I am a secondary science teacher from Plymouth, United Kingdom. I have a passion for designing interactive, engaging and well scaffolded resources that are inclusive for all pupils. I teach all years, from years 7-13. I teach KS3 Activate (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy (Biology and Chemistry), AQA GCSE Biology, AQA GCSE Chemistry, and A Level Biology (OCR A).
I am a secondary science teacher from Plymouth, United Kingdom. I have a passion for designing interactive, engaging and well scaffolded resources that are inclusive for all pupils. I teach all years, from years 7-13. I teach KS3 Activate (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy (Biology and Chemistry), AQA GCSE Biology, AQA GCSE Chemistry, and A Level Biology (OCR A).
An end of year science quiz suitable for all secondary school science pupils, designed for years 7-10.
There are six rounds. Each round is in the style of a classic television game show.
The rounds are:
Round One - Who wants to be a millionaire? Students answer multiple choice questions from a range of topics (Biology, Chemistry and Physics). Students can unanimously decide to use one of the lifelines available.
Round Two - Are you smarter than a 10 year old? Students answer multiple choice questions from the primary school science curriculum, from school years 3-6.
Round Three - The price is right! Students make numerical estimates based on scientific questions, e.g. how many times your heart beats a day. The team closest to the correct answers wins. Points are deducted if students go over the correct answer.
Round Four - Wheel of fortune. Scientific key terms are displayed on the board with most of the letters missing. A short clue is given. Students have to figure out what the key terms are.
Round Five - Pointless. Students are asked a scientific question where they need to name something. Points are given for the most obscure answer.
Round Six - Countdown. Students are given eight letters in a jumble, and a brief clue. Students have until the end of the countdown clock to solve the jumbled science key word.
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 7 class.
This is the second lesson in “Chapter 4 - Acids and Alkalis” from Activate 1, Chemistry.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Chemistry class, even by those where Chemistry is not their specialism.
This lesson includes a practical demo (a magic trick with “water” into “wine”) and a class practical activity (using litmus paper to test different household solutions).
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Determine whether a solution is acidic or alkaline, given its colour in indicator
Describe the colour changes that occurs when red litmus paper and blue litmus paper are added to acidic, alkaline or neutral solutions
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 7 class introducing them to acids and alkalis.
This is an introduction lesson to “Chapter 4 - Acids and Alkalis” from Activate 1, Chemistry.
This lesson should be suitable to teach to any KS3 Chemistry class, even by those where Chemistry is not their specialism.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Know that alkalis are the chemical opposites of acids
Give examples of common acidic and alkaline solutions
Describe the hazards of using acids and alkalis
State how to control the risks of using acids and alkalis
Compare concentrated and dilute solutions
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
This is a full 1 hour lesson resource designed for a mid-ability year 9 class studying the AQA GCSE Combined Science specification.
This class were at the end of the “Quantitative Chemistry” topic, on the spec point “chemical measurements”.
However, this should be suitable for any GCSE class studying errors and uncertainty.
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
Recall the terms systematic error, random error, zero error and parallax error and explain what they mean
Identify which type of error is shown from an example
Know what ‘uncertainty’ means
Calculate uncertainty from a range of results about a mean
This lesson is designed to be teachable by a non subject specialist, with all answers and content on the slides. The intention of each slide is made very clear.
This lesson contains a range of concrete examples, including a model where students will need to use stopwatches.
The mathematical section of this lesson is presented in an “I do, we do, you do” manner with scaffolded examples.
Exam questions are included with mark schemes, and plenty of AFL is planned and included.
This lesson includes a printable worksheet, with answers.
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson designed for a mixed ability year 7 class introducing them to mixtures and solutions.
This lesson is designed to be interactive and engaging, with plenty of AFL and independent tasks.
The lesson contains interesting links such as to George’s Marvellous Medicine and skittles!
This lesson resource is designed so it should be teachable by non-specialists.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Explain what is meant by the term ‘mixture’ in Chemistry
Identify mixtures from particle diagrams
Define the key terms ‘solution’, ‘solute’ and ‘solvent’
Identify solutions, solvents and solutes from given examples
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full unit of work from the KS3 Activate ‘Elements, atoms and compounds’ topic (from Activate 1, Chemistry, chapter 2), designed for a mixed ability year 7 class. This unit of work contains 4 full hour lessons.
These lessons are designed to be engaging and interactive, with frequent use of AFL as well as longer independent tasks. These should be suitable to be delivered by a teacher of any specialism.
All answers and given on the slides to independent tasks.
The lessons should be delivered in this sequence:
Elements
Atoms
Compounds
Chemical formulae
Each of my lesson resources contains:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A worksheet on writing chemical formulae, with answers.
Two versions are included, PowerPoint and Word.
In this worksheet, students will develop the skills of:
Using a particle diagram to identify which elements are in a compound, and the relative numbers of atoms of each element in the compound
Using particle diagrams and/or written information to write the chemical formulae for compounds
Naming familiar two-element compounds
Drawing particle diagrams for compounds
This worksheet is scaffolded with some gaps filled in to model how to correctly complete the table.
This is based on the KS3 Activate curriculum, from Chapter 2 “Elements, atoms and compounds” from Activate 1. However, this should be suitable for any KS3 class or lower ability KS4 class studying chemical formulae.
This lesson is designed for a year 7 class studying the KS3 Activate curriculum in science.
This lesson is focused on ‘Chemical Formulae’ from ‘Chapter 2: Elements, atoms, and compounds’ from Activate 1.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Name a familiar two-element chemical compound.
Determine the chemical formula of a compound, given the relative numbers of atoms of the elements in it.
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
This lesson is designed for a mixed ability year 9 class studying the AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy specification, at the start of the topic ‘Quantitative Chemistry’.
This lesson is focused on changes in mass during a chemical reaction where a product is a gas.
This lesson contains a guided practical activity (the reaction between calcium carbonate marble chips and hydrochloric acid).
A risk assessment is included.
There are also plenty of independent practice tasks, as well as exam questions with modelled answers.
This lesson also briefly recaps state symbols and balancing symbol equations.
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
This lesson is designed for a year 7 class studying the KS3 Activate curriculum in science.
This lesson is focused on ‘Elements’ from ‘Chapter 2: Elements, atoms, and compounds’ from Activate 1.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
State the definition of an element and list some examples of elements
Describe what the Periodic Table shows and use it to find a named element.
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
This lesson is designed for a year 7 class studying the KS3 Activate curriculum in science.
This lesson is focused on ‘Atoms’ from ‘Chapter 2: Elements, atoms, and compounds’ from Activate 1.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
State the meaning of ‘atom’
State the meaning of ‘element’ (in terms of its atoms)
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
This lesson is designed for a year 7 class studying the KS3 Activate curriculum in science.
This lesson is focused on ‘compounds’ from ‘Chapter 2: Elements, atoms, and compounds’ from Activate 1.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
State the meaning of ‘compound’
Explain whether a molecule diagram shows an element or compound
Explain why a compound has different properties to the elements whose atoms are in it
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
This lesson is designed for a mixed ability year 9 class studying the AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy specification, at the start of the topic ‘Quantitative Chemistry’.
This lesson is focused on calculating relative formula mass.
From this lesson, students should be able to independently calculate relative formula mass.
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
This lesson is designed for a mixed ability year 9 class studying the AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy specification, at the start of the topic ‘Quantitative Chemistry’.
This lesson is focused on isotopes and calculating relative atomic mass.
From this lesson, students should be able to:
Define the term ‘isotope’
Define the term ‘relative atomic mass’
Calculate the relative atomic mass
All of my lesson resources contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A complete topic, containing six full 1-hour lessons based on the AQA GCSE Chemistry specification. Also suitable for the AQA GCSE Combined Science specification.
These lessons were designed for a mixed ability year 10 class studying single science Chemistry.
These lessons cover the specficiation points 4.4.3 Electrolysis from the unit 4.4 Chemical Changes.
The lessons should be delivered in this order:
Electrolysis introduction
Electrolysis of molten ionic compounds
Electrolysis of aqueous solutions
Extracting aluminium using electrolysis
Half equations in electrolysis
Electrolysis required practical
A revision placemat and knowledge organiser are also included.
All of my lessons contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
An entire unit designed for a mixed ability year 10 class studying the AQA GCSE Chemistry topic of Electrolysis.
This unit contains the following:
Full 1 hour lesson introducing the process of electrolysis
Full 1 hour lesson on electrolysis of molten ionic compounds (predicting the product at each electrode)
Full 1 hour lesson on electrolysis of aqueous solutions (predicting the product at each electrode)
Full 1 hour lesson on extracting aluminium using electrolysis
Full1 hour lesson guiding the required practical on electrolysis, with worksheet provided
Full 1 hour lesson on writing half equations for electrolysis
Revision placemat for students to complete on electrolysis
A knowledge organiser / revision poster on the AQA GCSE Chemistry topic ‘electrolysis’.
The knowledge organiser covers the key information on the following:
The process of electrolysis
Oxidation and reduction
Electrolysis of aqueous solutions
Extraction of aluminium using electrolysis
Required practical on electrolysis
Half equations in electrolysis
A full 1-hour lesson resource designed for a mixed ability year 10 class studying the AQA GCSE Chemistry topic of electrolysis.
This lesson focuses on writing half equations
This lesson includes detailed teacher models and worked examples with animations and specific questions to support students’ metacognition.
Many practice questions are included which are ramped in difficulty to build confidence, and contain answer slides.
Students work up to completing exam questions at the end of the lesson.
My lesson resources always contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1 hour lesson resource designed for a mixed ability year 10 class studying the AQA GCSE Chemistry specification.
This lesson is from the ‘electrolysis’ topic and guides students through the Required Practical on electrolysis.
This resource contains a guided PowerPoint (inc. a health and safety slide), and a student method sheet with a results table and application questions. The slide contains answers to the application questions.
My lesson resources always contain:
A 5-in-5 retrieval-style starter
An interesting lesson hook, careers link, or retrieval practice to start the lesson
Teacher input slides with dual coding and reduced cognitive load
Teacher models
Regular ‘check for understanding’ slides, such as hand signals quizzes
Regular student independent practice slides, with optional scaffolds, challenges and answer slides
A plenary task
A full 1-hour lesson resource designed for a mixed ability year 10 class studying the AQA GCSE Chemistry topic on “electrolysis”.
This lesson focuses on the extraction of aluminium from its ore using molten cryolite.
This resource contains:
A ‘5-in-5’ retrieval-style starter
A lesson hook - how many ways have you used aluminium this week?
Introduction slides (dual coding, reduced cognitive load)
Embedded YouTube video
Written multiple choice quiz based on the video, with answers
‘Speed exam questions’ - short answer questions from ExamPro with answers
Written exam questions for students to practise, with scaffolding if necessary
Answer slides
Game of splat as plenary task - practising key words