NEW (2016) AQA AS-Level Biology – Energy and ATP

This lesson is designed for the NEW AQA AS-level Biology course, particularly the ‘Biological Molecules’ module.

For more lessons designed to meet specification points for the NEW AQA A-level Biology course please visit my shop: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/SWiftScience

A-Level lesson format: I teach in more of a lecture style compared to GCSE. In the majority of my A-level lessons the beginning portion of the lesson is mainly teacher-led, where students are expected to take notes onto a handout/in their books. This is then mixed in with student-led activities, as well as questions and exam prep.

You will find some of my slides have blank spaces for you to add more detail/descriptions/explanations. If you look at the ‘Notes’ section underneath each of these slides, you will find additional content which you can add in as you teach!

This lesson begins with a starter discussion to review the enzymes needed for DNA replication and the process of DNA replication itself. Students are then asked to make a list in their books of all of the biological processes that require energy.

Students are then taught to think of ATP as an ‘energy currency’ and on the following slide asked to define the parts of the structure of ATP before reviewing ATP’s function. Students should use the ‘ATP handout’ to take notes.

The next task asks students to answer a few questions on their mini whiteboards and discuss with a partner how ATP releases energy. Answers for self-assessment are on the next slide.

The following slides explain the synthesis, roles, and properties of ATP. You will find further details for these slides in the ‘notes’ section under each slide. Students are then encouraged to ‘think > pair > share’ some ideas of why ATP’s properties might be useful to the role of ATP in cells. Answers for self-assessment are on the following slide.

Students are then given an activity task to demonstrate knowledge of energy-requiring processes. Each student will be given a description of a process, these can be found at the end of the slideshow, there are five processes in total. Students should then work in small groups to teach each other the different processes and produce a table to represent what they’ve learned.

After completing the lecture and tasks students are given four summary questions to answer in their books and self or partner-assess. Students should then make note of the summary slide before concluding the lesson.

All resources are included. Thanks for looking, if you have any questions please let me know in the comments section and any feedback would be appreciated :)