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.
All of the lessons in this bundle are fully-resourced and have been designed to challenge the students on their knowledge of the Physics topics of the CIE IGCSE Combined Science specification. The lessons cover both the CORE and SUPPLEMENT sections.
The following 5 topics are covered by these lessons:
Topic P1: Motion
Topic P2: Work, energy and power
Topic P4: Properties of waves, including light and sound
Topic P5: Electrical quantities
Topic P6: Electric circuits
The PowerPoints and accompanying resources contain a wide range of activities which include exam-style questions with clear explanations of the answers, differentiated tasks and quiz competitions. There is also a big emphasis on the mathematical element of the specification and students are guided through the use of a range of skills which include the conversion of units and the rearranging of formulae to change the subject.
If you would like to see the quality of the lessons, download the topic P1 lesson which has been shared for free
This fully-resourced lesson looks at the structure of genes and explores their role as a base sequence on DNA that codes for the amino acid sequence of a polypeptide. Both the PowerPoint and accompanying resource have been designed to cover point 6.2 (a) of the CIE International A-level Biology specification which states that students should understand how a gene codes for a polypeptide.
The lesson begins with a prior knowledge check as the students have to recognise the key term chromosome from a description involving DNA and histones. This allows genes, as sections of a chromosome, to be introduced and the first of a number of quiz rounds is then used to get the students to meet the term locus so that they can understand how each gene has a specific location on a chromosome. Whenever possible, opportunities are taken to make links to the other parts of the CIE specification and this is utilised here as students are reminded that alternative versions of a gene (alleles) can be found at the locus. Moving forwards, students will learn that 3 DNA bases is a triplet and that each triplet codes for a specific amino acid. At this point, the genetic code is introduced and students are challenged to explain how the code contains 64 different triplets. By comparing this number against the number of different amino acids in proteins, students will see how each amino acid is encoded for by more than one triplet and how this explains the degenerate nature of the genetic code which forms a link to an upcoming lesson on gene mutations.
This detailed lesson describes how the anatomy and location of the arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules and veins enables them to perform their functions. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resource have both been designed to cover the 2nd part of point B1 in UNIT 2 of the Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma in Sport and Exercise Science specification.
The aorta, vena cava, pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein were covered in the previous lesson on the function and anatomy of the heart so this lesson focuses on the location and anatomy of the 5 different types of blood vessels. Students will have met arteries, veins and capillaries at GCSE so this lesson builds on that knowledge whilst introducing the arterioles and venules. Time is taken to look at the structure of the artery and specifically at how the narrow lumen and thick wall allows this blood vessel to maintain the high pressure of blood and also withstand it. The importance of the arterioles for decreasing this pressure is explained and then students will discuss how the location of capillaries next to tissues allows for a fast rate of diffusion. The rest of the lesson describes how venules connect capillaries to a vein and the structure of this final blood vessel is compared against arteries, where students have to explain why it has a wider lumen with valves and a thinner wall.
A series of quiz rounds are used to maintain engagement whilst introducing key terms and values.
This detailed lesson describes how the structure of the arteries, veins and capillaries enables these blood vessels to perform their functions. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resource have both been designed to cover the 3rd part of point 1.2.5 as detailed in the Edexcel A-level PE specification.
The aorta, vena cava, pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein were covered in a previous lesson on the structure of the heart so this lesson focuses on the location and structure of these 3 different types of blood vessels. Students will have met arteries, veins and capillaries at GCSE so this lesson builds on that knowledge whilst also introducing the arterioles and venules to deepen their understanding. Time is taken to look at the structure of the artery and specifically at how the narrow lumen and thick wall allows this blood vessel to maintain the high pressure of blood and also withstand it. Students will learn that arterioles are involved in the redistribution of blood and then are challenged to describe and explain when blood would be shunted away from the kidney. Moving forwards, the students are encouraged to discuss how the location of capillaries next to tissues enables a fast rate of diffusion. The rest of the lesson describes how venules connect capillaries to a vein and the structure of this final blood vessel is compared against arteries, where students have to explain a vein has a wider lumen with valves and a thinner wall.
A series of quiz rounds are used throughout the lesson to maintain engagement whilst introducing key terms and values.
This fully-resourced lesson describes the characteristics and physiology of the glycolytic pathway and explains its role in ATP production for exercise. Both the PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the 2nd part of points 1.4.4 & 1.4.5 as detailed in the Edexcel A-level PE specification
The lesson begins by challenging the students to explain which out of stored ATP, phosphocreatine and glycogen in a muscle would be depleted after 10 seconds of intense exercise. This introduces glycogen as the starting substance in the glycolytic pathway and students will use their prior knowledge to recognise that the 1st step in this pathway involves the breakdown of glycogen to glucose. The main part of the lesson focuses on glycolysis and the key details of this step are discussed and explained, such as the net yield of ATP. Moving forwards, the students will learn how the product of glycolysis, pyruvate, is converted to lactate but does not result in the formation of any more ATP and this small yield of just 2 ATP means that this pathway is quickly fatigued. The lesson finishes by covering the duration of exercise that can be supported by the glycolytic pathway as the dominant energy provider.
This lesson has been specifically written to tie in with the next lesson on the aerobic pathway as well as making links to a previous lesson on the ATP-PC pathway
This fully-resourced lesson describes the energy production for sport and exercise by the lactate system. Both the PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the 3rd part of point A7 in UNIT 1 of the Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma in Sport and Exercise Science specification.
The lesson begins by challenging the students to explain which out of stored ATP, phosphocreatine and glycogen in a muscle would be depleted after 10 seconds of intense exercise. This introduces glycogen as the starting substance in the lactate system and students will use their prior knowledge to recognise that the 1st step in this system involves the breakdown of glycogen to glucose. The main part of the lesson focuses on glycolysis and the key details of this step are discussed and explained, such as the net yield of ATP. Moving forwards, the students will learn how the product of glycolysis, pyruvate, is converted to lactate but does not result in the formation of any more ATP and this small yield of just 2 ATP means that this system is quickly fatigued. The lesson finishes by covering the duration of exercise that can be supported by the lactate system as the dominant energy provider.
This lesson has been specifically written to tie in with the next lesson on the aerobic system as well as making links to a previous lesson on the ATP-PC system
This lesson describes and explains how the contraction of the heart chambers during atrial and ventricular systole and the relaxation during diastole causes blood to flow through the heart. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resource have been designed to cover the 4th point of SECTION A9 of the CIE International A-level PE specification which states that students need to be able to describe the different stages of the cardiac cycle.
The students will have already encountered aspects of the cardiovascular system earlier in this section and this lesson aims to build on that knowledge. Students will be introduced to the sequence of events known as the cardiac cycle and will learn that the cycle can be split into three parts, which are atrial systole, ventricular systole and diastole. There is a particular focus on the role of the AV and semi-lunar valves in the control of blood flow and students are challenged to explain how pressure changes cause these valves to open or close. The final task of the lesson involves a quiz round called “RECYCLE THIS?” where the teams have to use their knowledge of the cardiac cycle and the function and anatomy of the heart and blood vessels from a previous lesson to spot any errors in the description of blood flow through the heart
This fully-resourced lesson describes the internal structure of the heart and all of the blood vessels attached to the heart. Both the engaging PowerPoint and accompanying differentiated resources have been designed to cover the 1st part of section A9 as detailed in the CIE International A-level PE specification.
The structure of the heart is a topic which was covered in part at GCSE so this lesson has been written to build on that prior knowledge. The main task of the lesson involves students labelling the different structures as they are recalled. Time is taken at different points of the lesson to look at some of the structures and concepts in further detail. For example, students will learn that humans have a double circulatory system, as detailed in point section A10, and that the thicker muscular wall of the left ventricle allows the blood in the systemic circulation to be pumped at a higher pressure than in the pulmonary circulation. Students are also challenged to explain why a hole in the septum would cause health issues for an affected individual and this links back to previous work in unit 1 on energy systems.
By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to identify the following structures and describe their individual functions:
right and left atria
right and left ventricles
septum
tricuspid and bicuspid valve
semi-lunar valves
pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein
vena cava
aorta
A number of quiz rounds are used throughout the lesson to introduce key terms in a fun and memorable way before the final round is used as a final check so they can assess whether they can recognise the structures and recall their functions.
This engaging lesson looks at the role of haemoglobin in transporting oxygen as well as the different ways that carbon dioxide is transported around the body. The detailed PowerPoint has been designed to cover the 5th point in section A10 of the CIE International A-level PE specification.
The lesson begins with a version of the quiz show Pointless to introduce haemotology as the study of the blood conditions. Students will learn that haemoglobin is a protein made of 4 polypeptide chains and that it is the haem group found on each of these chains which has a high affinity for oxygen. Time is taken to discuss how haemoglobin must be able to load (and unload) oxygen as well as transport the oxygen to the cells of the working muscles so that they can continue to produce energy by the aerobic system. Students will plot the oxyhaemoglobin dissociation curve so they can understand about the unloading aspect of the role.
The remainder of the lesson looks at the different ways that carbon dioxide is transported around the body and students will learn that the dissociation of carbonic acid into hydrogen ions affects the affinity of haemoglobin for oxygen so that the Bohr effect can be explained.
This engaging lesson looks at the structure of a muscle fibre, and focuses on the proteins, bands and zones that are found in the myofibril. The PowerPoint and acccompanying resource have been designed to cover the second part of points 1.3.5 & 1.3.6 of the Edexcel A-level PE specification.
The lesson begins with an imaginary question from the quiz show POINTLESS, where students have to recognise a range of fields of study. This will reveal myology as the study of muscles so that key terms like myofibril and myosin can be introduced. Moving forwards, students will be shown the striated appearance of this muscle so they can recognise that some areas appear dark where both myofilaments are found and others as light as they only contain actin or myosin. A quiz competition is used to introduce the A band, I band and H zone and students then have to use the information given to label a diagram of the myofibril. The final task challenges the students to use their knowledge of the sliding filament theory to recognise which of these bands or zones narrow or stay the same length when muscle is contracted
This is a fully-resourced lesson which describes the relationship between cardiac output, stroke volume and heart rate and explains how they differ between rest and during exercise. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the 2nd part of point 1.1.2 of the AQA A-level PE specification.
The lesson begins by challenging the students to recognise that the left ventricle has the most muscular wall of all of the heart chambers. This allows the stroke volume to be introduced as the volume of blood ejected from the left ventricle each heart beat and then a quiz competition is used to introduce normative values for the stroke volume and the heart rate. Moving forwards, students will learn that the cardiac output is the product of the stroke volume and the heart rate. At this point in the lesson, time is taken to challenge the students to consider how these three factors would be affected by a single physical activity. Venous return and the regulation of heart rate are briefly introduced to explain the increase in stroke volume and heart rate but these are covered in greater detail in later lessons in this topic. The main part of the lesson looks at the adaptation of the heart to aerobic training in the form of cardiac hypertrophy and then the students are challenged to work out how this would affect the stroke volume, the cardiac output and the resting heart rate. A number of tasks are used to get the students to explain why the resting heart rate decreases and to calculate the changes in cardiac output. One of the two tasks has been differentiated and this allows students of differing abilities to access the work
This fully-resourced lesson describes the specific stages of the glycolytic energy system and explains its role in ATP production for exercise. Both the PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the content of the “Energy systems and ATP resynthesis” section of the OCR A-level PE specification so that students know the type of reaction, fuel used, site of the reaction and ATP yield.
The lesson begins by challenging the students to explain which out of stored ATP, phosphocreatine and glycogen in a muscle would be depleted after 10 seconds of intense exercise. This introduces glycogen as the starting substance in the glycolytic system and students will use their prior knowledge to recognise that the 1st step in this system involves the breakdown of glycogen to glucose. The main part of the lesson focuses on glycolysis and the key details of this step are discussed and explained, such as the net yield of ATP. Moving forwards, the students will learn how the product of glycolysis, pyruvate, is converted to lactate but does not result in the formation of any more ATP and this small yield of just 2 ATP means that this system is quickly fatigued. The lesson finishes by covering the duration of exercise that can be supported by the glycolytic system as the dominant energy provider.
This lesson has been specifically written to tie in with the next lesson on the aerobic system as well as making links to a previous lesson on the ATP-PC system.
This fully-resourced lesson explains how a shift of the oxyhaemoglobin dissociation curve is a beneficial phenomenon for exercising individuals. Both the detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the 2nd part of the transportation of oxygen section as detailed in the Applied Anatomy and physiology unit of the AQA A-level PE specification.
The previous lesson introduced the transportation of oxygen by haemoglobin and the oxyhaemoglobin dissociation curve so this lesson has been written to build on that knowledge and this is immediately checked at the start of the lesson by getting the students to recall key terms as well as the shape of the curve. A quick quiz competition, called SPORTS SCIENCE, is used to challenge their knowledge of the names of famous sports people to identify the surname of the scientist, Christian Bohr. They are told that this effect describes how an increase in the concentration of a substance affects the dissociation curve and are encouraged to predict what this substance might be. By shifting the curve to the right, students will learn that the affinity of haemoglobin is reduced. The curve is used to show how the saturation of haemoglobin is less at low partial pressures of oxygen when there is increased carbon dioxide concentration before they are challenged to summarise the effect on the dissociation before applying all of their knowledge to a final sporting situation.
The final task has been differentiated 2 ways so that students of differing abilities are able to access the work
This fully-resourced lesson describes how the mechanisms of root pressure and transpiration pull move water upwards in the xylem to the leaves. The detailed PowerPoint and accompanying, differentiated resources have primarily been designed to cover the second part of point 7.2 [c] of the CIE International A-level Biology specification but also cover 7.2 [b] as the cohesion-tension theory and adhesion are described and explained.
This lesson has been written to follow on from the end of the previous lesson, which finished with the description of the transport of the water and mineral ions from the endodermis to the xylem. Students are immediately challenged to use this knowledge to understand root pressure and the movement by mass flow down the pressure gradient. Moving forwards, time is taken to study the details of transpiration pull and the interaction between cohesion, tension and adhesion in capillary action is explained. Understanding is constantly checked through a range of tasks and prior knowledge checks are also written into the lesson to challenge the students to make links to previously covered topics such as the structure of the transport tissues. The final part of the lesson considers the journey of water through the leaf and ultimately out of the stomata in transpiration. A step by step guide using questions to discuss and answer as a class is used to support the students before the final task challenges them to summarise this movement through the leaf.
This detailed lesson describes the structure of a nucleotide including the structure of the phosphorylated nucleotide, ATP. The engaging PowerPoint has been designed to cover point (a) of topic 6.1 as detailed in the CIE International A-level Biology specification and links are made throughout to earlier topics such as biological molecules as well as to upcoming topics like DNA structure and replication.
Students were introduced to the term monomer and nucleotide in topic 2, so the start of the lesson challenges them to recognise this latter term when only the letters U, C and T are shown. This has been designed to initiate conversations about why only these letters were used so that the nitrogenous bases can be discussed later in greater detail. Moving forwards, students will learn that a nucleotide is the monomer to a polynucleotide and that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) are two examples of this type of polymer. The main part of the lesson has been filled with various tasks that explore the structural similarities and structural differences between DNA and RNA. This begins by describing the structure of a nucleotide as a phosphate group, a pentose sugar and a nitrogenous base. Time is taken to consider the details of each of these three components which includes the role of the phosphate group in the formation of a phosphodiester bond between adjacent nucleotides on the strand. At this point students are challenged on their understanding of condensation reactions and have to identify how the hydroxyl group associated with carbon 3 is involved along with the hydroxyl group of the phosphoric acid molecule. A number of quiz rounds are used during this lesson, as a way to introduce key terms in a fun and memorable way. One of these rounds introduces adenine and guanine as the purine bases and thymine, cytosine and uracil as the pyrimidine bases and the students are shown that their differing ring structures can be used to distinguish between them. The remainder of the lesson focuses on ATP as a phosphorylated nucleotide and links are made to the hydrolysis of this molecule for energy driven reactions in cells such as active transport
Monosaccharides are the monomers from which larger carbohydrates are formed and this lesson describes their structure and roles in living organisms. The detailed and engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the first part of point 1.2 of the AQA A-level Biology specification and looks at alpha-glucose, beta-glucose, galactose, fructose, deoxyribose and ribose.
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. Using the molecular formula of glucose as a guide, students will be given the general formula for the monosaccharides and will learn that deoxyribose is an exception to the rule that the number of carbon and oxygen atoms are equal. Moving forwards, students have to study the displayed formula of glucose for two minutes without being able to note anything down before they are challenged to recreate what they saw in a test of their observational skills. At this point of the lesson, the idea of numbering the carbons is introduced so that the different glycosidic bonds can be understood in an upcoming lesson as well as the recognition of the different isomers of glucose. The difference between alpha and beta-glucose is provided and students are again challenged to draw a molecule of glucose, this time for the beta form. The remainder of the lesson focuses on the roles of the 6 monosaccharides and the final task involves a series of application questions where the students are challenged to suggest why ribose could be considered important for active transport and muscle contraction
The biological molecules topic is incredibly important, not just because it is found at the start of the course, but also because of its detailed content which must be well understood to promote success with the other 7 AQA A-level Biology topics. Many hours of intricate planning has gone into the design of all of the 20 lessons that are included in this bundle to ensure that the content is covered in detail, understanding is constantly checked and misconceptions addressed and that engagement is high. This is achieved through the wide variety of tasks in the PowerPoints and accompanying worksheets which include exam-style questions with clear answers, discussion points, differentiated tasks and quick quiz competitions.
The following specification points are covered by the lessons within this bundle:
Monomers and polymers
Condensation and hydrolysis reactions
Common monosaccharides
Maltose, sucrose and lactose
The structure and functions of glycogen, starch and cellulose
Biochemical tests using Benedict’s solution for reducing sugars and non-reducing sugars and iodine/potassium iodide for starch
The structure and properties of triglycerides and phospholipids
The emulsion test for lipids
The structure of amino acids
The formation of dipeptides and polypeptides
The levels of protein structure
The biuret test for proteins
Enzymes act as biological catalysts
The induced-fit model of enzyme action
The properties of an enzyme
The effect of temperature on the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction
The effect of enzyme and substrate concentration on the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction
The effect of competitive and non-competitive inhibitors on the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction
The structure of DNA and RNA
The semi-conservative replication of DNA
ATP as the universal energy currency
The properties of water and its importance in Biology
Inorganic ions
Due to the detail of each of these lessons, it is estimated that it will take in excess of 2 months of allocated teaching time to cover the content.
If you would like to see the quality of the lessons, download the monomers and polymers, polysaccharides, triglycerides, dipeptides and polypeptides and inorganic ions lessons as these have been shared for free
This detailed lesson describes the formation of polypeptides as well as the different levels of protein structures and links this to function. Both the engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover points 2.9 (ii) & (iii) of the Pearson Edexcel A-level Biology A specification but also makes specific reference to genes and therefore covers the details of point 2.8 too.
The start of the lesson focuses on the formation of a peptide bond during a condensation reaction so that students can understand how a dipeptide is formed and therefore how a polypeptide forms when multiple reactions occur.
The main part of the lesson describes the different levels of protein structure. A step by step guide is used to demonstrate how the sequences of bases in a gene acts as a template to form a sequence of codons on a mRNA strand and how this is translated into a particular sequence of amino acids known as the primary structure. The students are then challenged to apply their understanding of this process by using three more gene sequences to work out three primary structures and recognise how different genes lead to different sequences. Moving forwards, students will learn how the order of amino acids in the primary structure determines the shape of the protein molecule, through its secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure and time is taken to consider the details of each of these. There is a particular focus on the different bonds that hold the 3D shape firmly in place and a quick quiz round then introduces the importance of this shape as exemplified by enzymes, antibodies and hormones. The lesson concludes with one final task where the students have to identify three errors in a passage about the hydrolysis of a dipeptide or polypeptide.
This concise lesson describes the basic structure of an amino acid and introduces them as the monomers of polypeptides. The engaging PowerPoint has been designed to cover point 2.9 (i) of the Pearson Edexcel A-level Biology A specification and has been specifically written to lead into the next lesson on dipeptides and polypeptides.
The lesson begins with a prior knowledge check, where the students have to use the 1st letters of 4 answers to uncover a key term. This 4-letter key term is gene and the lesson begins with this word because it is important for students to understand that these sequences of bases on DNA determine the specific sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide as detailed in specification point 2.8. Moving forwards, the students are given discussion time to work out that there are 64 different DNA triplets and will learn that these encode for the 20 amino acids that are common to all organisms. The main task of the lesson is an observational one, where students are given time to study the displayed formula of 4 amino acids. They are not allowed to draw anything during this time but will be challenged with 3 multiple choice questions at the end. This task has been designed to allow the students to visualise how the 20 amino acids share common features in an amine and an acid group. A quick quiz round introduces the R group and time is taken to explain how the structure of this side chain is the only structural difference, before cysteine is considered in greater detail due to the presence of sulfur atoms. Students are briefly introduced to disulfide bridges so they will recognise how particular bonds form between the R groups in the tertiary structure which is covered in the next lesson. The lesson concludes with one more quiz round called LINK TO THE FUTURE where the students will see the roles played by amino acids in the later part of the course such as translation and dipeptides.
This fully-resourced lesson describes how triglycerides are formed during condensation reactions and compares saturated and unsaturated lipids. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying worksheets have been designed to cover the points 1.14 (i) & (ii) of the Pearson Edexcel A-level Biology A specification and links are also made to related future topics such as the importance of the myelin sheath for the conduction of an electrical impulse.
The lesson begins with a focus on the basic structure and roles of lipids, including the elements that are found in this biological molecule and some of the places in living organisms where they are found. Moving forwards, the students are challenged to recall the structure of the carbohydrates from topics 1.12 & 1.13 so that the structure of a triglyceride can be introduced. Students will learn that this macromolecule is formed from one glycerol molecule and three fatty acids and have to use their understanding of condensation reactions to draw the final structure. Time is taken to look at the difference in structure and properties of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and students will be able to identify one from the other when presented with a molecular formula. The final part of the lesson explores how the various properties of a triglyceride mean that it has numerous roles in organisms including that of an energy store and source and as an insulator of heat and electricity.
