Who? For those teaching the new Chemistry/ Combined Science GCSE (2016). Also for those of you requiring a clear and simple worksheet for your students to begin to independently derive simple ionic formulae. This activity will build confidence and reinforce understanding that charges must balance when creating ionic compounds. What? This worksheet requires students to theoretically bond positive and negative ions together to generate simple formulae. (There is scope to extend this activity and introduce multi-element ions (there is one example in this activity with the OH ion). A selection of possible answers are provided on the second sheet of the resource.

Who? For those who are teaching GCSE Physics ‘Motion’, specifically ‘Stopping Distances’. This is a card sort for students to decide which factors fall into the ‘thinking distance’ pile and which the ‘braking distance’ pile. What? This is a grid of different factors which students may discuss and decide whether they affect the thinking or braking (or both) distance of a vehicle. There will be plenty of opportunity to debate which are worse. This activity is flexible enough to become a ‘diamond 9’ type activity too. How? Cards can be cut out and arranged or colour coded.

Who? For you lucky people teaching the new Chemistry/ Combined Science GCSE (2016). Also for those of you requiring a straightforward and simple lesson on structure of the atom and how ideas on this have changed over time. Good bit of higher order thinking involved at points too with some nice evaluation of atomic models. This lesson has been made with reference to the new Edexcel Spec. What? This is a whole lesson on one powerpoint. A starter/ diagnostic to see what your group know about the atom already. Learning objectives, worked examples with answers, class tasks with answers (differentiated up to challenge your more able), exam style challenge with with answers (all written in the ‘notes’ section of the powerpoint. This lesson is ready to go but still offers you flexibility to offer group work or peer teaching style tasks if you wish. Everything you need is here as powerpoint slides can be printed as ‘worksheets’ if needed. Enjoy!

This resource consists of various fact sheets summarising methods to help with the prevention of the spread of disease. It is accompanied by a table which students can use to organise and present the key information gathered. This task could be run as a ‘circus’ whereby students visit various stations to gather information. It could also used as a marketplace type activity during which pairs/groups of students are given one of the topics and need to orchestrate a 2 minute ‘teach back’ on their topic to the rest of the group.

A 141 (!!!) slide powerpoint delivered as a Big Quiz covering TOPIC 1 content of the Edexcel Specification (though this can easily be used against other specifications). Topic 1 is split into sub-topics and so there are 6 rounds in total. Round 1 - Atomic Structure Round 2 - Periodic Table Round 3 - Ionic Bonding Round 4 - Covalent Bonding Round 5 - Types of Substance Round 6 - Calculations involving mass Each question has been written using the specification and answers generated against mark schemes from exams. Following each round of questions come a round of answers so students can peer mark or you can. Though one massive quiz, this resource could easily be used as a whole lesson, starters, to formatively assess after revision sessions - whatever you like! Keep your eyes peeled for TOPIC 2 onwards…

A great and simple revision game/resource which could be used anywhere within the cells, tissues and organs topic. The resource has a class set of questions which can be used to play switch-switch. Each student has a card (these will need to be printed off and cut up), asks another student the question on their card and waits for their response. If they’re correct brilliant, if not then the correct answer is shared. The other student then reciprocates and then the cards are swapped. In theory, if this activity runs for a few minutes, most students will see most of the cards. A blank copy of the questions (no answers) could then be printed off and given out to see how many answers the students remember OR, a girls vs boys class competition could be set up.

A simple but great worksheet to get them thinking and discussing. A variety of ‘odd one out’ type questions, some with some requirement for an extended explanation. Students need to use their classification skills to decide which the ‘Odd one out’ is. This will assess students on their understanding of… vertebrate groups invertebrate groups arthropod groups Question sheet is editable but ready to print. Answer sheet is in the same document to save you doing any thinking!

Though about reindeer and the Christmas ‘feel’, this activity can be done at any time of the year (ie whenever you’re teaching genetics!) or could be unleashed as a stand alone Christmas end of term type activity. It could also be sent home as a project too. All instructions are on the sheet and students have free reign to be as creative as they like. The thing I find when teaching selective breeding is the misconception that it’s as easy as A + B = perfect C and students forget that the process is lengthy as many rounds of breeding need to be done to iron out the unwanted features etc. As a result, I’ve popped in a little extension question at the end to get them thinking! Though aimed at KS3 this could easily be used for lower ability KS4.

This great booklet contains 5 different tasks which would be ready to introduce at the very beginning of your electricity topic teaching. The booklet focuses on electrical safety but also where electricity is used everyday plus one task to start getting them to think about how they might experimentally solve some problems to do with electricity. All five tasks could be completed or the booklet could be broken down into individual activities. Would make a great holiday project or and introduction to the topic homework project.

A lovely little class activity or homework whereby students will need to complete a data collection by asking as many other students in their class, year, school how they get to school. Students will then need to display their data in a pie chart (although you could issue them with graph paper and ask them to produce a bar chart) and then complete the question task at the bottom of the page. This task would nicely lead up to a lesson on how we can save energy.

A full lesson via a powerpoint presentation on the structure of the Earth. This resource is ready to open up and teach or could easily be edited should you wish. Resources needed may simply require you to print off a couple of slides (of your choice) as work sheets although there is no need. There is also a scale drawing task which could be completed on graph paper of simply printed off directly from the powerpoint. This lesson also includes… starter task/diagnostic, opportunity for class discussion/questioning or paired/group work/ a match them up task so all students will have key information about the structure of the Earth, and extended creative writing task and a plenary quiz. There are also clear lesson objectives (linking to the SOLO taxonomy if you are familiar with it (although this can easily be deleted if not - my current school is using it as a learning framework).

Who? For anyone trying to plan something creative to allow various science skills to be developed. This project/lesson has so much scope. At a push this could be done in a lesson and then perhaps for homework but it would work a lot better if a couple of hours of time was given to make a good job of it! Have a look at my other forensic resources which this could be combined with! The project would sit nicely anywhere within the year or would make a great end of term activity as it is a completely ‘stand alone’ topic. Perhaps you could use this in a STEM week or during Science week? This lesson could also be used within a Biology topic which involves ‘food tests’ (sugar and protein). This bundle of resources contains a powerpoint to guide through the project as well as teacher/technician notes, a lesson plan, plus a student worksheet to allow them to gather and record data and draw conclusions. Students will need to test four different urine samples for the presence of sugar and protein (these will need to be prepared - see tech notes) using the benedicts and sodium hydroxide/copper sulfate solutions. Students will have to consider how to control various elements of the project/investigation and how to improve accuracy, repeatability, precision etc. They will then need to record their observations as they go along (this can be done on the student sheet). Great resource! It is fully editable but gives you a resource you can use straight away (you’ll just need to talk to your technicians about making some fake urine…). Enjoy!

Who? For those teaching the new Chemistry/ Combined Science GCSE (2016). Also for those of you requiring a straightforward and simple lesson on calculating relative formula mass and discovering how to deduce empirical formula using the molecular formula of a compound. What? This is a whole lesson on one powerpoint. A starter mass quiz, Learning objectives, worked examples with answers, class tasks with answers (differentiated up to challenge your more able), exam questions with markschemes to share with your group. This lesson is ready to go but still offers you flexibility to offer group work or peer teaching style tasks if you wish.

My revision methods are quite simple in my lessons - SPEC IT, REVISE IT, TEST IT. If students know EXACTLY WHAT they need to revise (using the specification checklist) it makes for smarter revision. If they can TEST THEMSELVES to measure their understanding - even better! This resource is a comprehensive but concise knowledge organiser covering Atomic Structure (including isotopes and calculating relative atomic mass). This knowledge organiser has been made against the Edexcel specification. Each revision point has been marked with the specification section (in green) and is applicable to students sitting standard or higher tier papers. Students also get to see some model exam questions so they are able to see how the specification points may be presented in exam form.

This super resource uses modelling of how to calculate Kc and deduce units for Kc. The whole lesson is based around typical exam questions which will be worth approximately 5 marks. This video has links directly to my YouTube channel to allow you to play students a model Kc calculation with a clear step-by-step method. Using the video models will free you up as teacher to talk through each step and allow time for questioning without having to worry about working through the examples - they are already done for you! The final model is a an exam question from a previous past paper. The markscheme has been included in the presentation to allow you to share this with your students. Kc calculations are tricky to teach but this really takes out the hard work! The whole lesson is within the powerpoint and teaching suggestions are written into the notes section of each slide.

This circus of activities would easily be your main task within a lesson. The focus is on dissolving/soluble vs insoluble/ separating mixtures and solutions. I have produced a tech list (attached) so this should be as straightforward as possible! Very simple practical kit which should not cause any issues. Students could be put into groups/pairs and complete this circus with little input from you. The main worksheet/booklet has simple but clear instructions of what to do at each station. The only thing you will have to organise is how to lay out your room! Aimed at KS3 but could easily be used with low ability KS4.

Who? For you lucky people teaching the new Chemistry/ Combined Science GCSE (2016). Also for those of you requiring a straightforward lesson on ISOTOPES plus how to use them to calculate RELATIVE MASS of an element. This lesson has been made with reference to the new Edexcel Spec but would easily be relevant in AQA and OCR. What? This is a whole lesson on one powerpoint. A starter/ diagnostic to see what your group know about the atom already and how to calculate numbers and types of sub-atomic particle. Learning objectives have been written with direct reference to the specification (because that’s what they need to know!), worked examples with answers written either in the ‘notes section’ of the powerpoint or on the slides themselves, class tasks with answers (all written in the ‘notes’ section of the powerpoint or on slides themselves). This lesson is ready to go but still offers you flexibility to offer group work or peer teaching style tasks if you wish. Everything you need is here as powerpoint slides which can easily be printed as ‘worksheets’ if needed. Print the powerpoint including the notes and you’ll be ready to go!

Exams or Mocks just about to happen? Or maybe you are just tired of going over the same old Chemistry facts, time after time after time… Or perhaps you are being uber organised and sorting a place for your Chemistry students to record the ‘recall’ knowledge as they learn about it. Whatever the reason, this is a very handy resource to have… This worksheet provides an excellent revision resource (made last week at the request of my Year 11s!) or would happily provide an ongoing resource which could be added to or built upon as the course progresses (this is how I’ll be using it next year…). The worksheet contains a template summary of all those Chemistry facts (recall) that need to be learnt before the exam. ion charges gas tests electrolysis product rules solubility rules … and loads more. I’ve also saved you the time of working out answers and created an answer sheet to boot!