-controlled reaction.
The lesson finishes with a focus on ATP synthase and DNA polymerase so that students are aware of these important intracellular enzymes when learning about the details of respiration and DNA replication before they are challenged on their knowledge of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins from topics 1.2 - 1.4 as they have to recognise some extracellular digestive enzymes from descriptions of their biological molecule substrates.
This lesson describes and explains the effect of an increasing temperature on the rate of an enzyme-catalysed reaction. The PowerPoint and the accompanying resource are part of the 1st lesson in a series of 4 which cover the content detailed in point 3.2 (a) of the CIE A-level Biology specification and this lesson has been specifically planned to tie in with the lesson in 3.1 where the properties of enzymes and their mechanism of action were introduced.
The lesson begins by challenging the students to recognise optimum as a key term from its 6 synonyms that are shown on the board. Time is taken to ensure that the students understand that the optimum temperature is the temperature at which the most enzyme-product complexes are produced per second and therefore the temperature at which the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction works at its maximum. The optimum temperatures of DNA polymerase in humans and in a thermophilic bacteria and RUBISCO in a tomato plant are used to demonstrate how different enzymes have different optimum temperatures and the roles of the latter two in the PCR and photosynthesis are briefly described to prepare students for these lessons in topics 19 and 13.
Moving forwards, the rest of the lesson focuses on enzyme activity at temperatures below the optimum and at temperatures above the optimum. Students will understand that increasing the temperature increases the kinetic energy of the enzyme and substrate molecules, and this increases the likelihood of successful collisions and the production of enzyme-substrate and enzyme-product complexes. When considering the effect of increasing the temperature above the optimum, continual references are made to the previous lesson and the control of the shape of the active site by the tertiary structure. Students will be able to describe how the hydrogen and ionic bonds in the tertiary structure are broken by the vibrations associated with higher temperatures and are challenged to complete the graph to show how the rate of reaction decreases to 0 when the enzyme has denatured.
Please note that this lesson has been designed specifically to explain the relationship between the change in temperature and the rate of reaction and not the practical skills that would be covered in a core practical lesson
This lesson describes and explains how increasing the concentration of inhibitors affects the rate of an enzyme-catalysed reaction. The PowerPoint and accompanying resource are the last in a series of 4 lessons which cover the content detailed in point 3.2 (a) of the CIE A-level Biology specification but this lesson also covers point 3.2 [c] as competitive and non-competitive inhibitors are introduced and their differing effects on enzyme activity described and explained.
The lesson begins with a made up round of the quiz show POINTLESS called “Biology opposites” and this allows students to recognise that inhibition is the opposite of stimulation. This introduces inhibitors as substances that reduce the rate of a reaction and students are challenged to use their general knowledge of enzymes to identify that inhibitors prevent the formation of the enzyme-substrate complex. Moving forwards, a quick quiz competition generates the abbreviation EIC (representing enzyme-inhibitor complex) and this introduces competitive inhibitors as substances that occupy the active site. The students are asked to apply their knowledge to a new situation to work out that these inhibitors must have a similar shape to the enzyme’s substrate molecule. A series of exam-style questions are used throughout the lesson and at this point, the students are challenged to work out that an increase in the substrate concentration would reduce the effect of a fixed concentration of a reversible competitive inhibitor. The rest of the lesson focuses on non-competitive inhibitors and time is taken to ensure that key details such as the disruption of the tertiary structure is understood and biological examples are used to increase the relevance. Again, students will learn that increasing the concentration of the inhibitor results in a greater inhibition and a reduced rate of reaction but that increasing the substrate concentration cannot reduce the effect as was observed with competitive inhibitors.
This lesson describes how enzymes can be immobilised in calcium alginate and compares their activity against enzymes that are free in solution. The PowerPoint and the accompanying resources have been designed to cover point 3.2 (d) of the CIE A-level Biology specification.
The lesson has been planned to challenge the students on their ability to apply knowledge to a potentially unfamiliar situation. A series of exam-style questions which include “suggest” and “describe and explain” questions are used throughout the lesson and these will allow the students to recognise the advantages and disadvantages of a particular method. Although the alginate method is the only one referenced in this specification point, the adsorption and covalent bonding methods are introduced and then briefly analysed to allow students to understand that a matrix doesn’t involve these bonds which could disrupt the active site. The remainder of the lesson introduces some actual examples of the use of immobilised enzymes with the aim of increasing the relevance.
Please note that this lesson has been written to explain the effect of immobilisation on enzyme activity. The practical element of carrying out the investigation is described in a separate lesson.
It’s no coincidence that cell structure and biological molecules find themselves as topics 1 and 2 of the CIE A-level Biology course, because a clear understanding of their content is absolutely critical to promote success with the 17 topics that follow.
Hours and hours of intricate planning has gone into the 18 lessons included in this bundle to ensure that the detailed content is relevant and can be understood and that links are made to related sections of topics 3 - 19. The lesson PowerPoints and accompanying resources contain a wide range of activities that include:
differentiated exam-style questions with clear mark schemes
directed discussion points
quiz competitions to introduce key terms and values
current understanding and prior knowledge checks
Due to the detail included in these lessons, it is estimated that it will take in excess of 2 months of allocated teaching time to cover the content of the resources
A number of the resources have been shared for free so these can be downloaded in order to sample the quality of the lessons
This lesson describes the structure of the chloroplast, focusing on the sites of the light-dependent and light-independent stages of photosynthesis. This fully-resourced lesson, which consists of an engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources, has been designed to cover points 13.1 (a) & (b) of the CIE A-level Biology specification and has been specifically designed to introduce students to the grana and stroma as the site of the light-dependent and light-independent stages respectively before they are covered in greater detail in the lessons that are taught later in topic 13.1.
Students were introduced to eukaryotic cells and their organelles in topic 1 so this lesson has been written to test and to build on that knowledge. A version of the quiz show POINTLESS runs throughout the lesson and this maintains engagement whilst challenging the students to recall the parts of the chloroplast based on a description which is related to their function. The following structures are covered in this lesson:
double membrane
thylakoids (grana)
stroma
intergranal lamellae
starch grains
chloroplast DNA and ribosomes
Once each structure has been recalled, a range of activities are used to ensure that key details are understood such as the role of the thylakoid membranes in the light-dependent reactions and the importance of ATP and reduced NADP for the reduction of GP to TP in the Calvin cycle. Links to other topics are made throughout and this is exemplified by the final task of the lesson where students are challenged on their recall of the structure, properties and function of starch, as originally covered in topic 2.2