Being a Scientist – Full KS3 Topic (8 Lessons + Test)

Everything you need to teach Being a Scientist, ready to go. This complete KS3 topic takes students from lab safety and apparatus through to planning and carrying out their own investigation, drawing graphs, interpreting data and understanding how science is checked through peer review. It finishes with a revision lesson and an end-of-topic test.
Ideal as the opening topic for Year 7, or as a working scientifically refresher for any KS3 class.
What’s included
• Lesson 1: Safety and apparatus
• Lesson 2: Variables and method
• Lesson 3: Graphs
• Lesson 4: Practical project, part 1 (surface area, collecting gases and planning)
• Lesson 5: Practical project, part 2 (carrying out the investigation, results and graphs)
• Lesson 6: Interpreting data
• Lesson 7: Scientific research and peer review
• Lesson 8: Revision lesson with science skills stations
• Lesson 9: End-of-topic assessment (35 minutes, 40 marks) with mark scheme
Also included
• Full PowerPoint for every lesson, with starters, lesson objectives, tasks, answers and plenaries
• Teacher and technician notes where practical work is involved
• Practical guide for the project (equipment, method and safety)
• Data interpretation worksheet
• Peer review article for the research lesson
• Printable station cards for the revision lesson
• Teacher feedback sheet for the assessment
• Topic glossary of key words
All resources are fully editable, so you can adapt them to your classes.
Safety
Some lessons include practical work. Schools should always follow their own risk assessments and up-to-date CLEAPSS guidance, and adapt any practical to suit their students, equipment and lab.
Please check before teaching
Resources have been carefully checked, but please read through each lesson and try any practical yourself before running it with a class. Concentrations, quantities and equipment may need adjusting for your school.
Terms of use
This resource is for use by the purchasing teacher in their own classroom. Please don’t share, resell or upload it to other websites. If colleagues would like to use it, please ask them to buy their own copy or a licence for your department.