I have been teaching science for over 30 years. although Biology is my specialism I have lots of experience of teaching Physics and Chemistry to GCSE. I am particularly interested in practical work and believe that all science teachers should be able to teach good practicals and give practical demos.
I have been teaching science for over 30 years. although Biology is my specialism I have lots of experience of teaching Physics and Chemistry to GCSE. I am particularly interested in practical work and believe that all science teachers should be able to teach good practicals and give practical demos.
This is the basis of a whole lesson on diffusion, osmosis, active transport and co-transport. It includes 4 exam questions.
It has clear diagrams of each type of transport together with questions.
Students can make their own notes from the diagrams and answer the questions.
Alternatively, this could be used as revision on this topic or set for homework/home study.
This is a full account of the importance and use of 4 inorganic ions found in living things - hydrogen, iron, phosphate and sodium.
It is tailored to AQA A level Biology but would be useful for other exam boards.
The power point has many diagrams and it also has 10 questions with answers for review and revision. Some questions are longer answer questions worth 4 marks that require students to connect areas of study together and are thus more challenging for the more able. The 10 questions are also supplied on a word document.
This resource has enough material for a whole lesson on the single-gene inherited conditions, polydactyly and cystic fibrosis. It revises key genetic terms and allows for step by step explanation of genetic crosses using animation of Punnett squares. There are two worksheets, one on polydactyly inheritance and one interpreting information about cystic fibrosis which also has an evaluation of genetic testing. There are teacher notes to accompany the power point.
This resource based on AQA Trilogy, helps students review and consolidate their knowledge in an engaging way. Students usually like “puzzles” and I hope this may make revision more interesting. In this resource there are grids of sixteen words and phrases commonly found in a particular topic such as “digestion”, Topics are: Evolution, Evidence for Evolution, Selective breeding and GM, Adaptation, Interrelationships and Competition, Ecosystems, Biodiversity, and Human Interaction with the Environment and Practical Techniques. Students have to find 4 groups of four words/phrases that are linked in some way. By doing so they show understanding of how the words/phrases are linked and the resource can be further developed by asking students to explain the links either verbally or in written form. The answers are given in the resource so students can check their work. The resource is given in power point and word. Individual word walls can be printed and given as homework. It can be differentiated by condensing some of the phrases to just words. The phrases and sentence starters in some of the walls make linking easier
This is aimed at AQA GCSE Science and Biology Students as a review and revision tool. This resource revises the topics of the nervous system, homeostasis and DNA and genes. It emulates the “Only Connect” wall where students have to find connections between four items and find 4 groups of four in a grid of 16. In doing this they reveal their understanding of key terms and the associations between them. It is a more interesting way to revise and review knowledge and understanding. There are 6 walls presented in a power point and in word, with answers supplied. Can be used in class or for homework.
This resource based on AQA Trilogy, helps students review and consolidate their knowledge in an engaging way. Students usually like “puzzles” and I hope this may make revision more interesting. In this resource there are grids of sixteen words and phrases commonly found in a particular topic such as “digestion”, Topics are: Cells, Digestion, Blood and circulation, Plant tissues and transport, Disease, Disease prevention, Drugs, Photosynthesis and Respiration. Students have to find 4 groups of four words/phrases that are linked in some way. By doing so they show understanding of how the words/phrases are linked and the resource can be further developed by asking students to explain the links either verbally or in written form. The answers are given in the resource so students can check their work. The resource is given in power point and word. Individual word walls can be printed and given as homework. It can be differentiated by condensing some of the phrases to just words. The phrases and sentence starters in some of the walls make linking easier.
A science Christmas quiz based around the plants and animals we associate with Christmas. Suitable for higher end KS2 and KS3 as an end of term activity. It looks at adaptations, classification and even science methodology so it reviews topics and has a bit of end of term Christmas fun.
Ideal for KS1 or KS2 outdoor activity/naming common plants. This spotter sheet has 5 plants that are commonly found in June, with pictures and background information. Great for an “outdoors classroom” activity. Download other monthly sheets from https://thewildflowersociety.com/wfs_junior_pages/herbology_page/herbology_calendar_page_v7_table.html
Make statistics real by using this practical investigation to test a hypothesis. This teaches students how to do standard deviation and T-test as well as why they do it . Written for OCR but can be applied to other A levels. The data they collect is easy and quick and gives good results! This is a whole lesson resource. The power point asks questions and gives instructions. There are also sample results given. The resources includes an active spreadsheet that makes some calculations for the students. I was skeptical that this would “work” to give a significant difference between the means - but it did.
The topics here are action potentials, synapses and COPD. These are worksheets designed so students can do some independent research either in class or for homework on some aspects of the biology part of unit 1. Could be used as revision tasks,
Suitable for GCSE required practical on osmosis. Intended for students who struggle to read so they can independently put together this practical. It contains practical instructions is diagram form on the worksheet and on the power point. I have simplified it so there are only 3 different salt solutions for them to try. It is differentiated as the instruction sheet and results table worksheet contains questions to answer, but the report sheet has Cloze passages. I have also included a set of results based partly on real results and partly made up. Teachers can use these for students who do not get sensible results. I was trying to get them to work independently . I remembered the old “Science at Work” books aimed at lower ability students full of diagrams illustrating how to do practicals. (This dates me!) They were great for showing the students what to do. This did work for most students when I tried it, but a demonstration would probably work better or a demo and the instructions!
This worksheet was written for AQA GCSE Trilogy, Biology section on Ecology.
It is aimed at low ability to get them to think around some of the key terms used, habitat, population, community, abiotic, biotic and ecosystem.
Good for a primary school outdoor activity. KS2 Science Year 3 requires children to be able to name some common plants. Primary teachers, please help our children gain a better knowledge of their environment, by spotting what is outdoors.
This is a spotter sheet with pictures and descriptions to help children identify wildflowers. Suitable for primary age from 7 to early secondary 12-13 years. KS2 science curriculum requires children to identify some common plants. Mostly this is an activity children can do with parents and carers to increase their knowledge of the natural world.
This resource is for KS3 Science (Biology). It is intended to ask students to summarise the digestion and absorption of food. The power point pictures are given letters and students must number them in order to sequence the processes. They can also briefly describe each process. Alternatively you can make cards from the word document and ask the students to place the cards in sequence.
Here is information about the Brazil nut Tree, how it is pollinated and the brazil nut seeds ditributed. It is a great starter to illustrate how important biodiversity is to the survival of species.
The aim of this resource is to get children outdoors looking for wild flowers according to the month. This month's sheet is for January - with the others in preparation. Outdoor learning enhances the well-being of children, is fun and instructive. In KS1 and 2 children have to learn some of the common names of living things around them and this resource enables teachers to do this, with plants that can be found around the playground in this case. The short descriptions about each plant are written for children aged 6 to 9 years, so can be used individually as well as a class resource.
To share your children's finds – just post them on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #herbologyhunt or in our new Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/530501890646957/
A primary colleague asked me how she could incorporate some practical activity when teaching evolution to Year 6. This activity models different types of bird catching a variety of prey and how their success rate might change given a different environment. It was a huge success with Year 6. The presentation sets the scene and the students experience recording results and interpreting them. The results we got from our class are included and there is a worksheet on these that can be used or adapted. There is scope for questioning the students about reliability of results and whether this is a valid way of collecting data.