I am a passionate science teacher with a specialism in biology.
I have over 16 years of teaching experience and have experience working and as Co-director of key stage 4 and head of biology.
I am a passionate science teacher with a specialism in biology.
I have over 16 years of teaching experience and have experience working and as Co-director of key stage 4 and head of biology.
All you need to effectively teach the plant responses unit for the new OCR A-level biology A-specification! Also compatible with other specifications!
I have spent a great deal of time to make this dull topic interesting!
You will find a very colourful, informative and engaging power point presentation including everything from the specification.
Every lesson includes learning outcomes, key words, starters, plenaries and exam questions!
Additionally, there is a plant responses end of unit test ( with mark scheme) and challenging Auxin experimental exam questions ( with mark scheme).
Topics include:
phototropism, geotropism, chemotropism, thigmotropism
experiments on Auxin,
plant hormones and cell signalling,
uses and actions of: Gibberellins, Cytokinins, Abscisic acid (ABA), Ethene,
The experimental evidence for the role of auxins in the control of apical dominance
The experimental evidence for the role of gibberellin in the control of stem elongation and seed germination
practical investigations into the effect of plant hormones on growth
Updated resources:
A 17 mark exam question taking from Cambridge A-level biology specification on how increasing the concentration of GA affects seed germination. This also included relevant experimental questions, Including a 7 mark question on writing a method,
Animal and plant responses end of unit test
Check my animal responses unit bundle for all other 5.5 resources.
This test is a great way to assess your students on the following statistical tests:
student T- test
Chi-squared test
Simpson’s index of diversity
Standard deviation
Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient
All these statistical tests are fundamental in the new A-level biology specification, These test will allow you to see how confident your students are with applying the statistical tests and interpreting the calculated values.
UPDATE: A Statistical tests pack which includes all the statistical tests questions from OCR A-level biology has now been made, This also includes a mark-scheme. I have also included a front sheet which summarises the purpose of each test, examples, describing null hypothesis using examples, and when how to reject or accept null hypothesis. Print this off if you do not want to print the tests off separately!
These lessons have been rated outstanding by both teachers and students!
ALL detailed, colourful, engaging biological membranes lesson for the OCR A-level biology A specification and many more specifications.
Content:
*lesson 1 includes:structure and function of the plasma membrane, including the components and the fluid mosaic model
lesson 2 includes: different transport mechanisms e.g. passive and active including: simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion, osmosis, active transport, endocytosis and exocytosis, factors increasing the rate of diffusion ( e.g. concentration gradient, surface area, diffusion distance, temperature, size and type of diffusing molecule).
Lesson 3: presentation on osmosis in animal and plant cells, including lots of skills based exam questions related to the PAG on osmosis in potato cells.
Lesson 4: looking at factors affecting membrane permeability and fluidity. focussing on experimental work e.g. beetroot colorimetry experiment, and experimental exam questions are included.
Resource bundle is complete with exam questions, Student-friendly colourful information-collecting packs and activities.
End of unit test included.
exam question packs include: cell membranes, transport across membranes, beetroot experiment, factors affecting rate of diffusion and osmosis, end of chapter questions, and end of chapter questions on the powerpoint presentation at the end of every lesson!
THREE annotated step-by-step guides on how to tackle synoptic and 6 mark questions on the unified paper.
Majority of the questions include annotations, suggestions for synoptic links, help slides, and student exemplar answers from the examiners.
You can print out questions without the annotations and help slides, and display these to the students if and when they are struggling.
This will help students practice essential exam skills, which will improve their exam practice and marks!
This resource also includes essential last minute unified revision questions powerpoint.
Lastly, there is an essential exam skills powerpoint including definitions and examples of command words, key terms such as validity, repeatablity, accuracy, and reproducibility - with exam questions at the end of it.
100% suitable for OCR A-level biology A specification, 100% suitable for other specifications with slight tweaks!
Are your students struggling with those difficult practical skills questions? Do you want to give your students some much needed practice on skills based questions on practicals, and want to identify specific areas of weaknesses?
Then look no further! I have made resources which have had amazing feed back from both students AND teachers:
I have made:
*two practical skills tests ( a short test and a long test)
These tests address all the module 1 assessment requirements, covering areas such as: Planning, analysis, interpreting data, evaluation.
two booklets of ALL spec A and spec B experimental questions
other smaller practical skills test packs
A ‘practical skills assessed’ hand book which outlines all the requirements for module 1, including a check list for planning an experiment!
UPDATE!!* I have uploaded a ‘key skills in biology’ powerpoint, this includes the differences between accuracy, precision, repeatabillity, reproducibility and validity. Also, this includes annotated practical skills questions which will help students practice essential exam skills, plus there are student exemplar answers which have been marked by examiners.
Students are given examples of experimental methods in many of the questions, and are asked on many occasions to identify limitations and improvements - these questions are very common for the new specification!
As head of A-level biology, I have seen a huge improvement in our students’ responses to practical skills questions after assessing them with this test!
Good luck!
This resource bundle contains all the lessons for the 2.4 Enzymes unit. It is completely compatible for the new OCR A-level biology A specification and other specifications with slight modifications.
This unit bundle contains all the powerpoint presentations for 9 lessons, including exam questions and activities for every lesson. Additionally there is a personal learning content summary sheet ( student-friendly checklist) and also an end of unit test. Additionally, this bundle contains those tricky, new-spec practical skills questions!
Lessons includes topics such as:
cofactors and coenzymes, enzyme action, activation energy, effects of Ph, temperature, substrate and enzyme concentration, inhibitors and metabolic inhibitors and poisons.
This is a big bundle which covers 5 lessons over 69 slides, at a very affordable price! You will not need to print anything as all the activities and questions are embedded into the presentation.
Suitable completely for AQA, but can be adapted for other specifications.
Every lesson includes starters, activities, questions, AQA exam questions and answers and plenaries.
This covers the AQA combined trilogy specification 4.3.1.1-4.3.1.5 this covers:
What communicable diseases are and the types of pathogens that cause them
What symptoms each of diseases cause, how the infection is spread and prevented
Viral diseases such as HIV, measles and tobacco mosaic virus.
Bacterial diseases such as Salmonella and Gonorrhoea
Fungal diseases such as Black rose spot
Protist diseases such as malaria
UPDATED with even more exam questions
Here you have lessons needed to teach the Cloning and biotechnology unit from the New OCR A A-level biology on!
Amazing price considering the amount of time invested!
This resource bundle consists of individual power point presentations, lots of relevant important exam questions taken from the previous specification and legacy specification - it will save you a lot of time looking for these !
The best thing about this bundle is, it contains a resource on the effect of calcium ions on milk coagulation. This includes a practical pack, including investigative skills/experimental questions, technicians sheet, and also challenging evaluative questions such as limitations and improvements.
Furthermore, it contains a really good evaluative pack on the experiment ‘estimating the number of microbes on the surface of peas’. Both of these experiments were used as controlled assessments in the old specifications - however, really relevant to module 1 skills- skills our students really struggle on!
UPDATE: I have added 3 more exam question packs on industrial fermenters and population growth, and an exam pack on 6.4 using exam builder.
An excellent and detailed powerpoint presentation on classification.
End of chapter questions included.
Lessons include:
biological classification
Features used in classification
evidence used in classification the three Domain system
Classification and phylogeny
A powerpoint is also included on Evolution and natural selection.
There is a 4.3 exam pack, including numerous challenging questions on classification and evolution - there is a mark scheme also!
A separate exam question pack is included with new specification questions on phylogeny and evidence using in classification.
Lastly, smaller booklet questions is included with new specification questions on natural selection and evidence, natural selection 12 mark question, Evidence used in classification 6 mark question.
This bundle has EVERYTHING your A-level biology department needs to successfully implement the practical endorsement component of the A-level specification! I say everything- as everything in this bundle was highly recommended by an OCR official during a monitoring visit!
It consists of:
Student-friendly check lists for every PAG + additional ones we have made in order for the students to meet the skills
a summarised, student-friendly document of the OCR practical document showing the criteria used to assess biological drawings, graphs and table of results.
moderation activity sheets for staff to fill in
scanned examples of students work to use for moderation, to ensure staff are confident with assessing particular skills. Additionally, this allows departments to work collaboratively and collectively come to an agreement about how to assess the skills.
Staff questionairre of the flexi-tracker- this was a fantastic way for me to assess which areas students needed training on, I was able to see their confidence level at the start of the training session and at the end!
Analysis of questionairre document
Additional PAG activities for students to complete incase they have performed poorly on biological drawings, graph skills or research skills. Note- you will need to add these PAGS to the flexi-tracker and add/ update the skills.
NEW: Powerpoint presentation on PAG skills e.g. biological drawings, graphs etc.
Having had a scary OCR monitoring visit, we were highly advised to make PAG check lists for every PAG!
This has been a FANTASTIC way of documenting which skills students have met, and if not - why they did not meet a particular skill. It Also allows the monitoring visitor to see whether a student re-met the skill on a later date, therefore showing the examiner you are not freely giving away ‘mets’!
Not only has this allowed us to track student’s progress, but it allows students to clearly see which criteria they need to meet, and why they have not met it, thus allowing them to use formative feedback to improve their skills.
The checklists also has relevant maths skills, and a section where students can.
The moderation documents are essential and will help develop consistency in marking, for all biologists in a particular department. My staff were very pleased with the moderation activities, and honestly said how much it benefited them and improved their confidence in assessing the skills.
I truly hope this helps, it truly helped us as we were awarded with a pass for the practical endorsement- phewwww!
please leave a review!
I have thoroughly tracked all the current past papers from 2023 to 2018 to come up with accurate prediction questions and answers for AQA combined trilogy higher students.
My predictions were 64% accurate for the chemistry paper 1 2024 and 84% accurate for the predicted topics.
This pack comes with a predicted topic list, predicted question and answer pack.
This resource bundle is 100% compatible with the new OCR Gateway science/ biology triple science A specification and other specifications with modifications.
All the lessons from B6.1 sub unit are on a powerpoint presentation, including exam questions.
Three 6 mark questions conservation and sustainability and one on indicator species are included, and lots of other exam/data questions are included!
B6.2 lessons are currently being planned- watch this space!
Please leave a review!
*A mock specially made to test year 13 students on all the AS content.
*The paper is 2 hours and 5 minutes long
This includes popular exam topics and important practical/skills based questions.
Good way to prepare students before their real mock before their exams!
This is an absolutely amazing deal, and will save you hours worth of work! This is becaus this superb Photosynthesis unit bundle contains - I repeat contains EVERYTHING you need to effectively teach the unit to your A-level biology students!
This bundle is completely compatible for the new OCR A-level biology A specification and includes:
*** Detailed and informative lesson presentations on all the topics
exam questions on literally all the topics - all in seperate word documents so you can print it bit-by-bit as you teach
a fantastic practical photosynthesis exam question pack - have endured the painstaking process of extracting ALL- yes ALL the experimental questions on photosynthesis into one booklet! **
** There is an pair-activity on cyclic and non-cyclic photophosphorylation, whereby students use the grid to assess each other’s understanding on both of these processes. Students need to verbally recall or draw diagrams, while the other person acts as the assessor.**
there is a fantastic, challenging synoptic extended question where students are required to compare photophosphorylation and oxidative phosphorylation, students can use the fantastic diagrams provided.
Topics include:
The interrelationship between respiration and photosynthesis - includes a challenging synoptic question!
Chloroplast and photosynthetic pigments structure and function
The light dependent stage
the light independent stage
photophosphorylation
factors affecting the rate of photosynthesis
These tests are suitable for OCR A biology specification and many others!
Every year I make new mock papers for Year 12 and 13 This helps me identify the students that need to be placed into intervention.
As we have two teachers per class, it is usually paper 1 and paper 2.
For year 12:
Paper 1 assesses them on: biological molecules, nucleic acids, cell division,diversitiy and cell differentiation (up to meiosis only) = 36 marks
Paper 2: assesses them on: cells, enzymes and biological memranes up to osmosis only. = 38 marks
Grade boundaries for individual papers and total papers %:
A*= 75
A=64
B=57
C=48
D=43
E=39
For Y13:
Paper 1:Modules 1-5
Paper 2: Modules 1-6
Grade boundaries:
A*= 71
A=61
B=56
C=47
D=40
E=35
This is a level of response practical/ skills based exam question.
If you like this, why not buy the whole 3.3 unit bundle which contains all exam questions, activities and powerpoint presentations!