A worksheet aimed at advanced biology students, this resource is useful as a starter exercise on the topic of gas exchange in fish. The worksheet includes a mix and match task that focuses on the basic anatomical features associated with gills followed by questions related to the single circuit layout of a fish's circulatory system. Key words: fish, circulatory, counter-current, concurrent, blood, gas exchange, oxygen, carbon dioxide, gills, Fick's law, equilibrium, surface area, concentration gradient, exchange surface

A worksheet that allows students to work through the main points about each blood vessel: artery, arteriole, venule, vein and capillary. Covers aspects of both structure and function of blood vessels.

This worksheet is aimed at A-Level Biology students and covers the principles of restriction mapping of plasmids using restriction enzymes. This is often a difficult topic for students to understand, but this worksheet covers the basic principle, worked examples and also provides some questions for students to practice the principles. Key words: Restriction, enzyme, plasmid, mapping, kilobases, DNA, base pairs, restriction site, fragment, electrophoresis

A worksheet aimed at advanced level biology students, this resource focuses on the nature of chromosomes, the difference between haploid and diploid cells, the concept of a gene locus and the appearance of chromosomes at different stages of cell division - students are often confused by the single stranded versus double stranded chromosomes and so this is a useful exercise to undertake at the start of any topic involving mitosis or meiosis. Key words: chromosomes, meiosis, mitosis, genetics, locus, allele, diploid, haploid

A worksheet aimed at advanced biology students, this resource provides a labelling task on the structure of the eye followed by a matching task that relates structural features to their function. The worksheet concludes by looking at how the eye focuses and the details of what happens to the lens and associated structures. This is a good resource when introducing the topic on the eye and dealing with the basic details of how the eye functions. Key words: Retina, Eye, rods, cones, sclera, choroid, bipolar cell, ganglion cell, sensory neurone, blind spot, fovea, visual axis, lens, suspensory ligament, ciliary muscles, pupil, iris

A worksheet aimed at advanced biology students, this resource is useful as a recap and test of understanding on the topic of mitosis. Students are required to identify cells at different stages of mitosis, recall events that are occurring in cells at each stage and identify mitosis stages in a real micrograph as well as textbook-style diagrams. Keywords: mitosis, chromosomes, condense. prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase, interphase

A starter activity suitable for GCSE and A-Level microbiology students, this resource provides a written account of a very badly organised practical session (the misfortunes of 'aseptic Adam'). Students are required to identify the problems in this investigation, explain the problems and solve the problems - ideal as an introduction to an evaluation on student's own investigations if they have recently completed a microbiology experiment. Key words: aseptic, contamination, bacteria, agar, incubate, colonies, evaluate

A starter activity aimed at GCSE Biology students, this worksheet provides eight questions that probe student's understanding of what antibiotics are and how their effects can be seen in the laboratory. The worksheet includes reference to an image of an agar plate with zones of inhibition around different types of antibiotics - ideal as a starter/preparation for a lesson involving this practical activity. Key words: antibiotics, bacteria, Alexander Fleming, zone of inhibition, efficacy, incubation

A worksheet aimed at advanced level biology students, this resource focuses on the mechanism of action of agonists and antagonists. The worksheet includes a diagram and explanation of how agonists and antagonists work, followed by some examples of common drugs and chemicals that can act as agonists or antagonists of the autonomic nervous system. A diagram of the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system is included and is required for the final page of the worksheet - a series of questions that asks students to predict the effect of various drugs and poisons (e.g. beta blockers, muscarine, atropine, etc). This is a good activity for making the link between theory and practice; most students really enjoy being able to predict the action of a drug from a simple understanding of its mechanism. A second, shorter worksheet is also included on the same topic which could be used as a revision activity once the key concepts have been taught. Key words: agonist, anatgonist, sympathetic, parasympathetic, sympathetic, autonomic, muscarine, beta blockers, atropine, noradrenaline, acetylcholine, sarin

A worksheet aimed at 14-18 year olds that provides a comprehension activity on the story of Typhoid Mary - a good example of how compelling evidence was used to identify and isolate the cause of an infectious disease over one hundred years ago.

A worksheet that reviews the key points about succession in an ecosystem: what it is, how it happens, sequence of events, factors affecting and different types. The worksheet also has a question on diversity index in a mown and unmown lawn as an example of deflected succession. Key words: Succession, diversity, climax, community, grass, shrubs, pioneer, species, trees, index, primary, secondary, deflected

An unusual resource that brings history and science together with an activity that introduces the concept of carbon-14 radioactive dating of archeological remains. The task provides an introduction to radioactive dating, followed by questions whereby students are required to calculate percentage reduction of carbon-14 . Finally, students can then calculate the approximate year when Richard III died based on the half life of carbon-14.

This resource consists of two worksheets, each of which contains a task on identifying structures associated with the lungs and thorax, followed by a table which requires students to identify the key events that occur during ventilation. Each worksheet contains slightly different terminology, making one more suitable for A-Level and one more suitable for GCSE. The worksheets can be used as a starter or plenary task to recap student's knowledge. Key words: Intercostal, lungs, pressure, Boyle's law, diaphragm, ribs, contract, relax, trachea, cartilage, alveoli, bronchus, bronchi

A worksheet aimed at advanced level biology students, this resource consists of an identification exercise whereby students are asked to name each organelle in a 3D diagram of a cell, followed by questions about the functions of some of these organelles. The second worksheet provides questions on calculating the magnification of a mitochondrion and the principles of magnification, resolution and electron micrographs - these questions are common place on most advanced biology specifications, so it is useful to practise these questions during lessons.

A collection of four worksheets aimed at advanced biology students. The first two worksheets require students to suggest appropriate units of measurements for typical investigations and then introduce the idea of converting between millimetres, micrometres and nanometres - an important skill that is required on most exam papers. The last two worksheets require students to practise their skills in making measurements and calculating magnification of cell images and diagrams, including the use of a scale bar.

A collection of four worksheets that cover gas exchange in cells, lung structure, gas exchange at alveolus and ventilation. The worksheets are aimed at either high ability GCSE students or A-Level students and could be used as either starter tasks, plenaries or homework exercises to consolidate knowledge. Key words: gas exchange, ventilation, alveolus, cells, lungs, trachea, bronchus, bronchioles, intercostal muscles, diaphragm, volume, pressure

A worksheet aimed at A-Level Biology students that looks at various examples of restriction enzymes and whether they are suitable for cutting out a gene from a sequence of DNA. Students must look carefully at the restriction recognition sequence for each enzyme and decide whether it is suitable for removing the gene. This is based on whether the recognition sequence occurs in the middle of the gene or at the ends and whether the enzyme will leave blunt or sticky ends. Key words: Restriction, enzyme, blunt, sticky, gene, DNA, EcoR1, HindIII, BamH1

A resource aimed at 14-18 year old biology students, this worksheet is useful as a starter or plenary exercise comparing continuous and discontinuous variation. The worksheet requires students to identify which traits fall into which category and considers the classic normal distribution curve shown by continuously variable characteristics. For more able students, the worksheet includes a section on using standard deviation to predict the percentage of the population that would occupy certain ranges. Key words: continuous, variation, discontinuous, genetics, monogenic, polygenic

This worksheet is aimed at high ability GCSE or advanced level chemistry/applied science students. The resource consists of two pages, the first of which is designed to be used as a brief starter activity to recap the basic principles of a titration. The second page provides some exemplar calculation exercises for students to practice until they grasp the theory behind this experiment - how the results of a titration can be used to estimate the amount of aspirin present in a tablet and comparison with manufacturer estimates. The resource is useful at the start of this investigation in order to set the scene for the investigation. Key words: titration, phenolpthalein, sodium hydroxide, acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin

A quick test comprising four questions on mark-release-recapture, use of random sampling with quadrats and chi-squared statistical analysis. Useful at the end of a series of lessons on ecology as a quick review of key principles. The assessment includes answers to all the questions. Key words: chi-squared, mark-release-recapture, random sampling, quadrats, ecology, test, exam, answers, quiz