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.

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 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 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 lesson uses 17 multiple-choice questions to challenge students to apply their understanding to the calculation sections of the course. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are designed to act as revision during the final weeks leading up to the AQA GCSE Combined chemistry exams and the following topics are covered: Atoms and ions Isotopes Concentration of solutions Mole calculations using Avogadro’s constant Calculating relative formula mass Mole calculations using mass and relative formula mass Calculating masses in reactions Calculating energy changes in reactions Calculating the mean rate of reaction All 17 questions have answers embedded into the PowerPoint along with explanations and are followed by additional tasks to further check understanding if it was initially limited.

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 uses a range of tasks to allow students to check their understanding of radioactive decay and nuclear radiation. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to challenge the detail of point 4.2 of the AQA GCSE physics and combined science specifications and the following sub-topics are covered: Properties of alpha, beta and gamma Bq as the unit of radioactivity Detecting sources of radiation based on their penetrating power Half-life Decay equations Changes to the mass and charge of the nucleus after decay

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 detailed revision lesson challenges the students on their understanding of the reactions of acids with metals to produce salts and hydrogen. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources focus on the details of point 4.2.1 in the AQA GCSE chemistry and combined specifications, and time is spent reminding the students that these reactions are redox reactions. The students are given the general word equation for acids reacting with metals and are challenged to recall how to name the salts according to the metal and acid involved in the reaction. They are reminded that redox reactions involve the loss and gain of electrons and are challenged to identify the substances which are reduced or oxidised in specific examples. In addition to the reactions of acids with metals, this revision lesson also challenges them to write chemical formulae, balance symbol equations, and to identify the tests for gases.

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 revision lesson focuses on the properties of waves and the process of refraction as detailed in topic 6 of the AQA physics and combined specifications. Each task in the PowerPoint and accompanying resources challenges the students on their understanding of the key terms frequency, period, wavelength, amplitude, transverse and longitudinal, and reminds them how to answer refraction questions by using explanations that involve density, speed and the change in direction of the light wave.

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 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 lesson covers a large number of the key topics from the AQA GCSE Combined Physics course in the final weeks before the GCSE examinations. The extensive PowerPoint and accompanying resources use a range of activities and tasks including exam questions and quizzes to challenge the students on their knowledge of the following topics and skills: Units and converting between units Answering calculation questions (with 1 or 2 equations) Newton’s 2nd and 3rd laws of motion Resultant forces Conservation of energy Efficiency and reducing wasted energy Conservation of momentum Scalar and vector quantities Motions on a velocity-time graph The relationship between force and the extension of a spring Setting up electrical circuits Current, potential difference and resistance in series and parallel circuits The properties of ionising radiation Calculating half-lives Constructing decay equations The properties of waves Refraction This resource is likely to take 4 or more lessons to cover all of the content.

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”.

This lesson describes the actions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the ANS. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are part of the 8th lesson in a series of 17 lessons that cover the details of the brain and neuropsychology topic of the AQA GCSE Psychology specification. The students were introduced to the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in the 1st lesson in this topic, so this lesson has been designed to deepen and further their understanding of the actions of this system. Students will come to understand that the sympathetic division is most active during times of stress whilst the parasympathetic division is most active during times of sleep and relaxation. Through a series of tasks including a fun quiz round, they will discover the actions of the two divisions and then be challenged to apply their understanding. This topic of the brain and neuropsychology has proved particularly difficult for the students in recent years, so I have taken time to analyse the lesson sequencing. There’s a lot of content to absorb and to understand before moving onto the next part, so I’ve tried to ensure that cross topics links and prior knowledge checks run throughout the lessons. I have organised the lessons to run through the biology content first before moving onto the psychology parts as shown by the 17 lessons below: #1 Organisation of the nervous system #2 The structure and function of the cerebral lobes #3 The cerebellum #4 The structure and function of the sensory and motor neurones #5 The relay neurones #6 Synaptic transmission #7 Excitation and inhibition at the synapse #8 The autonomic nervous system #9 The fight or flight response #10 The somatic nervous system #11 James-Lange theory of emotion #12 James-Lange theory of emotion part 2 #13 Penfield’s study of the interpretative index #14 Hebb’s theory of learning and neuronal growth #15 An introduction to neuropsychology #16 Brain scanning techniques #17 Tulving’s gold memory study