Specialised cells - KS3 Low Ability

This dyslexia-friendly lesson is aimed at lower ability 11-14 year old learners, and could be useful as a reminder for older learners who struggle with science. It is a follow up to my animal and plant cells lessons, and starts with a review of the key features of animal and plant cells, and the differences between the two. This uses a game that could be played on the IWB - turn the sound up!!

The main activity focuses on 6 types of specialised cell. Red blood cell, sperm cell, nerve cell, ciliated cell, root hair cell, and palisade cell. A video gives a short overview, then there is a chance for learners to feed back what they recall. Learners then visit stations around the room to collect information from teh fact sheets (included). Lots of repetition, not much writing, and simple language.

All lessons in this topic can be found here: Animal cells, Plant Cells, Specialised cells, Cells to Organ Systems

Animations are used to help control pace and add interest to the presentation. The PowerPoint uses dyslexia-friendly background, font, and character spacing. Icons indicate the nature of each section - e.g. group work, video, or note-taking. Key words, definitions, and phonetic pronunciation are also included in the PowerPoint. Feedback on this dyslexia-friendly style would be greatly appreciated!

All images freely sourced from Pixabay or similar copyright-free sources, and comply with the TES author code.