NEW AQA GCSE Trilogy (2016) Biology - The history of genetics: Mendel HT

This lesson is designed for the NEW AQA Trilogy Biology GCSE, particularly the ‘Inheritance, variation and evolution’ SoW, specifically for the higher-tier, biology only specification.

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

This lesson begins with an introduction to the work of Gregor Mendel, students will firstly watch a video and answer questions using the information provided. Once finished with this introductory task pupils can self-assess their work against the marking criteria.

The next task focuses on genetic diagrams drawn to represent the crosses Gregor Mendel carried out during his investigations. Pupils will be prompted to draw the genetic diagrams themselves to show the genotypes of offspring of the F1 and F2 generation of pea plants in the example given. There is a prompt which you can reveal for those students of a lower ability. Once this task is complete pupils can check their work against the answers which are provided.

Now there is a quick check mid-plenary for pupils to consolidate knowledge of what they have learnt so far, a set of questions is provided and the mark scheme for pupils to check their work against.

The next part of the lesson focuses on why Mendel’s important work was not wholly recognised within his lifetime, pupils can read an extract of information and use this to answer questions. Once complete pupils can self-assess their work using the answers provided.

The final part of the lesson is looking at how Mendel’s work was imperative to the development of the double-helix model of DNA and subsequent genetic research and discoveries. Pupils will need to read a page of information, in pairs, and answer questions provided on the PowerPoint slide. For those pupils of a lower ability it may be easier to tag read the information and answer questions in groups. Once completed pupils can check their work against the success criteria provided.

The final task is for pupils to answer an exam question on this topic, pupils can complete in their books (at the back of their books for an extra challenge) and assess their work using the mark scheme once complete.

The plenary task is for pupils to come up with a questions that they would like to ask Mendel about his work.

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 :)