<p>A fiendish double puzzle made for my year 12s at the end of term as a bit of fun as well as an opportunity to revise some terms and an example of how to write a good answer/explanation (AQA).</p> <p>No, I don’t have the answers!</p>

<p>Another fiendish puzzle made for my year 12s at the end of term. This is a model answer describing for an AQA exam question describing the transmission across a synapse.</p>

<p>Two revision puzzles that will challenge your GCSE chemistry/combined science students.</p> <ol> <li> <p>Developing the periodic table - wordsearch with secret message revealed between the words. The message is a model answer to the common exam question “Why did Mendeleev leave gaps in his periodic table”, which students often seem to struggle with.</p> </li> <li> <p>Alkali metals reactivity - a cryptogram revealing another model answer, this one explaining the pattern of reactivity observed in group 1 metals.</p> </li> </ol>

<p>Three puzzles based on exam question answers for A level homeostasis.</p> <ol> <li>Cryptogram - based on an AQA exam question on blood glucose and insulin.</li> <li>Wordsearch - where the gaps left between the words spell out a secret message about the importance of maintaining body temperature based on an AQA exam question.</li> <li>Letter tiles - when arranged correctly give a model answer on the action of ADH - this one is really fiendish - but one of my year 13s did manage it. The answer is: “Decreasing water potential of the blood is detected by receptors in the hypothalamus. ADH is released from the pituitary which makes cells in the collecting duct more permeable to water. Water leaves the filtrate by osmosis and a smaller volume of water is produced.”</li> </ol>

<p>A differentiated set of cartoon-strips to support SEN students to record/show how to use a quadrat to estimate populations.</p> <p>This only goes as far as calculating the mean per quadrat (in the interests of simplicity).</p> <p>There are 4 versions of the cartoon strip:</p> <ol> <li>With pictures and words to colour</li> <li>With pictures for the student to describe</li> <li>With words for the student to add images</li> <li>With pictures and some text with gaps to fill</li> </ol>

<p>Step-by-step super-easy method to calculate reacting masses using the “All My Methods Rule” mnemonic (it’s good, because it’s a mnemonic and IT’S TRUE! All my methods do rule!)</p> <p>Tips: divide going down the table, multiply going up. Take the ratios from the balanced equation. Keep your calculated values on your calculator. Easy peasy.</p> <p>Clarification: the first part became “amount” rather than mass or similar because I started using this under the old specification when students had to calculate empirical formula from both masses and percentages. So “amount”, despite being a vague term, fitted better. Also, Mr is used interchangably with Ar of course (please excuse the formatting).</p> <p>This mnemonic can be used as a jumping-off point for most of the chemistry calculations. To calculate balanced equations from masses given, just go down both columns then calculate the ratios (divide by the smallest number).</p> <p>Disclaimer: I can’t remember if I made up the “All My Methods Rule” mnemonic myself, or if I pinched it from someone many years ago. So sorry if I pinched it from you!</p>

<p>Simple teacher planner which can be printed or used in Notability etc.</p> <p>Just a weekly overview followed by five daily planning sheets.<br /> With notes spaces and to-do lists.</p> <p>16 weeks - about enough for one term. Use again and again for subsequent terms.</p> <p>Please leave your comments.</p>