NEW WJEC (2026) GCSE Science - Diffusion

This is a lesson which meets specification points within the WJEC GCSE ‘The Sciences’ Double Award spec, specifically from the Unit 1 - Basis of Life (Biology).

The lesson starts with an overview of the key vocabulary which students will be learning and using this lesson. Students can stick their key word lists into their books before the lesson begins.

This lesson begins by getting pupils to think about what diffusion is and then giving them the scientific definition for the process. Pupils will then need to read statements about the stages of diffusion, look at diagrams demonstrating these stages and match them together in their books. This activity will be self-assessed using the answers in the PowerPoint presentation.

Pupils will then need to think > pair > share about the factors they think will affect the rate of diffusion. Once they have come up with their own ideas and shared them as a class you can show them the animation provided to demonstrate how concentration of particles and size affects the rate of diffusion. Pupils are then asked to consider how temperature might affect the rate, you can demonstrate this affect using the link to another animation which demonstrates this effect.

Pupils will then complete a fill-in-the-blank task to demonstrate their knowledge of how these different factors affect the rate of diffusion, which can be self-assessed using the answers provided.

Pupils will then look at the importance of diffusion in living organisms and specifically the types of adaptation organism might have to speed up the rate of diffusion. The final activity is a past-paper questions, when completed pupils will self-asses using the mark scheme.

The plenary activity is quick past-paper question to complete and mark.