Aerobic energy system (OCR A-level PE)

This detailed lesson describes the specific stages of the aerobic energy system and has been designed for the OCR A-level PE course. In line with the specification content in “Energy systems and ATP resynthesis”, the lesson describes the type of reaction, the sites of the specific stages within the system, the fuel used, the controlling enzymes, the ATP yield and the bi-products.

The lesson begins by introducing the aerobic system as the system that becomes the dominant energy provider after the ATP-PC and glycolytic system. Students are challenged to recognise that this system supports lower intensity exercise but that it will support exercise for a much longer duration than the others, suggesting that it produces a high yield of ATP. The main part of the lesson looks at how this high yield of ATP is produced during glycolysis, the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain and students will learn the location of each of these stages in the cell. Questions, discussion points and quiz competitions are included throughout the lesson and act as understanding checks to ensure that any misconceptions are addressed immediately.

The final tasks of the lesson are a series of multiple choice questions and a quiz round called “UNLOCK THE AEROBIC SYSTEM SAFE” where the teams of students compete to recall the quantitative values associated with this topic.