Carbon Cycle: 25 Edexcel A-level Lessons

A complete, sequenced series of 25 lessons for Topic 6, assessed in Paper 1 Section C. It covers all three enquiry questions (6.1–6.9) and all eight Topic 6 skills. Every lesson is planned as a 50-minute core with up to 10 minutes of “if time” activities. Everything is editable (.pptx and .docx).

What makes these lessons different

• Recent data from named sources. Global Carbon Budget 2025, DESNZ Energy in Brief 2026, NOAA Mauna Loa CO2, US EIA, Eurostat, Global Forest Watch, NSIDC sea ice, the IPCC Atlas and the World Bank’s State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2026. Every figure is listed in the teacher notes with its source and the date it was read (October 2026). A “Check before you teach” list in each lesson says which figures change each year.
• Exam practice in the Paper 1 Section C shapes.
• An original question in every content lesson: 3-mark ×5, 6-mark ×4, 8-mark ×5, 12-mark ×5 and 20-mark ×3, with all five tariffs in each enquiry question.
• Each comes with a student-friendly mark scheme showing the AO split: levels for 6- to 20-mark questions, points for 3-mark questions.
• Levels-marked questions have a C-standard and an A*-standard example answer, annotated paragraph by paragraph.
• 3-mark questions have a 3/3 answer showing where each mark is earned.
• Built-in retrieval. Every lesson opens with a five-question starter quiz (from Lesson 2, it recalls earlier lessons) and has a five-question exit quiz.
• Every task has an A stretch,* answered on its feedback slide or in the notes.
• Independent study in seven lessons (4, 8, 11, 14, 16, 20, 22), each with named free sources, a defined output and success criteria.
• Two group projects with presentation lessons and assessment grids: an energy security review (Lesson 15) and a climate response plan (Lesson 24).
• A 37-mark end-of-topic paper (Lesson 25) in the Question 4 shape, 45 minutes, with a full mark scheme and example answers.

In the download

• 25 PowerPoints with teaching notes in the slide notes (930 slides in all).
• 25 sets of teacher notes (Word):
• a timed overview with slide numbers;
• answers and mark schemes;
• a specification map;
• misconceptions (content lessons);
• “Check before you teach”;
• sources with the dates they were read.
• 16 class-set resource sheets (Word, one or two sides): figures and data for students, research briefs, and the two projects’ assessment grids.
• The end-of-topic paper (Word).
• A START-HERE guide: the lesson list, what to print, and the videos.

Good to know

• Planned for Year 13. The textbook links point to Geography for Edexcel A Level Year 2 (Digby et al., Oxford University Press, 2017) by section, with page numbers left for you to add.
• Exam-style questions are original and written in the style of Pearson Edexcel; they are not taken from past papers. This resource is not endorsed by Pearson Edexcel.