A worksheet resource that could be used by either 14-16 or 16-18 year old biology students, this resource provides an 'active video' task on the history of thalidomide with a series of question prompts that students complete while watching the video clip. the video clip can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0QpnqjKGJo The video clip provides an overview of the thalidomide tragedy and how the United States stood their ground in refusing a drug licence while the disaster played out across the rest of the world. This is a good activity to set the scene for any topic on how drugs are developed and the importance of drug testing and clinical trials. Key words: Thalidomide, disaster, focomelia, drugs, clinical trials, pharmaceutical, USA, regulations

This resource is useful for a lesson practical activity whereby students are required to test themselves for colour-blindness. The resource consists of a table that shows the expected responses of someone who is not colour blind versus someone who is, based on the classic Ishihara colour blindness diagnostic tests. The resource can be used in conjunction with the classic Ishihara 38 plate colour-blindness test. Pdf documents containing these plates can be found online and printed out; alternatively the test can be taken online here: http://www.color-blindness.com/ishihara-38-plates-cvd-test/#prettyPhoto or here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImdUSPL2dc4 Key words: colour blindness, ishihara, plates, eyes, cones, trichromatic, vision, defect, sex-linked, color blindness

An activity aimed at A-Level Biology students. This activity involves a series of statements that can be given to a class at the start of a lesson with the instruction that they draw the phosphorous cycle based on this information. Students should initially do this in pairs but can then be teamed up in larger groups to show, discuss and explain their own diagrammatic interpretations of the phosphorus cycle. Finally, the whole class can be brought together to discuss the best way of joining these statements together into an agreed phosphorous cycle. Key words: Phosphorous, cycle, ATP, NADP, weathering, phosphates, fertilisers, glycolysis, kinase, phosphorylation

This guidance sheet is for use in lesson as an introduction to muscles and the features of synovial joints. The dissection is broken up into several different tasks, each of which have follow up/extension questions that encourage students to make cross links with other topics. Muscles, bone, cartilage, ligaments and tendons are all covered in this activity.

A worksheet aimed at advanced biology students who are studying a topic on gene technology and the role of restriction endonucleases. The worksheet consists of task where students are required to choose the most appropriate restriction enzyme to cut out a gene from a piece of DNA. Students are given four different examples of restriction enzymes, together with information about the recognition sequence for each enzyme. Using this information, students must then select the most appropriate enzyme to cut out the gene. Key words: restriction endonuclease, gene, recognition sequence

A worksheet aimed at advanced biology students, this resource consists of eight questions that focus on both multiple alleles and codominance. The examples chosen include fur colour in cats, hair colour in cattle and the appearance of the (fictional) American Bigfoot! A good resource to use as either a starter or plenary exercise to test understanding of either codominance or multiple alleles and phenotypic ratios. Key words: genetics, phenotype, codominance, multiple alleles, monohybrid

A resource aimed at GCSE or A-Level biology, physical education or applied science students, this worksheet provides a series of instructions to investigate the effect of exercise on blood pressure, heart rate and cardiac output. The worksheet includes a weblink to an online metronome for students to standardise their rate of exercise (e.g. squats)and also provides a graphic to gauge whether blood pressure is optimal or above normal. Key words: blood pressure, sphygmomanometer, exercise, heart rate, cardiac output, recovery

This worksheet is aimed at either GCSE or A-Level students studying microbiology. The worksheet is an ideal lesson starter to use following preparation and incubation of agar plates that have been inoculated with bacteria (from unpasteurised milk in this example, but easily adaptable for any other source of bacteria). The worksheet introduces the idea of binary fission and the concept of a visible colony being made of many thousands of individual bacterial cells. The worksheet also includes an activity on counting bacterial colonies and estimating numbers based on dilutions that would set students up well for a subsequent lesson where they did this activity using their own agar plates. Key words: Agar, bacteria, colony, estimate, milk, pasteurisation, binary fission

A worksheet that is aimed at A-Level Biology students, providing data from an investigation into the effect of caffeine on the heart rate of Daphnia. Students are required to use the 95% confidence limits and standard error test to determine whether the results are statistically significant or not. Key words: Statistics, Daphnia, heart rate, caffeine, 95% confidence limits, standard error, standard deviation, significance, null hypothesis

An unusual resource that brings history and science together with an activity that introduces the concept of carbon-14 radioactive dating of archeological remains. The task provides an introduction to radioactive dating, followed by questions whereby students are required to calculate percentage reduction of carbon-14 . Finally, students can then calculate the approximate year when Richard III died based on the half life of carbon-14.

A resource aimed at GCSE (14-16 year old) biology students, this resource consists of a series of instructions for four food test investigations (testing for a reducing sugar, protein, starch and fat), each of which can be printed out and positioned at various locations/work stations in a laboratory. The resource also contains a worksheet for students to fill in as they complete each investigation - students should test a known sample of a food substance first in order to see for themselves the positive result/colour change before then testing an unknown mixture.

This resource consists of two worksheets, each of which contains a task on identifying structures associated with the lungs and thorax, followed by a table which requires students to identify the key events that occur during ventilation. Each worksheet contains slightly different terminology, making one more suitable for A-Level and one more suitable for GCSE. The worksheets can be used as a starter or plenary task to recap student's knowledge. Key words: Intercostal, lungs, pressure, Boyle's law, diaphragm, ribs, contract, relax, trachea, cartilage, alveoli, bronchus, bronchi

A resource aimed at advanced level biology students, this worksheet leads students through an area that often causes difficulty - interpreting evidence for the Calvin Cycle. The worksheet looks at the classic experiment performed by Melvin Calvin that provided evidence for the sequence of events that occurs in cyclic photophosphorlyation or the light-independent reactions of photosynthesis. The worksheet introduces the idea of radioactive tracers and asks students to predict the effect of switching lights off or reducing carbon dioxide levels. Graphs are shown recording the levels of RuBP and GP in response to these changes. Answers to each question are provided on the second page of this worksheet Key words: Light independent reaction, cyclic photophosphorylation, ATP, RNADP, glycerate - 3- phosphate, triose phosphate, ribulose bisphosphate, ribulose phosphate, light dependent reaction, calvin cycle

An activity aimed at A-Level Biology students. This activity involves a series of statements that can be given to a class at the start of a lesson with the instruction that they draw the nitrogen cycle based on this information. Students should initially do this in pairs but can then be teamed up in larger groups to show, discuss and explain their own diagrammatic interpretations of the nitrogen cycle. Finally, the whole class can be brought together to discuss the best way of joining these statements together into an agreed nitrogen cycle. Key words: Nitrogen, cycle, ammonification, nitrification, denitrification, saprobiont, decay, symbiotic, rhizobium, azotobacter, decomposition, photosynthesis, respiration, combustion, fossilisation, assimilation, feeding, herbivore, carnivore, carbonate

A worksheet aimed at advanced biology students, this resource focuses on the mechanism of action of second messengers (using cAMP as an example), activated by an initial hormone. The worksheet contains several questions that lead students through a logical series of key points - a weblink is also included for students to research their answers further. Key words: cAMP, second messenger, adenylate cyclase, hormone, adrenaline, ATP, AMP, response, endocrine

A worksheet suitable for Level 3 Applied Science Students (but easily adaptable for advanced biology), this worksheet requires students to research the key processes involved in mitosis. The worksheet is written in the style of a BTEC task but it could also be used as a homework activity for any advanced biology class about to study mitosis. Several question prompts are provided along with a weblink to an interactive animation, allowing students to research their own answers to each of the questions Keywords: Mitosis, prophase, anaphase, metaphase, telophase, interphase, chromosomes, centromere, diploid, research

A resource suitable for use with both GCSE and A-Level students as a lesson starter, this worksheet provides an account of aseptic technique from an instruction manual; after each step in the instructions, students are required to comment on the reasons why each technique or precaution is necessary. A useful exercise to use at the beginning or an investigation involving microbiology. Key words: aseptic, bacteria, agar, contamination

A worksheet that provides a matching exercise for key definitions related to ecology (e.g. population, community, ecosystem, niche, etc). Useful as a plenary task once this topic has been covered, which provides students with a written record of what each term means. Key words: Ecology, ecosystem, population, niche, community, competition, intraspecific, interspecific, habitat, environment

Worksheet starter task to recap the basics of amino acid structure