A Science teacher by trade, I've also been known to be found teaching Maths and PE! However, strange as it may seem, my real love is designing resources that can be used by other teachers to maximise the experience of the students. I am constantly thinking of new ways to engage a student with a topic and try to implement that in the design of the lessons.
A Science teacher by trade, I've also been known to be found teaching Maths and PE! However, strange as it may seem, my real love is designing resources that can be used by other teachers to maximise the experience of the students. I am constantly thinking of new ways to engage a student with a topic and try to implement that in the design of the lessons.
An engaging lesson presentation (84 slides) and associated worksheets that uses a combination of exam questions, quick tasks and quiz competitions to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within unit P5 (Forces) of the AQA GCSE Combined Science specification (specification point P6.5).
The topics that are tested within the lesson include:
Gravity
Speed
Velocity
Acceleration
Newton’s laws
Forces and braking
Momentum
Conservation of momentum
Students will be engaged through the numerous activities including quiz rounds like “Can you go the DISTANCE” whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which need further attention
This is a highly engaging, detailed and fully-resourced revision lesson which has been designed to test the students on their knowledge and understanding of topic 6 (Radioactivity) of the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Physics specification. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources contain a wide range of resources which include exam-style questions with fully-explained answers, differentiated tasks and quick quiz competitions. The students will be motivated by the range of tasks whilst crucially recognising those areas of the specification which require some extra time before the exams
The following specification points are covered in this lesson:
Describe the structure of atom and recall the typical size
Recall the relative masses and charges of the subatomic particles and use the number of protons and electrons to explain why atoms are neutral
Describe the structure of the nuclei of an isotope
Explain what is meant by background radiation and recall sources
Describe methods for measuring and detecting radioactivity
Describe the process of beta minus and beta plus decay
Write and balance nuclear decay equations
Explain the effects on the proton and nucleon number as a result of decay
Recall that the unit of radioactivity is Bq
Use the concept of half-life to carry out calculations
Describe the use of isotopes in PET scanners
Describe the differences between nuclear fission and fusion
Explain how the fission of U-235 produces two daughter nuclei, two or three neutrons and releases energy
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy
Explain why nuclear fusion cannot happen at low temperatures and pressures
It is estimated that it will take in excess of 2 hours of GCSE teaching to cover the detail of this lesson and it can be used for effective revision at the end of the topic or in the lead up to mock or terminal exams.
An engaging and informative lesson presentation (49 slides) looks at the differences between contact and non-contact forces and focuses on enabling students to describe and recognise them. This lesson has been written for GCSE students but could be used in higher ability KS3 lessons with students who are looking to progress their knowledge.
The lesson begins by introducing the fact that forces can be grouped into these two categories and initial definitions are used to ease the students into the lesson. To follow on from this a competition called “FORCE it together” is used. This engaging game challenges the students to spot the name of a force which is in anagram form and then once it has been identified, they have to determine whether it would be a contact or non-contact force. As each force is met, key details are given and discussed. More time is given to areas which can cause problems for students, such as the use of weight and gravity force and whether they are actually different. Moving forwards, a rugby tackle is used to show the numerous forces that interact in everyday situations, before students are challenged to identify more forces in sports of their choice. Students will recall/learn that force is a vector quantity and therefore is represented in diagrams using arrows. Once again, this lesson focuses on showing them how these arrows can be used differently with the different types of forces. Students are briefly introduced to the idea of a free body diagram and an understanding check is used to see whether they can identify friction, gravity force and normal contact force from the arrows. Progress checks like this are written into the lesson at regular intervals, in a range of formats, so that students are constantly assessing their understanding. The final part of the lesson is one more quick competition where students have to use their knowledge of the forces to form words.
An informative lesson which guides students through the commonly misunderstood topic of drawing free body diagrams and using them to calculate resultant forces. The lesson begins by ensuring that students understand that force is a vector quantity and therefore arrows in diagrams can be used to show the magnitude and direction. Drawing free body diagrams is poorly understood and therefore time is taken to go through the three key steps in drawing these diagrams. Each of these steps is demonstrated in a number of examples, so students are able to visualise how to construct the diagrams before they are given the opportunity to apply their new-found knowledge. The rest of the lesson focuses on calculating resultant forces when the forces act in the same plane and also when they are at angles to each other. Again, worked examples are shown before students are challenged to apply. Progress checks are written into the lesson at regular intervals so that students can constantly assess their understanding and any misconceptions can be addressed.
This lesson has been designed for GCSE students
A fully-resourced lesson that includes a detailed and engaging lesson presentation (33 slides) and question worksheets which are diifferentiated. Together these resources guide students through the tricky topic of the conservation of energy by transfers between energy stores which can often be poorly understood. This lesson has been written for GCSE students, but the law can be taught from an earlier age so this would be suitable for higher ability KS3 lessons.
The lesson begins by introducing the key term, energy stores. The understanding of this term is critical for this topic and other lessons on energy transfers and therefore some time is taken to ensure that this key points are embedded into the lesson. Students will learn that stores can be calculated due to the fact that they have an equation associated with them and some of these need to be recalled (or applied) at GCSE. Therefore, the first part of the lesson involves two engaging competitions where students are challenged to recall part of an energy store equation or to recognise which energy store an equation is associated with. Students are given the information about the remaining energy stores, such as chemical and electrostatic. Moving forwards, the main part of the lesson explores the law of the conservation of energy and shows students how they need to be able to apply this law to calculation questions. Students are shown how to answer an example question involving the transfer of energy from a gravity store to a kinetic energy store. A lot of important discussion points come up in this calculation, such as resistive forces and the dissipation of energy, so these are given the attention they need. Students are then challenged to apply their knowledge to a calculation question on their own - this task has been differentiated two ways so that all students can access the learning. The final slide of the lesson looks at the different ways that energy can be transferred between stores but those are covered in detail in separate lessons.
A fully-resourced lesson which looks at speed and velocity as scalar and vector quantities and then guides students through a range of questions which challenge them to calculate both of these forms of motion. The lesson includes an engaging lesson presentation (44 slides) and differentiated worksheets containing questions.
The lesson begins by introducing the terms magnitude and direction so that students can learn how scalar and vector quantities differ. Students will learn that speed is a scalar quantity and velocity is a vector quantity and then be questioned through a crossroads scenario to understand how speed can stay the same but as soon as an object changes direction, the velocity changes. Moving forwards, the students are given the equation to calculate speed and a few simple questions are worked through before they have to do a series of their own questions to find the average speeds for walking, running and cycling. A pair of more difficult speed questions are then attempted which challenge the students to convert from metres per seconds to miles per hour and to calculate the speed of a bicycle by calculating the distance travelled by the sensor on the wheel. This task is differentiated so that students who need some assistance will still be able to access the work. A quiz competition is then used to introduce students to the range of equations which contain velocity and then having been given them, they have to rearrange the formula to make velocity the subject and apply to some further questions. The final task of the lesson brings all the work together in one final competition where students have to use their new-found knowledge of speed and velocity to get TEAM POINTS. Progress checks have been written into the lesson at regular intervals to allow the students to check their understanding and any misconceptions to be addressed immediately.
This lesson has been written for GCSE students and links between the other topics on the curriculum but could be used with KS3 students who are finding the topic of speed too simple and are needing a challenge
This engaging and detailed lesson presentation (43 slides) uses a step by step guide to take students through the important scientific skill of drawing graphs to represent data and address all the misconceptions and misunderstandings that often accompany this topic. The lesson begins by explaining to the students how to decide whether data should be represented on a line graph or a bar chart and a competition called "To BAR or not to BAR" is used to allow them to check their understanding while maintaining motivation. Moving forwards, students are shown a 6 step guide to drawing a line graph. Included along the way are graphs that are wrong and explanations as to why so that students can see what to avoid. There are continuous progress checks and a homework is also included as part of the lesson.
This lesson is written for students of all ages who are studying Science.
This is a fully-resourced revision lesson that could be used over a series of lessons to help students to revise and assess their knowledge of the content in topics P1 (Matter), P2 (Forces) and P3 (Electricity and magnetism) of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Combined Science specifiction which can be assessed in paper 5. This revision lesson uses a combination of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and quiz competitions to cover the following sub-topics and specification points:
Describe how and why the atomic model has changed over time
Describe the structure of the atom and the charges of the particles
Define the term specific latent heat
Conversions from non S.I. units to S.I. units
Explain the vector-scalar distinction
Recall examples in which objects interact
Represent forces as vectors by drawing free-body diagrams
Know the definition of Newton’s three laws of motion
Define momentum and describe examples of momentum in collisions
Recall and apply Newton’s third law
Describe the relationship between force and the extension of a spring
Calculate the spring constant in linear cases
Define mass and weight
Recall that current depends upon both potential difference and resistance
Recall and apply the relationship between I, R and V
Show that Fleming’s left hand rule represents the relative orientations of current, magnetic field and force
This lesson contains a big emphasis on the mathematical calculations that will be involved in these exams, and as a result students are challenged to recall the equations and to apply them.
Students will be engaged through the numerous quiz rounds whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which require their further attention during general revision or during the lead up to the actual GCSE terminal exams. A lot of the tasks have been differentiated so that students of all abilities can access the work and be challenged appropriately.
This is fully-resourced REVISION lesson that contains an engaging PowerPoint (98 slides) and associated differentiated worksheets and has been designed to challenge the students on their knowledge of the content in TOPIC 4 (Electricity and magnetism) of the Cambridge IGCSE Physics specification. The lesson includes a wide range of activities which aim to motivate the students whilst they assess their understanding of the content and recognise those areas which need further attention.
The lesson was designed to include as many sub-topics as possible but the following have been given a particular focus:
Logic gates
Series and parallel circuits and circuit calculations
Resistors
Diodes and their roles as rectifiers
Fleming’s left-hand rule and the motor effect
Transformers
This lesson is suitable for revision purposes at numerous times of the year, whether it be at the end of the topic or in the lead up the mocks or actual IGCSE exams
This revision lesson is fully-resourced and the engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to challenge students on their understanding of the content detailed in topics 2.7, 2.8 and 2.9 of the WJEC GCSE Physics specification. It was decided that the close links between the types of radiation, half-life and nuclear energy lent themselves to a combined revision resource.
The lesson was written to cover as much of the topics as possible but the following points have been given particular attention:
The nucleon and proton number and the numbers of neutrons and protons in an atomic nucleus
Recognising and representing isotopes
Calculating the half-life when given information about the radioactive count
The differing penetrating powers of the three types of radiation
Background radiation
Sources of background radiation and possible reasons for varying levels of radon gas
Nuclear decay equations for alpha and beta decay
Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion
Representing a nuclear fission reaction in an equation
The wide range of activities which include exam-style questions with fully-explained answers, differentiated tasks and quick quiz competitions will engage and motivate the students whilst they recognise the areas of these topics which will require their further attention
It is estimated that it will take in excess of 2 hours of GCSE teaching time to complete this lesson
This bundle contains 2 fully-resourced revision lessons which have been designed to challenge students to assess their understanding of the content in all of the Physics topics of the AQA GCSE Combined Science specification.
Due to the detail involved in each of these lessons, it is likely that each of them will run over a series of lessons. During that time, topics P1 (Energy), P2 (Electricity), P3 (Particle model of matter), P4 (Atomic structure), P5 (Forces), P6 (Waves) and P7 (Magnetism and electromagnetism) and more importantly what they don’t know so that this can be revisited.
This is a fully-resourced revision lesson, that is likely to be most effective when used over the course of a series of lessons, and has been designed to help students to revise and assess their knowledge of the content that is found in topics P4 (Waves and radioactivity), P5(Energy) and P6 (Global challenges) of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Combined Science specification. This is the content that will be assessed in paper 6 in the terminal exams.
This revision lesson uses a combination of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and quiz competitions to cover the following sub-topics and specification points:
Wave behaviour
The electromagnetic spectrum
Radioactivity
Work done
Power and efficiency
Physics on the move
Powering Earth
This lesson contains a big emphasis on the mathematical calculations that will be involved in these exams, and as a result students are challenged to recall the equations and to apply them.
Students will be engaged through the numerous quiz rounds whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which require their further attention during general revision or during the lead up to the actual GCSE terminal exams. A lot of the tasks have been differentiated so that students of all abilities can access the work and be challenged appropriately.
This is an engaging revision lesson which uses a range of exam questions, understanding checks, quiz tasks and quiz competitions to enable students to assess their understanding of the content within topic 3 (Properties of waves, including light and sound) of the Cambridge IGCSE Physics (0625) specification. The lesson covers the content in both the core and supplement sections of the specification and therefore can be used with students who will be taking the extended papers as well as the core papers.
The specification points that are covered in this revision lesson include:
Give the meaning of the terms speed, frequency, wavelength and amplitude
Distinguish between longitudinal and transverse waves and be able to give suitable examples of each
Recall and use the equation velocity = frequency x wavelength
Describe how waves can undergo reflection, refraction and diffraction
Describe how wavelength affects diffraction
Describe an experimental demonstration of the refraction of light
Be able to define refractive index and recall the equation to calculate
Give the meaning of the critical angle and recall the equation to calculate
Describe total internal reflection and be able to explain the use of optical fibres in medicine
The electromagnetic spectrum
Describe the longitudinal nature of sound waves
State the approximate range of audible frequencies for a healthy human
Show an understanding of the term ultrasound
Describe an experiment to determine the speed of sound in air
The students will thoroughly enjoy the range of activities, which include quiz competitions such as “Should you WAVE goodbye” where they have to decide if a passage is 100% factually correct or not whilst crucially being able to recognise the areas of this topic which need their further attention. This lesson can be used as revision resource at the end of the topic or in the lead up to mocks or the actual GCSE exams.
This bundle of 3 fully-resourced lessons have been designed to engage and motivate the students whilst they assess their understanding of the content in topics 5, 6 and 8 of the OCR GCSE Physics specification which will be tested in PAPER 2. The detailed PowerPoints and accompanying resources contain a wide range of activities which include exam-style questions with clearly explained answers, differentiated tasks and quick quiz rounds to bring in a competitive edge.
The topics covered are:
Topic 5: Waves in matter
Topic 6: Radioactivity
Topic 8: Global challenges
Due to the high mathematical content of this specification, the PowerPoints contain step-by-step guides to carrying out calculations.
If you want to sample the quality of the lessons, download the topic 8 revision lesson which has been shared for free
This bundle of 4 lessons covers the majority of the content in Topic P4 (Waves) of the Edexcel GCSE Combined Science specification. The topics covered within these lessons include:
Using the terms frequency and wavelength
Using the terms amplitude, period and velocity
Longitudinal and transverse waves
Calculating wave speed
Refraction of waves
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding.
This bundle of 3 lessons covers most of the content in sub-topic P6.2(Powering Earth) of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Combined Science specification. The topics or specification points covered within these lessons include:
The main energy sources available for use on Earth
Patterns and trends in the use of energy resources
The use of transformers to increase or decrease potential difference
The National grid
The differences in function between the live, neutral and earth wires
All of these lesson presentations and accompanying resources are detailed and engaging and contain regular progress checks to allow the students to constantly assess their understanding.
This bundle of fully-resourced revision lessons will engage and motivate the students whilst they assess their understanding of the content of topics 5 - 8 of the Pearson Edexcel IGCSE Physics specification.
The lessons cover the following topics:
Topic 5: Solids, liquids and gases
Topic 6: Magnetism and electromagnetism
Topic 7: Radioactivity and particles
Topic 8: Astrophysics
The detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources contain exam-style questions with clear explanations of answers, differentiated tasks, class discussions and quiz competitions.
If you would like to see the quality of the lessons, download the topic 7 revision lesson which is shared for free
This bundle of fully-resourced revision lessons will engage and motivate the students whilst they assess their understanding of the content of topics 5 - 8 of the AQA GCSE Physics specification as assessed in PAPER 2.
The lessons cover the following topics:
Topic 5: Forces
Topic 6: Waves
Topic 7: Magnetism and electromagnetism
Topic 8: Space physics
The detailed PowerPoints and accompanying resources contain exam-style questions with clear explanations of answers, differentiated tasks, class discussions and quiz competitions.
If you would like to see the quality of the lessons, download the topic 5 revision lesson which has been shared for free
All of the lessons in this bundle are fully-resourced and have been designed to challenge the students on their knowledge of the Physics topics of the CIE IGCSE Combined Science specification. The lessons cover both the CORE and SUPPLEMENT sections.
The following 5 topics are covered by these lessons:
Topic P1: Motion
Topic P2: Work, energy and power
Topic P4: Properties of waves, including light and sound
Topic P5: Electrical quantities
Topic P6: Electric circuits
The PowerPoints and accompanying resources contain a wide range of activities which include exam-style questions with clear explanations of the answers, differentiated tasks and quiz competitions. There is also a big emphasis on the mathematical element of the specification and students are guided through the use of a range of skills which include the conversion of units and the rearranging of formulae to change the subject.
If you would like to see the quality of the lessons, download the topic P1 lesson which has been shared for free
This bundle contains 2 fully-resourced revision lessons which have been designed to challenge students to assess their understanding of the content in all of the Physics modules of the OCR Gateway A Combined Science specification.
Due to the detail involved in each of these lessons, it is likely that each of them will run over a series of lessons. During that time, students will recognise what they know in modules P1 (Matter), P2 (Forces), P3 (Electricity and magnetism), P4 (Waves and radioactivity), P5 (Energy) and P6 (Global challenges) and more importantly what they don’t know so that this can be revisited.