Used with a high ability year 12 group as part of the mass transport topic.
Used the 'Grilled Cheese' font, so titles may need changing if you do not have this font on your computer.
Used with high ability year 10 group - an activity to test comprehension and understanding from previous lesson on Insulin and diabetes.
Could support less able pupils through accompanied use of a textbook.
Lesson designed for KS3 to creatively approach the topic of the tilt of Earth's axis and the seasons. Using hibernation and migration to explore these concepts.
Students start by watching short clip (John Lewis Bear and the Hare)
Research activity on the seasons and hibernation
Choice of task: produce a documentary on the tilt of the axis OR to imagine a world without seasons (choose how to present this). Lower ability could make a model to demonstrate how the tilt affects the seasons.
Taboo plenary
For use over several lessons to enable students to explore this area fully. Fun and interactive!!! (and highlighting the hedgehog which is in huge decline in this country)
Year 7 - Topic on Space
Lesson to follow the concept of applying to be an astronaut. Big focus on the skills which might be required.
In small groups, students consider the profiles of different applicants, and come to a decision as to who they would hire (imagine they are working for NASA). What sort of experience and key skills are they looking for, and why? How might hobbies link to this? Focus: justifying and supporting ideas.
Next students collect information on how astronauts live and survive in space. Information cards spread around the room, and there is also a video link (Kevin Fong RI Xmas Lecture). My school has iPads for research, but textbooks could also be used.
Homework: choice of tasks. Students to fill in NASA application form, or to create a space survival guide for new astronauts.
Presentation to introduce learning in Science. Gets pupils to reflect on science in Primary schools and discuss their anxieties/excitement for secondary school science.
In small groups, use A3 paper for pupils to draw their mental image of a scientist. 99% will go with the mad scientist stereotype. Look at each other's drawings, and then go through some images of 'real-life' scientist, to get pupils to reconsider their initial stereotype - making the point that we can all be scientists as we make hypotheses, analyse, and consider solutions.
Skills sort (I laminated these) - Which skills are most important to a scientist. Pupils work in small groups, and generate excellent discussion, with teacher playing devil's advocate. Gets pupils to think about how scientists actually work.
Finally pupils can redraw their scientists, annotating diagrams with the key skills which a scientist may showcase!
Really fun lesson.
Designed for high ability year 8s - in small groups, pupils use the provided information to plan a mini 'lesson' on their allocated deficiency.
One pupils stays at their station to teach others - the rest move around the room, learning about the other deficiencies. They then return to their group, and teach their presenter about what they have learnt.
Move on to look at BMIs, with some celeb data. Pupils are prompted to consider how this may not be a reliable measure of health. e.g. rugby player categorised as obese.
Designed for use with high ability year 9 class to cover the new GCSE scheme, mark scheme included.
Have not included a question on cancer, as members of this class have recently lost family members.
Could be used with Year 10/11.
Was formally observed, and graded OUTSTANDING.
Interactive activities with one student from each group having to memorise a diagram of metallic structure and then describe it to their group.
Plenary activity to revise covalent bonding before their test. Molecules can be changed to make this lesson suitable for less able groups. Students thoroughly enjoyed the lesson.
Activity designed for my year 8 form but could be used with any age group. Pupils are asked to write themselves a letter which they will revisit at the end of the year. Prompt questions are listed, in this case looking at the transition from year 7 to year 8 (many in my form have already struggled in this step up). Personal reflection time to consider how they have developed so far and what they hope to achieve in the year + steps to make such goals achievable. Pupils really enjoyed doing this and took the activity very seriously! Looking forward to them reading over their letters at the end of the year.
Have also adapted the resource for my subject area (Science) - v easy to do. e.g. what was science like in year x? What are you looking forward to in science this year? What is making you feel apprehensive? etc.
Used with high ability year 8 class, following a lesson on sexual and asexual reproduction.
I chose to laminate the info sheets for use with several groups and to save future spending on photocopying! Would work really well in a school with iPads/class IT access so they could do their own research or as an extension find out about another animal.
Used with high ability iGCSE Chemistry class.
Notes on Diamond, Graphite (and Buckminster Fullerene) and Silicon dioxide. Students highlight and annotate this whilst looking at models of these structures and discussing them as a class. Use the information sheet as a comprehension activity by setting key questions [e.g. why does graphite conduct electricity but diamond does not?]
Year 9 - iGCSE Biology, higher ability.
Lesson on human populations and limiting factors which affect population growth. Cover bacterial sigmoid curve (to be printed for students). I used an old sheet of exam questions (not uploaded) to test their understanding of growth curves.
Next lesson: to look at population pyramids.
Activity I used with my high ability year 10 class - trying to encourage them to think about skill development, rather than simple knowledge acquisition.
Used an intro to highlight why metacognition and self-assessment are important parts of learning. Students then used a sheet to write down their learning high points and improvement points for these topics. Then looked back through the end of unit test and formative comments in their books - made improvements/corrections to their work and noted these down in steps taken.
Sheet glued in for me then to respond to, giving them targets for the next topic, as well as effort and test grading.