Topic 1: Biological molecules (Edexcel A-level Biology B)

The biological molecules topic is incredibly important, not just because it is found at the start of the course, but also because of its detailed content which must be well understood to promote success with the other 9 Edexcel A-level Biology B topics. Many hours of intricate planning has gone into the design of all of the 18 lessons that are included in this bundle to ensure that the content is covered in detail, understanding is constantly checked and misconceptions addressed and that engagement is high. This is achieved through the wide variety of tasks in the PowerPoints and accompanying worksheets which include exam-style questions with clear answers, discussion points, differentiated tasks and quick quiz competitions.

The following specification points are covered by the lessons within this bundle:

• The differences between monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides
• The structure of glucose and ribose
• The formation of disaccharides and polysaccharides from monosaccharides
• The structure of starch, glycogen and cellulose
• The synthesis of a triglyceride
• The differences between saturated and unsaturated lipids
• The relationship between the structure of lipids and their roles
• The structure and properties of phospholipids
• The structure of an amino acid
• The formation of polypeptides and proteins
• The role of ionic, hydrogen and disulphide bonding in proteins
• The levels of protein structure
• The structure of collagen and haemoglobin
• The structure of DNA
• The semi-conservative replication of DNA
• A gene is a sequence of bases on DNA that codes for an amino acid sequence
• The structure of mRNA
• The structure of tRNA
• The process of transcription
• The process of translation
• Base deletions, insertions and substitutions as gene mutations
• The effect of point mutations on amino acid sequences
• The structure of enzymes as globular proteins
• The concept of specificity and the induced-fit hypothesis
• Enzymes are catalysts that reduce activation energy
• Understand how temperature affects enzyme activity
• Enzymes catalyse a wide range of intracellular reactions as well as extracellular ones
• The importance of water for living organisms

Due to the detail included in these lessons, it is estimated that it will take in excess of 2 months of allocated A-level teaching time to complete.

If you would like to see the quality of the lessons then download the monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides, glucose and ribose, triglycerides, structure of DNA and transcription lessons as these have been uploaded for free.