NEW AQA GCSE Trilogy (2016) Biology – The importance of communities

This lesson is designed for the NEW AQA Trilogy Biology GCSE, particularly the ‘Ecology’ SoW.

For more lessons designed to meet specification points for the NEW AQA Trilogy specifications for Biology, Chemistry and Physics please see my shop: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/SWiftScience

The first task involves pupils discussing the definitions for a set of ecological terms, pupils can write their ideas down in their books and then watching a video to fill in any blanks they were unsure of. Once this has been completed pupils can self-assess their answers using the mark scheme provided.
The next task is for pupils to think > pair> share about how animals are interdependent upon each other, they can write down their ideas as a brain storm in their books. Once this has been completed, pupils can self-assess their work using the answers provided.

Pupils will then be given some information on stable communities, they will need to read this information in pairs and then try and answer a set of questions. They can then self-assess their work, correcting anything they didn’t get correct using the answers provided.
Pupils will now be introduced to the difference between abiotic and biotic factors, the first task is for pupils to watch a video and sort the factors demonstrated in the video into two columns – abiotic vs. biotic. They will then be given a set of descriptions, pupils will firstly need to identify which factor is for a list provided and the second task is for pupils to identify whether this factor is biotic or abiotic. Pupils can complete this on the worksheet provided, once completed students can either self-assess or peer-assess their work, making any corrections if necessary.

The plenary task is for pupils to choose two organisms from the pictures on the PowerPoint slide, they will need to describe the difference in habitats between the organisms and compare the abiotic and biotic factors which affect their survival.

All resources are included at the end of the presentation. Thanks for looking, if you have any questions please let me know in the comments section and any feedback would be appreciated :)