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.
A detailed and engaging lesson presentation (52 slides) and accompanying worksheet that looks at competition between organisms and the different types of relationships that exist as a result of this interaction. The lesson begins by looking at the meaning of the biological term, "competition", and then introduces this when it occurs between the same species and different species. Students are challenged to consider the different resources that animals compete for before an activity based competition is used to get them to recognise how this competition can cause changes to the population size.
Moving forwards, students will meet the three main types of ecological relationship and look at them in greater detail, with predation being a main focus.
There are regular progress checks throughout the lesson (with displayed answers) so that students can assess their understanding.
This lesson has been designed for GCSE students but can be used with more-able KS3 students who are looking at ecosystems and the relationships that exist within them
This lesson describes the t-test can be used to compare the variation of two different populations. The detailed PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover point 17.1 [c] of the CIE A-level Biology specification and also explains how to calculate the standard deviation to measure the spread of a set of data as this value is needed in the t-test formula
A step by step guide walks the students through each stage of the calculation of the standard deviation and gets them to complete a worked example with the class before applying their knowledge to another set of data in an exam-style question. This data looks at the birth weights of humans on one day in the UK and this is used again later in the lesson to compare against the birth weights of babies in South Asia when using the t-test. The null hypothesis is introduced and students will learn to accept or reject this based upon a comparison of their value against one taken from the table based on the degrees of freedom.
This bundle contains 4 lessons which cover the following content that’s set out in topic 3.2 (Gas exchange) of the AQA A-level Biology specification:
Adaptations of gas exchange surfaces as shown by the gas exchange in single-celled organisms, insects, bony fish and the leaves of dicotyledonous plants
The gross structure of the human gas exchange system
The essential features of the alveolar epithelium as a surface over which gas exchange takes place
The mechanism of breathing
All of the lessons are detailed and have been intricately planned to contain a wide range of tasks that will challenge the students on their understanding of the current topic as well as their recall of knowledge from previously-covered topics. In this way, the students are encouraged to make links between biological processes in different topics so they are prepared for assessment questions which do just that.
Lessons covering topics 3.1, 3.3 and 3.4 are also uploaded
A fully resourced revision lesson that uses a combination of exam questions, understanding checks, quick tasks and quiz competitions to help the students to assess their understanding of the topics found within TOPIC 9 (Chemistry of the atmosphere) of the AQA GCSE Chemistry specification (specification point C4.9).
The topics that are tested within the lesson include:
The proportion of different gases in the atmosphere
The Earth’s early atmosphere
Greenhouse gases
Atmospheric pollutants
Students will be engaged through the numerous quiz rounds whilst crucially being able to recognise those areas which require further attention
This fully-resourced revision lesson challenges the students on their knowledge of the content detailed in topic 3 (Particle model of matter) of the AQA GCSE Physics specification. The wide range of activities which include exam questions with clear explanations will allow them to assess their understanding of the content and to recognise those areas which require further attention.
The lesson has been designed to cover as much of the topic as possible but the following specification points have been given particular attention:
Recall and apply the equation to calculate density
Explaining differences in density between states of matter
Internal energy and the result of heating the particles in a system
Applying the equation to calculate the specific heat capacity
Understanding that temperature does not change during changes of state
Applying the equation to calculate the specific latent heat
Explaining the qualitative relationship between the temperature of a gas and its pressure
Applying the equation that links pressure, volume and a constant
The engaging PowerPoint guides students on the use of key mathematical skills to aid success with the various calculations
This bundle of 8 revision lessons covers all of the topics on the AQA A-level Biology specification:
Topic 1: Biological molecules
Topic 2: Cells
Topic 3: Organisms exchange substances with their environment
Topic 4: Genetic information, variation and relationships between organisms
Topic 5: Energy transfers in and between organisms
Topic 6: Organisms respond to changes in their internal and external environments
Topic 7: Genetics, populations, evolution and ecosystems
Topic 8: The control of gene expression
These lessons use a range of exam questions, quick tasks and quiz competitions to motivate and engage the students whilst they assess their understanding of the different topics and evaluate which areas of the specification will require their further attention. These lessons can be used for revision at the end of the topic, in the lead up to mocks or in the lead up to the actual exams.
This bundle of 4 revision lessons covers the content in topics 1 - 4 of the AQA A-level Biology specification that are taught during year 12 (AS) of the two-year course.
Each of the lessons has been designed to include a range of exam questions, differentiated tasks and quiz competitions that will motivate the students whilst they evaluate their understanding of the different sub-topics.
Helpful hints are given throughout the lesson to aid the students in structuring their answers and the mathematical elements of the course are constantly challenged as well.
The 4 topics covered by this bundle are:
Topic 1:Biological molecules
Topic 2: Cells
Topic 3: Organisms exchange substances with their environment
Topic 4: Genetic information, variation and relationships between organisms
This revision resource has been designed to include a range of activities such as exam questions, understanding checks and quiz competitions which will motivate the students whilst they assess their understanding of the content found in module 2.1.4 (Enzymes) of the OCR A-level Biology A specification. The resource includes a detailed and engaging Powerpoint (70 slides) and associated worksheets
The range of activities have been designed to cover as much of the content as possible but the following sub-topics have been given particular attention:
The role of enzymes as biological catalysts that lower the activation energy
The lock and key theory and the induced fit hypotheses
The mechanism of enzyme action to include the tertiary structure
The effect of inhibitors on the rate of enzyme-controlled reactions
The effect of pH on the rate of reaction
Coenzymes and cofactors
The idea of an optimum temperature and explaining the decrease in rate when temperatures increase or decrease
Calculating the temperature coefficient
In addition to these topics, some topics from other modules such as the PCR and precursor molecules are tested in order to challenge the students on their ability to make links between the modules.
The 3 lessons in this bundle are detailed and engaging and use regular understanding checks (with answers embedded into the PowerPoints) to enable the students to assess their progress. The lessons have been planned to cover these points from topic 2.2 of the AQA A-level biology specification:
Eukaryotic cells show a cell cycle
DNA replication occurs during interphase of the cell cycle
Mitosis is part of the cell cycle
The behaviour of chromosomes in interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase
Division of the cytoplasm during cytokinesis produces two new cells
Calculation of the mitotic index
Uncontrolled cell division leads to the formation of tumours and cancer
A detailed and engaging lesson presentation (43 slides) and accompanying worksheets that introduces students to the disease, Diabetes (mellitus), and focusses on the similarities and differences between types I and II. The lesson begins by challenging the students mathematically to get the answers 1 and 2 and then to see whether they can link these numbers to a disease. A variety of tasks, which includes competitions and progress checks, are used to get the students to recognise the differences and state which of the types they belong to.
This lesson has been designed for GCSE students and can be used with higher level students. However, a lesson more appropriate for A-level Biology students is named “Diabetes Mellitus Type I and II” and is available in my resources
An engaging lesson presentation (33 slides) and associated worksheets that introduces students to classification using the taxonomic levels and teaches them how to name species using the binomial naming system. The students are told about the domain system, as developed by Carl Woese, but then the lesson focuses on showing them the seven levels that come after this. Students are challenged to understand how the levels differ from each other in terms of sharing characteristics. Time is taken to focus on the five kingdoms and links are made to other topics such as prokaryotic cells to test their previous knowledge. Moving forwards, students are shown how the genus and species are used in the binomial naming system before being given lots of opportunities to assess their understanding through questions.
This lesson has been written for GCSE students but is suitable for all age ranges
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 4 lessons covers the majority of the content in the sub-topic B5.2 (Natural selection and evolution) of the OCR Gateway A GCSE Combined Science specification. The topics and specification points covered within these lessons include:
Developments in biological classification systems
Explain how evolution occurs through natural selection
Describe the evidence for evolution
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.
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
Each of the 8 lessons that are included in this bundle are fully-resourced and have been designed to cover the content as detailed in topic 6.4 (Homeostasis is the maintenance of a stable internal environment) of the AQA A-Level Biology specification. The specification points that are covered within these lessons include:
The principles of homeostasis
The importance of maintaining temperature and blood glucose concentrations
Negative feedback systems
The action of insulin, glucagon and the role of the liver in blood glucose control
The role of adrenaline
The causes of type I and II diabetes and their control
The structure of the nephron and its numerous roles
The formation of the glomerular filtrate by ultrafiltration
Reabsorption of glucose and water by the proximal convoluted tubule
Maintaining a gradient of sodium ions in the medulla by the loop of Henle
The roles of the hypothalamus, the posterior pituitary gland and ADH in osmoregulation
The lessons have been written to include a wide range of activities and numerous understanding and prior knowledge checks so students can assess their progress against the current topic as well as be challenged to make links to other topics within this topic and earlier topics
If you would like to see the quality of the lessons, download the ultrafiltration lesson which is free
This engaging lesson uses the example of resistant bacteria and the modern-day giraffe to describe how natural selection occurs. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover point 17.2 (a) of the CIE A-level Biology specification but also explains that genetic diversity is important for selection and therefore covers 17.1 (d) at the same time.
President Trump’s error ridden speech about viruses antibiotics is used at the beginning of the lesson to remind students antibiotics are actually a treatment for bacterial infections. Moving forwards, 2 quick quiz competitions will initially introduce MRSA and then will show the students that they can use this abbreviation to remind them to use mutation, reproduce, selection (and survive) and allele in their descriptions of evolution through natural selection. The main task of the lesson challenges the students to form a description that explains how this strain of bacteria developed resistance to methicillin. In doing so, they will see the principles of natural selection so they can be applied to different situations such as describing how the anatomy of the modern-day giraffe has evolved over time. The final part of the lesson introduces adaptations and convergent evolution and also links to the need for modern classification techniques which is covered later in topic 17.
This fully-resourced lesson describes the movement of molecules by active transport, endocytosis and exocytosis. The PowerPoint and accompanying worksheets have been designed to cover the second part of specification points 2.5 (i) & (ii) of the Edexcel International A-level Biology specification and describes the role of ATP as an immediate source of energy as well as the role of the carrier proteins.
ATP is introduced at the start of the lesson and students will learn that this molecule is a phosphorylated nucleotide so they are able to make appropriate links when they cover the structure of DNA and RNA later in topic 2. Students will learn that adenosine triphosphate is the universal energy currency and that the hydrolysis of this molecule can be coupled to energy-requiring reactions within the cell and the rest of the lesson focuses on the use of this energy input for active transport, endocytosis and exocytosis. Students are challenged to answer a series of questions which compare active transport against the forms of passive transport and to use data from a bar chart to support this form of transport. In answering these questions they will discover that carrier proteins are specific to certain molecules and time is taken to look at the exact mechanism of these transmembrane proteins. A quick quiz round introduces endocytosis and the students will see how vesicles are involved along with the energy source of ATP to move large substances in or out of the cell. The lesson concludes with a link to a future topic as the students are shown how exocytosis is involved in a synapse.
This fully-resourced lesson describes how enzyme and substrate concentration affect the rate of enzyme activity. The PowerPoint and accompanying resources are the last in a series of 3 lessons which cover the detail of point 1.5 (iv) of the Edexcel A-level Biology B specification.
The first part of the lesson describes how an increase in substrate concentration will affect the rate of reaction when a fixed concentration of enzyme is used. Time is taken to introduce limiting factors and students will be challenged to identify substrate concentration as the limiting factor before the maximum rate is achieved and then they are given discussion time to identify the possible factors after this point. A series of exam-style questions are used throughout the lesson and the mark schemes are displayed to allow the students to assess their understanding and for any misconceptions to be immediately addressed. Moving forwards, the students have to use their knowledge of substrate concentration to construct a graph to represent the relationship between enzyme concentration and rate of reaction and they have to explain the different sections of the graph and identify the limiting factors.
The final section of the lesson describes how the availability of enzymes is controlled in living organisms. Students will come to recognise that this availability is the result of enzyme synthesis and enzyme degradation and their recall of transcription and translation is tested through a SPOT the ERRORs task.
Please note that this lesson explains the Biology behind the effect of concentration on enzyme-controlled reactions and not the methodology involved in carrying out such an investigation as this is covered in a core practical lesson.
This fully-resourced lesson introduces bacteriostatic and bactericidal antibiotics and describes their differences, focusing on their modes of action. The engaging PowerPoint and accompanying resources have been designed to cover point 6.14 of the Pearson Edexcel A-level Biology A (Salters Nuffield) specification but also makes continual links to earlier lessons in topic 6 as well as related topics from the previous year such as protein synthesis from topic 2
The lesson begins by challenging the students to use their knowledge of the previous topic 6 lessons to identify the suffixes cidal and static. Students will learn that when the prefix is added, these form the full names of two types of antibiotics. Their understanding of terminology is tested further as they have to recognise that Polymyxin B is an example of a bactericidal antibiotic as its actions would result in the death of the bacterial cell. Tetracycline is used as the example of a bacteriostatic antibiotic and students will discover that its prevention of the binding of tRNA that inhibits protein synthesis and this reduction and stopping of growth and reproduction is synonymous with these drugs. Students are challenged on their knowledge of translation and will also be given time for a class discussion to understand that these antibiotics encourage the body’s immune system to overcome the pathogen in natural, active immunity.
The final part of the lesson uses a quick quiz competition and a series of exam-style questions to ensure that students can recognise the different antibiotics from descriptions.