Comprehension activity to cover key areas of conservation including legislation (CITEs, SSSIs), seed banks and national parks.
Loop activity which I ran as a group competition.
Set for a year 8 class (could be for year 7) when I was at a course, and the cover teacher did not want them to do a practical activity.
Second piece of cover work included was a task to summarise learning on nutrition.
Good practice for drawing graphs and analysing results.
Used with a high ability year 7 class to develop their ability to evaluate different sides of an argument, and to develop constructive debating skills.
Last year I gained QTS and was graded Outstanding.
I have put together a selection of reflective logs, lesson evaluations, and a lesson plan to share with other trainees. I felt particularly isolated and unsure of what to do with regards to my portfolio of evidence as a trainee, and searched desperately online to see what others had done for inspiration.
Used with my high ability year 8 class - taught separate sciences so this passport is titled Biology, which can obviously be amended.
Glued the passport into the front of their books, and added their 'passport photo' in which they drew themselves as scientists.
Investigation skills linked heavily to the KS3 National Curriculum.
Following a practical students write the data in the table heading, and tick off the skills they have developed/demonstrated. Could enhance this with a red amber green system to show the progress they are making towards a skill.
When writing up a practical I encourage them to finish with a reflection in which they link back to these skills. I found previously they struggled to describe skills so this gives them a prompt.
Aim to demonstrate each skill through a range of different practicals across the year, such that by then end they may hope to achieve 'expert' status. I produced this to link to the idea of the new A-level CPAC criteria and the idea of demonstrating mastery of practical techniques.
With each new book they may receive a new passport.
Used with high ability year 7 class.
Labelled parts of a bunsen burner and performed a practical investigation, measuring the temperature change of water when using each of the 3 flames.
Students draw a graph of their results.
Used with high ability year 13 class.
Covers key definitions, Hardy-Weinberg, Natural selection and Speciation.
Practical activity to demonstrate the example of Peppered Moths.
I also used a circus activity with 15 questions on HW equilibrium. I laminated the questions on separate sheets, with the answer to the previous question on the back, and spread these around the room for students to have a go at.
Resource used over a series of lessons with a high ability class - covering adaptations of leaves, pigments, and the light dependent and independent reactions. According to the new AQA A level syllabus.
- first cover a simplified version of the Light Dependent Reaction (as per the textbook), and then went through the version no longer specified in the syllabus (photosystems and cyclic/non-cyclic) - can be tailored according to class ability.
Used with a high ability year 11 class.
- Covers intro to the topic, with key definitions.
- Graphs to allow some analysis (e.g. comparing the main causes of death in developed vs less developed countries, comparisons between incomes within countries, and genders --> great for developing critical analysis and reasoning).
- Case studies of Communicable diseases (including video links, and discussion of sociocultural and economic impacts)
- Introduction to immune system --> I used plasticine and got them to make stop motion videos of phagocytes and lymphocytes, using their phone (worked really well!)
Used with my year 11 classes to develop comprehension skills in the new health and disease unit within the GCSE syllabus.
Discusses new treatments away from antibiotics, as well as the antibiotic resistance crisis.
Used over a series of lessons with a high ability year 13 class.
- Aerobic respiration including glycolysis, link reaction, Krebs cycle, oxidative phosphorylation
- Other respiratory substrates
- Anaerobic respiration
Article relating to a modern recreation of Priestley's photosynthesis experiment, with comprehension questions. Used for higher ability student in my Biology class.