A bonafide Science Teacher (of 13 years), and Head of Year, from Gloucestershire offering tried and tested resources to save you the time and energy when planning. There's no point reinventing the wheel!
Watch out for new resources to help you meet the demands of teaching the Science GCSE and Chemistry A-Level.
A bonafide Science Teacher (of 13 years), and Head of Year, from Gloucestershire offering tried and tested resources to save you the time and energy when planning. There's no point reinventing the wheel!
Watch out for new resources to help you meet the demands of teaching the Science GCSE and Chemistry A-Level.
This differentiated worksheet builds in demand as you work through it and so there really is something for everyone. It begins simply with the primary and secondary colours, what they are and how they are formed (secondary). The activity then moves on to how we see coloured light and how/why objects appear certain colours under white light and then finally under different coloured light.
This activity is essentially a good assessment tool of a really tricky topic. I’ve included answers to the questions to save you having to do the thinking! They are essentially a set of model answers which you could even give students.
For anyone trying to plan something creative to allow various science skills to be developed. This project/lesson has so much scope. At a push this could be done in a lesson and then perhaps for homework but it would work a lot better if a few of hours of time was given to make a good job of it!
The project would sit nicely anywhere within the year or would make a great end of term activity as it is a completely ‘stand alone’ topic. Perhaps you could use this in a STEM week or during Science week?
This bundle of resources contains powerpoints to guide through the project as well as teacher/technician notes, lesson plans, plus some suspect profiles to work out ‘whodunnit’. I have included a student worksheets to allow them to gather and record data and draw conclusions. Students will need to carry out practical activities as part of this project so only download if you have the capacity to set these up! Students will have to consider how to control various elements of the project/investigation and how to improve accuracy, repeatability, precision etc. They will then need to plot graphs of their results, draw observations from microscopes and carry out chemical food tests before drawing a final conclusion.
I love using this resource! It is fully editable but gives you a resource you can use straight away (you’ll just need to talk to your technicians about making some fake blood, urine and hair and fibre samples…).
Who? For anyone trying to plan something creative to allow various science skills to be developed. This project/lesson has so much scope. At a push this could be done in a lesson and then perhaps for homework but it would work a lot better if a couple of hours of time was given to make a good job of it!
The project would sit nicely anywhere within the year or would make a great end of term activity as it is a completely ‘stand alone’ topic. Perhaps you could use this in a STEM week or during Science week?
This bundle of resources contains a powerpoint to guide through the project as well as teacher/technician notes, a detailed lesson plan, plus some suspect profiles to work out ‘whodunnit’. I have included a student sheet to allow them to gather and record data and draw conclusions. Students will need to drop ‘blood’ onto the floor/ a surface and gather a set of control diameters of blood splats which are created upon the blood hitting the floor. Students will have to consider how to control various elements of the project/investigation and how to improve accuracy, repeatability, precision etc. They will then need to plot a graph of their results before drawing a final conclusion.
I love using this resource! It is fully editable but gives you a resource you can use straight away (you’ll just need to talk to your technicians about making some fake blood…).
Enjoy!
Who? For anyone trying to plan something creative to allow various science skills to be developed. This project/lesson has so much scope. This could be delivered as a stand alone lesson or coupled with my other forensic project lessons to create an extended investigation.
The project would sit nicely anywhere within the year or would make a great end of term activity as it is a completely ‘stand alone’ topic. Perhaps you could use this in a STEM week or during Science week?
This bundle of resources contains a powerpoint to guide through the project as well as teacher/technician notes, a detailed lesson plan, plus some suspect profiles to work out ‘whodunnit’. I have included a student sheet to allow them to gather and record observations and draw conclusions. Students will need to set up a microscope to observe some pre-prepared slides showing hair and fibre samples and draw their observations.
This resource is fully editable but can be used straight away (you’ll just need to talk to your technicians about making some hair and fibre slides using the suspect profiles for guidance…).
Enjoy!
Who? Those teaching the new (and old!) GCSE Physics. This worksheet would fit nicely into the P3 Edexcel specification. This is for students who are getting to grips with identifying the useful and wasted energies made by electrical devices.
What? The worksheet is a grid to be filled out after considering/discussing the different types of energy output delivered by the different electrical devices. There is also an opportunity to consider aspects of their design which have been developed to reduce wasted energy. This will extend some and deepen the thinking involved.
Answers are included on the second sheet of the resource.
How many times do we find ourselves trying to show our students how different chemistry equations link together?! Too many. Well here is an excellent, condensed summary of all the Chemistry calculations which involve moles. My students love this sheet (if that’s possible?!) as it brings it all together. This can be used with both Standard tier or Higher Tier students (it does include the Avogadro Constant, which is found in HT).
Equations included are…
Avogadro’s constant/moles/No. of particles
concentration/moles/volume
concentration/mass/volume
moles/mass/relative mass
Molar gas volume/moles/volume
I have also included conversion of dm3 into cm3 plus a couple of extra rules/definitions taken from th specification.
This worksheet has been made using the Edexcel Specification but could absolutely be used against other specifications (including A-Level).
This great booklet contains 5 different tasks which would be ready to introduce at the very beginning of your electricity topic teaching. The booklet focuses on electrical safety but also where electricity is used everyday plus one task to start getting them to think about how they might experimentally solve some problems to do with electricity.
All five tasks could be completed or the booklet could be broken down into individual activities. Would make a great holiday project or and introduction to the topic homework project.
A simple starter for students to sort pictures of different products and group them as acids or alkalis.
Students could then be challenged to predict the pH of the products too.
Totally editable if you’re not a fan of cut and stick, this could be done as a simple ‘circle the acids’ etc task.
This resource is a must have for Electrolysis revision, classwork or homework.
This resource is made up of two worksheets plus answers for both. Students must predict the ions which will be present during an electrolysis of various electrolytes and then decide which ions will be attracted to either electrode. It is supported by a great knowledge organiser which guides students through HOW to predict what will be formed.
Knowledge Organiser (written against the Edexcel Specification but easily applicable to others)r.
I’ve even included worked answers for the worksheets to save you the bother!
(Students may need access to a periodic table and/or a reactivity series which includes hydrogen).
Though about reindeer and the Christmas ‘feel’, this activity can be done at any time of the year (ie whenever you’re teaching genetics!) or could be unleashed as a stand alone Christmas end of term type activity. It could also be sent home as a project too.
All instructions are on the sheet and students have free reign to be as creative as they like. The thing I find when teaching selective breeding is the misconception that it’s as easy as A + B = perfect C and students forget that the process is lengthy as many rounds of breeding need to be done to iron out the unwanted features etc. As a result, I’ve popped in a little extension question at the end to get them thinking!
Though aimed at KS3 this could easily be used for lower ability KS4.
A great knowledge organiser all boiled down to one sheet.
If students know EXACTLY WHAT they need to revise (using the specification checklist) it makes for smarter revision. If they can TEST THEMSELVES to measure their understanding - even better!
This resource is a comprehensive but concise knowledge organiser covering…
Electrolysis key definitions
Predicting the products of an electrolysis experiment (a great flow diagram to make this easier for students!)
Half equations
Purifying Copper
oxidation and reduction
A five page booklet of classification activities. This booklet could be used in class or as a series of homeworks (would make a great holiday project).
Students will need to know how to classify vertebrates and invertebrates.
EDIT* Useful feedback from a review - give students page numbers to textbooks you use or websites if homework project!
This blank table will allow students to organise/present information they have gathered during online research on a variety of diseases. This resource could easily be used with my ‘Doctor, Doctor!’ game/activity (also free for download).
A cut and stick or match 'em up type activity to assess recall of simple chemical reactions content.
common gas tests
reactant and products
the fire triangle
word equations
Two GIANT GCSE Chemistry (9-1) quizzes covering TOPIC 1 and 2 of the Edexcel Specification (although topics will definitely be in other specifications AQA, OCR etc). PLUS a great, visual knowledge organiser for TOPIC 1 to accompany quiz.
First powerpoint…
A 141 (!!!) slide powerpoint delivered as a Big Quiz covering TOPIC 1 content of the Edexcel Specification (though this can easily be used against other specifications). Topic 1 is split into sub-topics and so there are 6 rounds in total.
Round 1 - Atomic Structure
Round 2 - Periodic Table
Round 3 - Ionic Bonding
Round 4 - Covalent Bonding
Round 5 - Types of Substance
Round 6 - Calculations involving mass
Second powerpoint…
A 53 (!) slide powerpoint delivered as a Big Quiz covering TOPIC 2 content of the Edexcel Specification (though this can easily be used against other specifications). Topic 2 is split into sub-topics and so there are 2 rounds in total.
Round 1 - States of Matter
Round 2 - Separation of mixtures techniques
Each question has been written using the specification and answers generated against mark schemes from exam style questions.
Following each round of questions come a round of answers so students can peer mark or you can. Though one massive quiz, this resource could easily be used as a whole lesson, starters, to formatively assess after revision sessions - whatever you like!
I’m using them in my revision sessions and Chemistry booster sessions!
Who? For you lucky people teaching the new Chemistry/ Combined Science GCSE (2016). Also for those of you requiring a straight forward and simple lesson on Mendeleev and the development of the Periodic Table. This lesson has been made with reference to the new Edexcel Specification but could easily be applied to AQA, OCR etc.
What will you get? This is a whole lesson on one powerpoint. A starter puzzle to get students thinking about ‘sorting’, Learning objectives, worked examples with answers, class tasks with answers (all written in the ‘notes’ section of the powerpoint) and an exam style question to really make sure they have met the learning objectivve. This lesson is ready to go but still offers you flexibility to offer group work or peer teaching style tasks if you wish.
This lesson would also have room for the ‘Alkali Metals’ demonstration to be carried out but if this is not an option then I have embedded videos instead to offer a last minute alternative.
Everything you need is here as powerpoint slides and can be printed as ‘worksheets’ if needed.
A great knowledge organiser all boiled down to one sheet.
My revision methods are quite simple in my lessons - SPEC IT, REVISE IT, TEST IT. If students know EXACTLY WHAT they need to revise (using the specification checklist) it makes for smarter revision. If they can TEST THEMSELVES to measure their understanding - even better!
This resource is a comprehensive but concise knowledge organiser covering the tough put essential Chemistry Calculations plus some great examples of model calculation answers. This knowledge organiser has been made against the Edexcel specification but would easily be applicable to others. Each revision point has been written in accordance with the specification section to help students translate the specification points. The Knowledge Organiser is applicable to students sitting standard or higher tier papers.
Calculations included are…
calculating concentrations (in g/dm3 and mol/dm3)
calculating unknown concentrations using titration data
gas volume calculations starting with mass of a reactant
gas molar volume ratios
This super resource uses modelling of how to calculate Kc and deduce units for Kc. The whole lesson is based around typical exam questions which will be worth approximately 5 marks. This video has links directly to my YouTube channel to allow you to play students a model Kc calculation with a clear step-by-step method. Using the video models will free you up as teacher to talk through each step and allow time for questioning without having to worry about working through the examples - they are already done for you!
The final model is a an exam question from a previous past paper. The markscheme has been included in the presentation to allow you to share this with your students.
Kc calculations are tricky to teach but this really takes out the hard work! The whole lesson is within the powerpoint and teaching suggestions are written into the notes section of each slide.
This 15 slide editable assembly provides pictures, videos and text to provide a platform for reflecting on the important topic of how we influence others. Both positive and negative impact is referred to, with the focus steering towards how we can have more of a positive impact on the people around us. Students often do not realise the impact they are having on people and so this topic is an important one. It would be a good build up to an anti bullying assembly. This assembly is aimed at secondary school year groups. Advice on the delivery of the assembly and links to videos can be found in the notes section of the powerpoint (which can then be printed before the assembly takes place).
This is a simple and versatile resource which could be used in a number of ways! Resource consists of two documents containing ‘patient’ statements, detailing a list of symptoms for a disease plus a matching ‘doctor’ statement to diagnose the disease. This resource could be used as a…
'match ‘em up’
Loop game
Memory game
role play
…etc.
Statements are in Word and so editable.
