This lesson has been designed to cover the content as detailed in point 2.13 (The structure and function of the nervous system) of the Edexcel GCSE Biology & Combined Science specifications. Consisting of a detailed and engaging PowerPoint (38 slides) and accompanying worksheets, the range of activities will motivate the students whilst ensuring that the content is covered in detail. Students will learn how receptors, sensory neurones, the CNS, motor neurones and effectors are involved in the detection and response to a stimulus. There is a focus on the structure of the sensory and motor neurones and the presence of the myelin sheath in both of these neurones is discussed with relation to the increased speed of conduction. Students will understand that a synapses involve the diffusion of neurotransmitters and allow communication between neurones and they are briefly introduced to relay neurones but these are covered in more detail in the reflexes lesson. Progress checks are included throughout the lesson so that students can assess their understanding of the content and any misconceptions can be addressed whilst quiz competitions, like FROM NUMBERS 2 LETTERS and SAY WHAT YOU SEE, are used to introduce new terms in a fun and memorable way. This lesson has been written for GCSE-aged students who are studying the Edexcel GCSE Biology or Combined Science specifications but can be used with older students who need to know the key details of the nervous system for their A level course before taking it to greater depths

This lesson guides students through the use of the chi-squared test to determine the significance of the difference between observed and expected results. It is fully-resourced with a detailed PowerPoint and differentiated worksheets that have been designed to cover point 6.1.2 © of the OCR A-level Biology A specification which states that students should be able to demonstrate and apply their knowledge and understanding of the test to compare the observed and expected results of a genetic cross The lesson has been written to include a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to carry out the test in small sections. At each step, time is taken to explain any parts which could cause confusion and helpful hints are provided to increase the likelihood of success in exam questions on this topic. Students will understand how to use the phenotypic ratio to calculate the expected numbers and then how to find the critical value in order to compare it against the chi-squared value. A worked example is used to show the working which will be required to access the marks and then the main task challenges the students to apply their knowledge to a series of questions of increasing difficulty.

A detailed lesson presentation (37 slides) and associated worksheets that guide students through the DNA sequencing method called pyrosequencing. The lesson focusses on the numerous enzymes and substrates which are involved in the cascade of events which eventually leads to the production of light when the conversion from luciferin to oxyluciferin occurs. A step by step guide is used to show the students how these events occur and the different outcomes are explored. There are regular progress checks throughout the lesson so that students can assess their understanding of this topic and the links to similar topics. This lesson has been designed for A-level students and above

An informative and engaging lesson (46 slides) that looks at the topic of immobilised enzymes and focusses on ensuring that students understand this topic around three main ideas. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to explain why immobilised enzymes are used, describe the different methods by which they are produced and describe some of their uses in biotechnology. Time is taken throughout the lesson to make sure that students understand the disadvantages associated with this process and that they are able to explain the specific limitations of each method. This lesson has been designed for students studying A-level Biology

An engaging lesson presentation (63 slides) and associated worksheets that uses a combination of exam questions, quick tasks and quiz competitions to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within the Chemistry unit C3 (Quantitative chemistry) of the AQA GCSE Combined Science specification (specification point C5.3). The lesson includes useful hints and tips to encourage success in assessments. For example, students are shown how to recognise whether to use Avogadro’s constant or the moles formula in a moles calculation question. The topics that are tested within the lesson include: Conservation of mass and balanced symbol equations Relative formula mass Mass changes when a reactant or product is a gas Moles Amounts of substances in equations Concentration of solutions Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “Number CRAZY” and “Are you on FORM” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention

This lesson describes the structure and ultrastructure of plant cells to allow students to compare this structure against animal cell structure. The detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover points 4.1 (i) & (ii) in unit 2 of the Edexcel International A-level Biology specification and also describes the functions of the cell wall, chloroplast, amyloplast, vacuole, tonoplast, plasmodesmata, pits and middle lamella The lesson begins with a task called REVERSE GUESS WHO which will challenge the students to recognise a particular organelle from a description of its function. This will remind students that plant cells are eukaryotic and therefore contain a cell-surface membrane, a nucleus (+ nucleolus), a mitochondria, a Golgi apparatus, ribosomes and rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum like the animal cells. Moving forwards, the next part of the lesson focuses on the relationship between the structure and function of the vacuole, chloroplast, plasmodesmata and cellulose cell wall. When considering the vacuole, key structures such as the tonoplast are described as well as critical functions including the maintenance of turgor pressure. A detailed knowledge of the structure of the chloroplast at this early stage of their A-level studies will increase the likelihood of a clear understanding of photosynthesis when covered in topic 5. For this reason, time is taken to consider the light-dependent and light-independent reactions and to explain how these stages are linked. Students will learn that chloroplasts and amyloplasts can contain stores of starch so an opportunity is taken to challenge them on their knowledge of this polysaccharide as it was covered in topic 1. The final task challenges them to recognise descriptions of the cell wall, chloroplast, amyloplasts, vacuole, tonoplast and plasmodesmata which will leave 2 remaining which describe the pits and middle lamella.

This lesson describes an ion as an atom with a positive or negative charge, and explains how cations and anions are formed in ionic compounds. The lesson PowerPoint and accompanying worksheet have been designed to cover points 1.22 - 1.24 of the Edexcel GCSE Chemistry specification and also covers the same points on the Combined Science course. The first part of the lesson focuses on atoms and specifically on getting students to recall that they contain the same number of protons and electrons and this is why they have no overall charge. By ensuring that they are confident with this fact, they will be able to understand why ions have a charge. Students will learn that ions have full outer shells of electrons and this change in the number of this sub-atomic particle leads to the charge. They are shown examples with aluminium and oxide ions and then are challenged to apply this new-found knowledge to a task where they have to explain how group 1, 2, 5 and 7 atoms become ions. The final part of the lesson looks at how ion knowledge can be assessed in a question as they have to recognise the electron configuration of one and describe how many sub-atomic particles are found in different examples. There are regular progress checks throughout the lesson to allow the students to check on their understanding. This lesson has been written for GCSE students but could be used with higher ability KS3 students who are looking to extend their knowledge past basic atomic structure

This lesson describes how to calculate the standard deviation to measure the spread of a set of data and to compare means using the t-test. The detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover the part of point 4.2.2 (f) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification that includes these two statistical tests. A step by step guide walks the students through each stage of the calculation of the standard deviation and gets them to complete a worked example with the class before applying their knowledge to another set of data. This data looks at the birth weights of humans on one day in the UK and this is used again later in the lesson to compare against the birth weights of babies in South Asia when using the student’s t-test. The null hypothesis is introduced and students will learn to accept or reject this based upon a comparison of their value against one taken from the table based on the degrees of freedom.

This lesson describes the gross structure of the human gas exchange system and the functions of the structural components like goblet cells. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover points 9.1 (a & c) of the CIE A-level Biology specification and has been specifically planned to prepare students for an upcoming lesson where the gas exchange between the alveoli and the blood is described. The lesson is filled with a range of activities such as guided discussion periods, exam-style questions (with markschemes) and quiz competitions and these run alongside the slides containing the detailed A-level Biology content to cover the following features: The incomplete rings of cartilage, ciliated pseudostratified columnar epithelium and goblet cells in the trachea The narrowing airways of the primary, secondary and tertiary bronchi The elastic fibres and smooth muscle in the terminal and respiratory bronchioles The pleural cavity and fluid of the lungs When describing the production of mucus by the goblet cells in the trachea, time is taken to consider cystic fibrosis and the inheritance of this autosomal recessive disorder. Students will be supported in working out genotypes from a pedigree tree to prepare them for topic 16 (Inherited change)

This lesson describes the process of gas exchange between air in the alveoli and the blood. The PowerPoint and accompanying worksheet have been designed to cover point 9.1 (d) of the CIE A-level Biology specification Gas exchange at the alveoli is a topic that was covered at GCSE so this lesson has been written to challenge the recall of that knowledge and to build on it. The main focus of the lesson is the type of epithelium found lining the alveoli and students will discover that a single layer of flattened cells known as simple, squamous epithelium acts to reduce the diffusion distance. The following features of the alveolar epithelium are also covered: Surface area Moist lining Production of surfactant The maintenance of a steep concentration gradient As a constant ventilation supply is critical for the maintenance of the steep concentration gradient, the final part of the lesson considers the mechanism of ventilation

This lesson describes the uses and implications of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling. The lesson PowerPoint and accompanying worksheets have been primarily designed to cover point 2.15 of the Pearson Edexcel A-level Biology A (Salters Nuffield) specification but regular links are made to the earlier content of topics 1 & 2, and their knowledge of topics including the heart and circulation, monohybrid inheritance and cystic fibrosis are tested. The lesson begins by challenging them to use this prior knowledge of topic 2 to identify the letters in the abbreviations PGD and CVS. The involvement of IVF to obtain the embryos (or oocytes) is then discussed and a series of exam-style questions are used to get them to understand how this method screens embryos prior to implantation, so that those identified as having genetic diseases or being carriers are not inserted into the female’s uterus. Mark schemes for all of the questions included in this lesson are embedded into the PowerPoint so students can constantly assess their progress. Moving forwards, Down syndrome (trisomy 21) is used as an example of a chromosomal abnormality that can be tested for using CVS or amniocentesis. Time is taken to describe the key details of both of these procedures so students have a clear understanding of the implications and the invasiveness to the female being tested. The link between amniocentesis and an increased risk of miscarriage is considered and the results of a 2006 study are used to challenge them on their data skills.

This fully-resourced lesson describes the meaning of the terms stem cell, pluripotency and totipotency. The PowerPoint and accompanying worksheets have been designed to cover points 3.11 (i) and (ii) of the Pearson Edexcel A-level Biology A (Salters Nuffield) specification and therefore this lesson also contains discussion periods where the topic is the decisions that the scientific community have to make about the use of stem cells in medical therapies. The lesson begins with a knowledge recall of the structure of eukaryotic cells and the students have to use the first letters of each of the four answers to reveal the key term, stem cell. Time is then taken to consider the meaning of cellular differentiation, and this leads into the key idea that not all stem cells are equal when it comes to the number of cell types that they have the potential to differentiate into. A quick quiz round introduces the five degrees of potency, and then the students are challenged to use their understanding of terminology to place totipotency, pluripotency, multipotency, oligopotency and unipotency in the correct places on the potency continuum. Although the latter three do not have to be specifically known based on the content of specification point 3.11 (i), an understanding of their meaning was deemed helpful when planning the lesson as it should assist with the retention of knowledge about totipotency and pluripotency. These two highest degrees of potency are the main focus of the lesson, and key details are emphasised such as the ability of totipotent cells to differentiate into any extra-embroyonic cell, which the pluripotent cells are unable to do. The morula, and inner cell mass and trophoblast of the blastocyst are used to demonstrate these differences in potency. The final part of the lesson discusses the decisions that the scientific community have to make about the use of embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells and also foetal stem cells which allows for a link to chorionic villus sampling from topic 2. There is also a Maths in a Biology context question included in the lesson (when introducing the morula) to ensure that students continue to be prepared for the numerous calculations that they will have to tackle in the terminal exams. This resource has been differentiated two ways to allow students of differing abilities to access the work

An informative lesson presentation (24 slides) that looks at the relative size of the nanoparticles and explains why they are so effective for a range of purposes. The lesson begins by looking at exactly how small nanoparticles are and ensures that students can recognise this size in a range of ways, including standard form. Moving forwards, in order to help students to understand why these nanoparticles are being used in a lot of different ways, students are introduced to bulk materials. Included in the remainder of the lesson is calculating the surface area to volume ratio so this can be used as a comparison point. There are regular progress checks throughout the lesson so that students can assess their understanding. This lesson has been written for GCSE students.

A fully-resourced lesson which has been designed for GCSE students and includes an engaging lesson presentation and associated worksheets. This lesson looks at the three limiting factors of photosynthesis, focusing on the graphs that they produce and ensures that students can explain why temperature is a factor. This lesson begins by introducing the students to the definition of a limiting factor. They are challenged to recognise that it would be photosynthesis which is limited by carbon dioxide concentration and light intensity. The third factor, temperature, is not introduced until later in the lesson so that students are given thinking time to consider what it might be. Having been presented with two sets of data, students are asked to draw sketch graphs to represent the trend. The limiting factors on the light intensity graph are taught to the students so they can use this when working out the limiting factors on the carbon dioxide graph. The remainder of the lesson focuses on temperature and more specifically why a change in this factor would cause a change in the rate of photosynthesis because of enzymes. The student’s knowledge of that topic is tested alongside. Progress checks have been written into the lesson at regular intervals so that students can constantly assess their understanding.

This is a concise REVISION lesson that contains an engaging powerpoint (34 slides) and associated worksheets. The lesson uses a range of activities which include exam questions (with displayed answers), differentiated tasks and quiz competitions to engage students whilst they assess their knowledge of the content that is found within topic P7 (Magnetism and electromagnetism) of the AQA Trilogy 9-1 GCSE Combined Science specification. Generally, this is a topic which isn’t particularly well understood by students but is regularly assessed through questions in the GCSE exams and so time has been taken to design the lesson so that the key points are covered and common misconceptions addressed. The following sub-topics in the specification are covered in this lesson: Poles of a magnet Magnetic fields Electromagnetism Fleming’s left hand rule Electric motors This lesson can be used throughout the duration of the GCSE course, as an end of topic revision lesson or as a lesson in the lead up to mocks or the actual GCSE exams

This is a fully-resourced REVISION lesson that consists of a detailed and engaging PowerPoint (86 slides) and associated worksheets that challenge the students on their knowledge of the content of Topic 5 (Health, disease and the development of medicines) of the Edexcel GCSE Biology specification. A wide range of activities have been written into the lesson to maintain motivation and these tasks include exam questions (with answers), understanding checks, differentiated tasks and quiz competitions. The lesson has been designed to include as much which of the content from topic 5, but the following sub-topics have been given particular attention: Identification of bacterial, fungal and viral diseases in animals and plants The treatment of bacterial infections The reduction and prevention of the spread of pathogens The body’s response to immunisation The physical defences of humans and plants The risk factors of CHD and possible treatments BMI The production and use of monoclonal antibodies This lesson can be used at numerous points over the duration of the course, as an end of topic revision aid, in the lead up to the mocks or in the lead up to the actual GCSE exams.