Be warned these are not straightforward
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Read moreUploaded a set of new Respiration Tutorials to my Youtube Channel - A-level Biology
I have made a series of 9 short (5-7 mins) video tutorials to try to help students understand glycolysis, link reaction, krebs cycle, anaerobic respiration, oxidative phosphorylation, chemiosmosis and the use of other respiratory substrates. I hope you find them of use.
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Read moreSplat and Flash..... ATP and Fireflies - #OCR Synoptic Biology A-level
Another from the past.
Terrific question about DNA, diffusion, ATP production and fireflies going out in a blaze of glory....
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Read moreVaccines, Plasmids and Monkeys... More Synoptic Questions - A-level Biology #ocr #eduqas
From an Old OCR Unifying concepts paper. ....
Don't panic, the question is not about DNA vaccines or plasmids.
The question is about differences between protein and DNA structure, protein synthesis, post translational modification of protein, clonal selection, mutation of pathogens. All of which are on the specification.
Read moreMultiple Choice Questions to make you think - A-level Biology
The OCR spec is now partly examined through some terrific multiple choice questions. This is a assessment format that is unusual to many students. Here are 9 questions from an Old paper that will stimulate some thought.
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Read moreSuccess by outcome not effort..More efficient revision for A-level Biology
Most students revise by copying out textbooks that they didn't understand when they were taught the concepts. There are better ways of learning and revising.
Here is one way of revising Biological Molecules, print these on card then cut out and go through with a friend - then try making your own.
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Read moreHot flower traps fly ... Another Synoptic Question to make you think #alevelbiology
Dont panic, the question is not about the Cuckoopint flowers that you have never heard of, its about aerobic respiration, mitochondria, oxygen consumption - all of which are topics that you are familiar with.
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Read moreUnexpected return from Project Bean ..."Plants engage students"- Shock. #alevelbiology
When I teach plant reproduction in the spring I give every student a broad bean. We discuss seed shape and function and the conditions that might be needed for germination.
Read moreExcellent mindmap from an App - A-level Biology notes made easier - #mindmap, #Edtech
Mindmaps suit the way I think and organise my thoughts and certainly seem to suit many of my students.
Read moreNo, no, no ! Quickly addressing (very) common Enzyme mistakes - A-level Biology #eduqas #OCR
Enzymes have an active site - Substrates don't.
The substrate is a complementary shape to the active site NOT the "same shape"
Enzymes reduce the activation energy for a reaction to occur
Anabolism is making, Catabolism is breaking
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Read moreWhat on earth ? Making sense of a synoptic A-level Biology question #eduqas
The only prior A-level knowledge you need to answer the question is that lactate is produced when ATP is made from anaerobic respiration.
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Read moreWrite on desks....Basic Edtech
For our workshop room, we purchased some cheap white boards and then removed the table tops and replaced them with whiteboards.
Read moreMolymod Bilayer - further success
The next class upped the ante ....
And made a fantastic bilayer from molymods - took them a total of 8 minutes
Read morePhospholipid challenge ! Molymod success
Following on from glucose...
I divided the class into 4. Gave out the molymods challenged them to make a phospholipid.
6 minutes later...
Read moreSnake up a tree - return of synoptic A-level Biology questions - video tutorials
This year we have the first non modular synoptic A-level papers for nearly 20 years. I have been revisiting old Nuffield papers from the 1990s to find good questions.
try this one
- update, I have had some requests to go through some synoptic questions so I will be posting some video tutorials on my youtube channel over the weekend
Adventures with #Molymod - Start with making Glucose as a whole class activity
Modelling with Molymods is absolutely essential to understanding condensation reactions between monomers and it is something that many students really enjoy.
I recommend that you do this as a whole class activity.
Read moreA different approach to teaching (aerobic) respiration - A-level Biology
Teaching aerobic respiration is a difficult topic, traditionally, teachers begin with glycolysis, then link reaction and krebs cycle and then the electron transport chain, I would argue that there is a better way to teach this.
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Read moreCommon Mistakes and misconceptions with Cells and Membranes
A-level Biological Molecules - 11 basic points to help you learn
Learning those A-level Biology definitions with Memrise - a terrific free tool
Frequently students fail to learn the vocabulary of Biology. To get a top grade it is essential to know what the words mean in a Biological context (niche, chromosome, chromatid...), and have the confidence to use those words in an exam answer.
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