Having Taught for over 10 years OCR A Level Biology I have a huge amount of wisdom and knowledge that I have developed into my resources so please
Give feedback on what you think of them! :)
Having Taught for over 10 years OCR A Level Biology I have a huge amount of wisdom and knowledge that I have developed into my resources so please
Give feedback on what you think of them! :)
This power-point can go with the Booklet or on its own. It covers a whole lesson on the mechanisms that control gene expression in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. These include
Transcription control e.g Chromatin remodelling and histone modifcation
Post -transcriptional control e.g RNA processing and editing
Translational control e.g Inhibitory proteins and initiation factors
Post -translational control e.g phosphate groups and protein shortening
This detailed resources on food spoilage and microorganisms covers a wide range of issues including : why microorganisms spoil our food
preventing food spoilage covering:
preventing food spoilage at low temperatures e.g fridge, freezers and freeze dried food, the science behind how it stops microorganism growth.
Preventing food spoilage with low water potential solutions such as salting and with jams etc
Preventing food spoilage with solutions with low pH such as pickling
Preventing food spoilage with heat treatment ovens and pasteurised milk
Preventing food spoilage with Irradiation in canning and plastic wrapping
This essential booklet covers the key aspects of organisation of the nervous system which includes:
The central nervous system
recap of a relay neurone
Diagrammatic section of a reflex arc
The Peripheral Nervous system
Somatic Nervous system
Autonomic Nervous system
How the nervous system is organised
The motor pathways for the autonomic and Somatic nervous systems
The sympathetic subsystems
The Parasympathetic subsystems
Consolidation questions
This full 10 page Booklet on
plant hormones
plant responses to herbivory
seed germination
Apical dominance
Abiotic responses to stress
Tropisms
Tropisms historical investigations
This revision booklet goes through the key aspects of the Neuromuscular junction key part of animal responses for OCR A level Biology.
The booklet includes:
Photomicrograph of the junction
Key structures such as the sarcoplasmic reticulum
The sequence of events at the Neuromuscular junction
How a nerve impulse causes a muscle contraction
compare and contrasting the neuromuscular junction and synapses
This resource has everything needed to teach and learn about the heart at OCR A level.
The booklet starts at the basic structure of the heart and the main structures of heart anatomy both internal and external.
The Structure is explained using a simple gap fill activity to allow students to learn and complete the first page of the booklet.
The next is labeling the external and internal structures to allow students to orientate themselves.
The next part of the booklet explains the key stages in the cardiac cycle using a simple gap fill and then goes on to explain the cardiac cycle graph with clear labels of what is happening the pressure changes in the atria and ventricles.
The next part of the booklet explains the initiation of the cardiac cycle how the cardiac cells are myogenic and how the natural pacemaker SAN node triggers a wave of excitation over the atria and how the AVN node triggers ventricular contraction.
The last part of the booklet explains ECG graphs and what each part does and how to recognise abnormal ECG traces.
This is a Booklet resource with answers and allows students to understand functions of the Liver by filling in the Booklet and using the diagrams provided. This can be activity can be done independently or teacher led. It can last the whole lesson and would be ideal with looking at Liver tissue or modeling out the Ornithine cycle
This extremely challenging content is easily explained in the OCR Biology A level Sliding Filament Theory Booklet
It includes :
Skeletal muscle Histology
The structure of the myofibril
The structure of a sarcomere
How the muscle contracts -sliding filament theory
How contractions change the pattern of banding
Maintenance of ATP
This is a A level Biology OCR Genetic Engineering Booklet that will last the whole lesson. It covers :
The basic process of Genetic Engineering
Methods how the gene is obtained
Restriction enzymes and their Recognition sites
Vectors used to get the genetic material into the desired cell
This Biotechnology booklet
Introduces some key terms regarding Biotechnology and the many different uses of microorganisms in Biotechnology.
The introduction of Primary and secondary metabolites and when they are produced in the microbial growth curve.
There are some deep level thinking questions to challenge learners.
The booklet then goes on to explain some key Biotechnological processes and the microbes involved covering :
The production of food, pharmaceutical drugs, commercial enzymes and Bioremediation.
The booklet then introduces industrial scale fermenters and the key factors that can affect microbial growth.
The booklet contains picture of a standard fermenter and a power point resource that pupils can use to label and learn the key parts.
The Booklet then briefly compares Batch and Continuous culture and the key differences between them.
The last page contains the key terms of aseptic technique, asepsis and Contaminants and the results of what happens if contaminants enter in the fermenter and why asepsis is key to pure culture.
Lastly the challenges faced when scaling up small scale fermenters to industrial scale.
This full interactive lesson booklet on DNA sequencing defines DNA sequencing then starts off explaining past techniques such as shot gun sequencing step by step and their associated problems.
The booklet then focuses on Fredrick Sangers technique of DNA sequencing and how he first cracked the process using radioactive dideoxy nucleotides. The technique goes into detail step by step.
The booklet then focuses on modern day sequencing and Next Gen sequencing. The booklet then focuses how flourescent dyes and high processing power computers have dramatically changed the rate at which DNA is sequenced. Lastly the uses of DNA sequencing have been covered
This A level Biology OCR booklet on the three types of muscles
It includes:
The structural and functional differences in :
Involuntary/smooth muscle
Cardiac muscle
Voluntary/Skeletal muscle
A full detailed summary table that helps with Revision
This introduction to Biological molecules looks at the key chemical groups found in living molecules a long with the basic summary of all the key Biological molecules found in living organisms
Having learned about this in my Biochemistry degree. It has now been included in the OCR A level Biology A H420 Syllabus as a kind of introduction into cellular control.
Having taught this for several years I have had to make my own resource as there is very little material out on it that is relevant to A level students and the textbooks don’t explain the Biochemistry fully.
The resource is a Booklet gap fill with diagrams and the teacher telling them all about the various different mechanisms that control gene expression in organisms.
It covers
-Gene regulation-Transcriptional control : chromatin remodelling/Histone modification / Lac operon/cAMP-Post-Transcriptional control: RNA Processing /RNA editing-Translational control : protein kinases/inhibitory proteins/inititaion factors-Post-Translational control : phosphates/amino acid modification/folding proteins/cAMP modification
A level -Biology -Plant responses Topic -Lesson on Plant responses to Herbivory
This includes
An introduction to Herbivory what it is and the cost to the producer
The types of defences plant use including
Mechanical defences -spikes, hairs, barbs etc
Moving defences -specifically Mimosa Pudica
Chemical defence - Alkaloids with examples
Chemical defence - Phenols with examples
Chemical defence - Terpenoids with examples
Phenological defences - Volatile Organic compounds and Pheromones with examples
links to videos on the internet and a summary
This OCR A level Biology Resource on Gene therapy is a full lesson of learning the past, present and future of Gene therapy.
It covers :
The process of gene delivery and their main mechanisms
vectors for gene delivery and their advantages/disadvantages
Some key Trials that took place in the past their results and set backs
It covers the key difference between Somatic cell gene therapy and Germ line gene therapy and what their future challenges are.
The resource is for pupils undertaking GCSE Science/ Biology and the topic of Monoclonal Antibodies how they are made and their uses.
It consists of a starter and main activity that is called 7 monkeys ( This is a teaching and learning activity that really helps pupils remember a hard and difficult topic of Biology)
Pupils will be given paper and the teacher will talk them through the process of making monoclonal Antibodies. This will be learned through pupils making their own diagrams and drawings to the sequence
Two previous pupils drawing are attached to help for SEN pupils
This resource booklet explores the Biological importance of water to life and how the key biochemical properties of water enable life to exist on our planet.
This Biology OCR A level teaching resource is a great method of teaching and revising specifically plant cloning at A level
It covers:
Natural Clones
advantages and disadvantages of asexual reproduction
Vegetative Propagation
advantages and disadvantages of Vegetative Propagation
Artificial Clones
Grafting
Cuttings
Micropropagation (tissue culture)
advantages and disadvantages of tissue culture
Plant cloning questions