I've been teaching A-level biology for years and have spent several hours developing resources to the highest possible standard.
They are designed to maximise class time - spending less time on learning facts, with a focus on application and the processing of information.
I've been teaching A-level biology for years and have spent several hours developing resources to the highest possible standard.
They are designed to maximise class time - spending less time on learning facts, with a focus on application and the processing of information.
Please read the following carefully before downloading and attempting to use with your Moodle platform.
Over the past 6 years I have created and developed a number of online end-of-topic quizzes. They were set up on the advice of some outstanding students who wanted additional ways to test their performance as the year progresses. It's taken a huge amount of time and effort in setting them up, and developing them so they accommodate various correct responses to each answer. These can be used as summative assessments or for revision (I prefer the former) and are designed for use with the Moodle platform.
They contain a variety of questions that are (nearly) all based on past exam style questions. Although they are tailored towards the AQA specification, they could easily be adapted so they are more akin to any of the exam boards.
These widely regarded as 'helpful' by students to understand the topic content, exam terminology / question exposure, stress associated with timed assessment and how to model exam question answers - in addition, upon submitting the attempt, feedback is provided for almost every question. Because they are accessible online, students can access them out of the classroom, allowing more time for teaching. They have been particularly useful for both students' to identify weaknesses in subject knowledge, but also for the teachers as it is possible to quickly identify the questions students have not done so well on, and of course, those in the class who have not completed the quiz (you need to set up groups in order to do this easily).
Anecdotally, the first attempt at each quiz appears to be aligned with student progress on the course - i.e. if a student is achieving, on average, A grades on their first attempt on several quizzes, they are likely to achieve an A grade at AS.
There is an enforced 48 hour delay between the attempts so students' are not simply remembering the answers and students are expected to achieve a certain percentage before being able to access the next quiz (this can of course be changed if you feel this to be counterproductive). For students with additional time in examinations, you can simply create a duplicate quiz and amend the time allowed accordingly.
Available for download here is a free sample of the first quiz (containing only some of the questions) so you can check the compatibility, functionality and quality before committing to purchase.
Upon downloading, you will need to amend the file extension from .doc to .mbz before uploading to your Moodle platform, which you do through the 'restore' function in the administration menu.
This is a sample of the style of resources available for the whole of the AS & A-level (AQA) Biology courses, which will be soon be available (over the next few months).
The class notes help to maintain student focus as the class completes sections of the booklet during the topic, using the PowerPoint's. Some of the work in the class notes can be set for homework. In my experience, using a booklet helps enormously with student organisation as the resource is in one place, so it easier to file and more difficult to lose. It also helps in that less time is spent at the printer and you do not need to hand out bits of paper at the start of every lesson.
This might seem quite 'narrow', but it is a highly efficient approach to teaching A-level Biology. It also helps for when students are absent as they have the class notes and can complete most of them using the PowerPoints and text books. This approach to also ensures students' are provided a decent set of revision notes that contain the necessary information for examination success and helps to maximise lesson time, thereby allowing more time for activities that help develop the skills needed for students' to:
-- 'Apply knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, processes, techniques and procedures',
-- 'Analyse, interpret and evaluate scientific information, ideas and evidence'.
The PowerPoints are designed to complement the class notes, and contain animations and activities. It is NOT intended that the students simply copy down everything that is on the PowerPoint!
The full bundle of Biological Molecules contains pre-work, seven PowerPoints, two sets of class notes (fully editable), marking guidelines and a topic overview check sheet. In most of the bundles available, all of the above and more is included.
It is also worth viewing the 'Folder Dividers', as my students have found these particularly useful.
These materials have been carefully developed over the past 6 years and were trialed and refined last year when teaching the new specification for the first time - they played a central role in enabling my classes (sizes of 20+) to achieve ALPS scores of 2.
PowerPoint on fertilisers to be included as part of the bundle for this topic - I recommend you do not purchase this resource individually - it is simply designed to introduce this lesson and to complement the class notes for this topic (available on TES)
Very short PowerPoint introducing chi-squared. This resource should not be purchased separately and is only available so it can be included as part of the bundle of the topic. It is designed to be used with the class notes for this topic (available separately on TES) and requires students to have access to both AQA endorsed text books (T&T and BIR).
Topic overview check sheet to help students' write up their notes on the topic of nucleic acids.
There are two versions here, one of which contains a list of study skills for students to consider to include in their work.
The marking guidelines for the questions are available through Kerboodle, but do email me if you can't access them
PowerPoint designed to be used with the bespoke class notes for the topic, also available on TES. This should only be purchased as part of the bundle and not separately as the activities contained in it it will make little sense, especially without the class notes.
PowerPoint reviewing the basics of inheritance and introducing the topic. Where possible, there are links to year 1 material. The PPT contains notes with most of the answers to the questions on the PPT. This resource is designed to be used with the class notes for this topic.
PowerPoint introducing monohybrid inheritance. The PPT contains notes with most of the answers to the questions on the PPT. This resource is designed to be used with the class notes for this topic (available separately on TES)
Short PowerPoint introducing co-dominance & multiple alleles. The PPT contains notes with most of the answers to the questions on the PPT. This resource is designed to be used with the class notes for this topic (available separately on TES) and requires students to have access to both AQA endorsed text books (T&T and BIR).
Topic overview check sheet for use when peer-marking student overview of this topic. I usually give these out and give my classes a week to handwrite their notes and complete the exam style questions.
PowerPoint introducing this lesson - should be used with the class notes for the topic and I would advise that you do not purchase this, unless you are going to purchase the bundle for this topic.
Short piece of pre-work for the topic of Populations. Not particularly well developed, but offered here primarily so it can be included as part of the bundle for the topic.
PowerPoint introducing this lesson - should be used with the class notes for the topic and I would advise that you do not purchase this, unless you are going to purchase the bundle for this topic.