I currently teach IGCSE Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Also A level Biology. The resources I produce for my lessons are carefully planned and I try to involve a lot of self-learning to allow students to develop these important skills needed for further education.
I currently teach IGCSE Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Also A level Biology. The resources I produce for my lessons are carefully planned and I try to involve a lot of self-learning to allow students to develop these important skills needed for further education.
A PPT complete lesson which focuses on specification link:
1.1 understand the importance of water as a solvent in transport, including its dipole nature
The power point includes independent learning activities where students must find what a dipole molecule is.
There is a boardworks slide to explain what a solvent is and students use this to form their notes. Please note, this is an interactive slide and you must have enabled macros on PPT and have update flash for it to work.
The terms cohesion and adhesion are introduced.
I have included a brief exam question which links directly to the spec link.
A series of questions with the answers and a vocabulary sheet to support students prepare for the question 7 in Unit 5.
The questions cover a series of topics to include blood; the heart and cardiac cycle; the nervous system; muscles and joints; vaccinations; pathogens; protein synthesis; CHD plus more.
I have downloaded and included the Edexcel article as my students had difficulty obtaining it.
Edexcel Biology - specification refernce 5.17 and 5.18
2 powerpoint lessons investigating the Carbon Cycle and Carbon sinks. The second lesson investigates the causes of climate change including the issues of methane from farming.
In the heart of Victorian London, a mysterious wave of terror has swept through the fog-laden streets.
The notorious Jack the Ripper has resurfaced, leaving a series of gruesome murders in his wake.
You are a young policeman racing against time to uncover the identity of Jack the Ripper before he claims his next victim.
**The story runs alongside tasks to test students’ knowledge and understanding of the transport of gases including:
Red blood cells and haemoglobin
The chloride shift
Plasma and carbon dioxide
Oxygen dissociation curve
Bohr effect
The escape room is interactive. Students can move objects and click on them to reveal clues. No handouts are required but scrap paper is useful as some clues need to be written down and rearranged.
There are gentle hints at the top of each page but students should click around the whole room to move or reveal clues.
It is important clues are solved as they are required to pass to the next page.
The escape room is a great end-of-topic task to check student´s understanding in a novel way.
**What is a digital escape room?
Digital Escape rooms are an interactive activity which promote both individual learning and peer collaboration through problem solving. Each escape room has a range of activities to challenge the students whilst also covering the specification. This means they are an excellent resource to use as a revision tool. All of the activities are online, eliminating the need for printing materials.
**How does the escape room work?
Students will be given a link to access the digital escape room. You do not need to provide an email address or have a google account to access the material. Escape rooms can be completed on laptops, tablets and mobile phones, so they can be set as homework or used in cover lessons.
**Starting the Task
• Give students the link to the escape room (on next page)
• Students can enjoy working through the challenges with a partner but they can be completed alone.
• Students will need to look closely at the images. Some objects can be moved to reveal clues, other need to be clicked on.
• There is a teacher answer sheet provided if you need to guide students.
The gods of Mount Olympus are in a frenzy as they discover that Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, has been mysteriously kidnapped on the eve of Valentine’s Day. The culprit, yet to be identified, has left behind a series of cryptic clues leading to Aphrodite’s whereabouts.
You assemble a team of valiant mortals to venture into the realm of the gods, solve the puzzles, and rescue Aphrodite before love itself fades from the world.
The story runs alongside tasks to test students’ knowledge and understanding of Inheritance and Genetics to include:
Monohybrid inheritance
DNA structure
Continuous and discontinuous variation
Sex chromosomes
Mutations and natural selection
The escape room is interactive. Students can move objects and click on them to reveal clues. No handouts are required but scrap paper is useful as some clues need to be written down and rearranged.
There are gentle hints at the top of each page but students should click around the whole room to move or reveal clues.
It is important clues are solved as they are required to pass to the next page.
The escape room is a great end-of-topic task to check student´s understanding in a novel way.
What is a digital escape room?
Digital Escape rooms are an interactive activity that promote both individual learning and peer collaboration through problem-solving. Each escape room has a range of activities to challenge the students whilst also covering the specification. This means they are an excellent resource to use as a revision tool. All of the activities are online, eliminating the need for printing materials.
How does the escape room work?
Students will be given a link to access the digital escape room. You do not need to provide an email address or a Google account to access the material. Escape rooms can be completed on laptops, tablets, and mobile phones, so they can be set as homework or used in cover lessons.
Starting the Task
• Give students the link to the escape room
• Students can enjoy working through the challenges with a partner but they can be completed alone.
• Students will need to look closely at the images. Some objects can be moved to reveal clues, other need to be clicked on.
• There is a teacher answer sheet provided if you need to guide students.
An excellent article to use with Edexcel unit 4 Forensics and time of death. It details what happens at each stage of death and succession of insects. I have included a series of questions which would make an excellent homework
Power point focuses on:
Recalling the way in which muscles, tendons, the skeleton and ligaments interact to enable movement.
Explain the effects of no exercise and too much exercise on the body.
There is an edexcel exam question focusing on the effects of exercise.
A PPT presentation which explains how pharmacogenomics is being developed as a new tool in treating disease. It links directly to A2 Biology Edexcel specification “discuss how the outcomes of the human genome project are being used to develop new drugs and the social, moral and ethical issues this raises”.
I have also included scenarios that students can discuss, developing an absolutist and relativist point of view for both.
A power point to aid students understanding of breathing and the pressure/volume differences that occur during inhalation and exhalation.
This links directly to the edexcel syllabus - 2.47 understand the role of the intercostal muscles and the diaphragm in ventilation.
I have included a worksheet from edexcel AS biology to calculate the surface area of the lungs as a starter activity.
Also included is the video on breathing by TedEd which gives a nice introduction to the process and also links into respiration.
Plenary - edexcel exam questions
A PPT which includes all the activities of the lesson.
Starter activity - students watch a brief video of sprinting and discuss what type of muscle fibres are likely to be present.
The presentation takes them through the process of anaerobic respiration and there are check points along the way which promote discussion and check understanding.
Finally, exam questions and mark scheme for self/peer assessment.
A PPT which takes students through the process of Glycolysis, Link reaction and Krebs cycle. There are notes on the PPT that will help students understand each step and they can annotate their diagram.
There are exam questions to ensure student understanding.
Plus videos from youtube to help explain the process of respiration.
A revision aid designed to support both higher and weaker students. Students have to read their textbook/notes to complete a grid of questions in specification order.Students can complete the grid to highlight areas they need to cover in more detail.
Particularly supports ‘hands-on’ learners who need to write information down to absorb it
Excellent as a homework task or directed study session
Requires minimal preparation and interaction from the teacher - great for cover lessons!
Teacher answer sheet provided
Check students learning with a series of focused questions on cells, reproduction and development.
The main focus areas being cell structure; mitosis; meiosis; cell cycle; epigenetics and variation .
12 pages of questions with teacher answers.
Students can self assess their work - a great starting point for revision before tackling exam questions.
Questions vary in difficulty, supporting weaker students too.
A series of questions which focus on topics covered in the scientific article to use with question 7
Thursday 13th June 2019
Answer sheet included
Range of topics to include:peptides and protein structure; protein synthesis; neurone and synapse function; cell membrane structure; enzymes; evolution; blood vessels; immune system; blood clotting plus possible core practical questions.
I have included a copy of the article as last year many people had difficulty locating it. It won´t print when open in Google - try another browswer.
19 pages of questions - perfect for revision lessons or homework.
A2 Biology - The Nervous System covering the specification points:
Know the peripheral nervous system is split into autonomic and somatic nervous systems; Understand why the autonomic system is split into sympathetic and parasympathetic systems; structure of the spinal cord; structure and function of `parts of the brain
The power point contains the complete lesson including resources. There are individual and paired tasks for students plus exam questions to test understanding.
I have put together a transition booklet for my GCSE students to work through during the end of term and over the summer holidays. It includes a brief overview of the course; what students should know from GCSE; exam terminology to be familiar with; practical skills needed for next year; scientific article and questions; recommended reading for the summer