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.

This detailed lesson describes how the movement of water molecules by osmosis can affect both plant and animal cells. Both the PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover specification point 2.1.5 (e) [i] as detailed in the OCR A-level Biology A specification and there is a particular focus on solutions of different water potentials. It’s likely that students will have used the term concentration in their osmosis definitions at GCSE, so the aim of the starter task is to introduce water potential to allow students to begin to recognise osmosis as the movement of water molecules from a high water potential to a lower potential, with the water potential gradient. Time is taken to describe the finer details of water potential to enable students to understand that 0 is the highest value (pure water) and that this becomes negative once solutes are dissolved. Exam-style questions are used throughout the lesson to check on current understanding as well as prior knowledge checks which make links to previously covered topics such as the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane. The remainder of the lesson focuses on the movement of water when animal and plant cells are suspended in hypotonic, hypertonic or isotonic solutions and the final appearance of these cells is described, including any issues this may cause. This lesson has been specifically written to tie in with the previous two lessons covering 2.1.5 (b) & (d) where the cell membrane, diffusion and active transport were described.

This engaging lesson uses the example of resistant bacteria and the modern-day giraffe to describe how natural selection occurs. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover point 17.2 (a) of the CIE A-level Biology specification but also explains that genetic diversity is important for selection and therefore covers 17.1 (d) at the same time. President Trump’s error ridden speech about viruses antibiotics is used at the beginning of the lesson to remind students antibiotics are actually a treatment for bacterial infections. Moving forwards, 2 quick quiz competitions will initially introduce MRSA and then will show the students that they can use this abbreviation to remind them to use mutation, reproduce, selection (and survive) and allele in their descriptions of evolution through natural selection. The main task of the lesson challenges the students to form a description that explains how this strain of bacteria developed resistance to methicillin. In doing so, they will see the principles of natural selection so they can be applied to different situations such as describing how the anatomy of the modern-day giraffe has evolved over time. The final part of the lesson introduces adaptations and convergent evolution and also links to the need for modern classification techniques which is covered later in topic 17.

This lesson explores how certain farming methods reduce biodiversity and considers the importance of a balance between conservation and farming. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are the second in a series of 2 lessons which cover the detail in point 4.6 (biodiversity within a community) of the AQA A-level biology specification. The lesson begins by challenging the students to use the % change formula to calculate the predicted population in the UK by mid 2030. This increase to almost 70 million will lead into the recognition that farmers are under constant pressure to grow and provide enough food to feed this ever-growing population. A series of tasks and discussions will consider farming methods such as continuous monoculture and herbicides and insecticides which reduce biodiversity. This introduces conservation as active management to prevent the loss of biodiversity and several methods including the CSS and buffer strips are explored to encourage the students to think about the aims of these strategies. The other lesson covering specification point 4.6 is uploaded and named “biodiversity within a community”.

Students commonly confuse the two forms of cell division, so this revision lesson has been designed to address those mistakes and misconceptions. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been planned to challenge the students on their understanding of the details of points 1.2.1, 1.2.2 and 6.1.2 of the AQA GCSE biology and combined science specifications. The lesson goes through each of the three stages of the cell cycle including mitosis, to ensure that students can describe the key events and state the outcome in terms of the daughter cells. The lesson contains a series of tasks which include exam questions, discussions and a quiz which allow the students to assess their understanding. The final part of the lesson focuses on meiosis and specifically the differences to mitosis in terms of the number of cell divisions, the gametes formed, and their genetic make up. This lesson has been designed to be used for revision purposes in the lead up to the GCSE exams or in preparation for an end of topic test or mocks.

This fully-resourced revision lesson allows students to check on their understanding of Linnaeus’s and Woese’s classification systems. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to challenge the details of point B6.4 of the AQA GCSE biology and combined science specifications. The lesson contains a range of tasks including exam-questions and quizzes which provide opportunities for the students to assess their knowledge of kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species as the classification taxa and to recognise the binomial naming system. The lesson also reminds students that the three domain-system divides the Prokaryote kingdom into Archaea and Bacteria and describes how this system was developed once new evidence was discovered. As well as testing the content of B6.4, this lesson uses a series of questions to challenge understanding of linked topics which include eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell structures, microscopes, communicable diseases and ecological terms. This lesson has been planned for revision purposes in the lead up to the GCSE exams or before end of topic tests or mocks.

This engaging revision lesson challenges the students on their knowledge of the communicable diseases topic as detailed in the AQA GCSE combined science specification. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources include a range of tasks that enable the students to assess their knowledge of the 7 viral, bacterial, fungal and protist infections that are listed in topic B3.1. This lesson has been designed to be used as a final revision resource as the GCSE exams approach, or as part of revision for an end of topic test.

This engaging revision lesson challenges students on their understanding of the homeostatic control system that regulates blood glucose concentration. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to check on the understanding of the details in specification point 5.3.2 of the AQA biology and combined science specifications. A common mistake in this topic is that students confuse glycogen with glucagon and use them incorrectly so time is spent to ensure that students recognise the difference between the complex carbohydrate and the hormone. In addition to challenging the students on their knowledge of this control system, the following linked topics are also challenged: key biological terms (beginning with G) the digestive system structures in a control system

This revision lesson challenges students to explain the results of an osmosis investigation and to calculate accelerations using 2 equations. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to check on the understanding of these two topics as detailed in the AQA GCSE biology, physics and combined specifications. The lesson contains a range of tasks including worked examples, exam questions and quizzes which will remind students that water molecules move across partially permeable membranes by osmosis and how changes in the mass of a potato can be used to compare water concentrations in the potato and solution. Students will also recall that acceleration can be calculated from velocity-time graphs using change in velocity/time as well as through the use of F=ma.

This lesson revisits the topic of random and systematic errors and also challenges students on other scientific skills such as identifying variables. Students tend to find this topic confusing, so the PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to support them to identify whether an error is random or systematic and then to understand what to do next. The lesson guides the students through a series of real life examples and shows them how to spot each type of error. There is a considerable mathematical element to this lesson, including the calculation of means or missing values in a table. The lesson concludes with a series of exam-style questions where the students have to apply their understanding of identifying errors, variables and calculating means.

This revision lesson will challenge the students on their understanding of the details of photosynthesis (topic B4.1 of the AQA GCSE specification). It has been designed to be used in the final weeks before the GCSE exams, or in the lead up to mocks or an end of topic test, and provides multiple opportunities for the students to check their understanding of the reaction, limiting factors, the inverse square law and the uses of glucose. The lesson contains a range of tasks, including exam-style questions and quizzes, that will maintain engagement whilst allowing any misconceptions or mistakes to be addressed.

This fully-resourced lesson describes the meaning of directional and stabilising selection and uses real-life examples to develop student understanding. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of the 3rd lesson in a series of 4 that have been designed to cover the details of topic 4.4 (genetic diversity and adaptation) of the AQA A-level biology specification. As stated in the specification, antibiotic resistance is used as the key example to explain directional selection whereas human baby birth weight explains stabilising selection. The lesson is filled with current understanding checks so any misunderstandings can be immediately addressed, and also prior knowledge checks, where students are expected to recall key details from lessons in this topic so they can make important links. The lesson concludes with a short quiz called “SELECT that word” (shown on the cover image) where students have to identify the types of selection from clues to reveal a key biological word.

This extensive revision lesson challenges students on their knowledge and understanding of the content of topics 5 - 8 of the AQA A-level specification. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain a selection of tasks which challenge the following points: Directional, stabilising and disruptive selection Saltatory conduction and other factors affecting conductance speed The structure of a motor neurone Sensory receptors, depolarisation and initiation of an action potential Hardy-Weinberg principle Genetic terminology Codominance and sex-linkage Autosomal linkage Chi-squared test Phosphorylation The stages of aerobic respiration Explaining lower ATP yields in anaerobic respiration Skeletal muscle contraction Structure and function of slow and fast twitch muscle fibres The control of heart rate Electrophoresis and genetic fingerprinting The secondary messenger model The students are tested through a variety of tasks including exam questions, understanding checks, and quiz rounds to maintain engagement. Due to the mathematical content in all A-level exams, there is also a focus on these skills. The answers to all questions are embedded into the PowerPoint so students can use this resource outside of the classroom. The delivery of the whole lesson will likely need at least 2 or 3 hours of contact time so this resource could be used with students in the final weeks building up to their paper 2 exam, or alternatively with students before their mocks on these topics.

This fully-resourced lesson describes the stages of succession from colonisation to climax community. The PowerPoint and accompanying worksheets have been designed to cover the content of point 5.4 of the Edexcel A-level Biology A specification. As you can see from the cover image, this lesson uses a step-by-step method to guide the students through each stage of the process of succession, explaining each of the gradual, progressive changes that occur in a community over time. At each stage, time is taken to consider the organisms involved. There is a focus on lichens as examples of pioneer species and students will understand how colonisation by these organisms is critical to provide organic matter and to turn the bare ground into soil so it is habitable by other species. The island of Surtsey in Iceland is used as real-world example and shows how different parts of an area can be at different stages of succession. Understanding and prior knowledge checks are embedded into the PowerPoint (along with the answers) to allow students to assess their progress against the current topic and to encourage them to make links to previously-covered work.

This lesson describes the biological meaning of species, populations, gene pool and allele frequency and explains how these terms are linked. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of the 1st lesson in a series of 2 lessons that cover the detail of specification point 7.2 (Populations) of the AQA A-level biology. The two living species of the African elephant, the forest and bush elephant, are used as examples to demonstrate the meaning of species and to show how they exist as one or more populations. A quick quiz introduces the term gene pool in an engaging way and then the allele frequency of three versions of the GBA gene demonstrates how these frequencies can change in small populations. In doing so, students are briefly introduced to genetic drift which they will encounter in an upcoming topic. The students are challenged throughout the lesson with understanding checks and prior knowledge checks as well as exam-based questions where they have to comment on the validity of a scientist’s conclusion. The other lesson in topic 7.2 is the Hardy-Weinberg principle.

This lesson describes succession as the gradual, progressive changes that occur in a community over time. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of lesson 3 in a series of 4 lessons which have been planned to cover the content included in topic 7.4 of the AQA A-level biology specification. In line with the specification, the lesson describes primary succession and explains how the community changes from the initial colonisation by the pioneer species to the establishment of a climax community. Time is taken to focus on the lichen as a pioneer species and to explain how their actions lead to the production of soil and the subsequent colonisation by more hardy species. The island of Surtsey is used as a real-world example to deepen student understanding. Understanding checks and prior knowledge checks are embedded throughout the lesson (along with the answers) so students can assess their progress on the current topic and also test their ability to link to previously covered topics. Due to the high mathematical content of the AQA assessments, a maths in a biology context question has also been included.