Biodiversity - stretch and challenge activity The proposed wall between the US/Mexico border has implications for wildlife. Students could research the habitat and the types of species that exist along the border. Ask students to think, pair, Read more...

Biodiversity - stretch and challenge activity

The proposed wall between the US/Mexico border has implications for wildlife.

Students could research the habitat and the types of species that exist along the border.

Ask students to think, pair, share what these might be e.g.  populations divided, food and water sources reduced, less mates available for reproduction, reduced gene pool, population decline, reduced biodiversity etc.

Watch the BBC video clip 'Divided desert', about the endangered pronghorn might be affected.

Natural selection - stretch and challenge activity

Link the wall to the idea of geographical isolation leading to speciation by asking students to predict what may happen, over a long period of time, if the pronghorn population gets subdivided and isolated into two smaller groups.

To aid their thinking give students prompt cards to help with terms such as - variation, mutation, natural slection, favourable alleles, offspring etc.

Ask what might happen if conditions on one side changed e.g. the main food available on one side of the wall was different to the other - e.g. ground plants or bushes. Ask what would happen to the two populations if the conditions on both sides of the wall stayed much the same.

 

 

Ask students to read the following article from the BBC  www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39947141 (The whole programme is available on iPlayer until 16/06/2017 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08qkz77/michael-mosley-vs-the-superbugs ). The article has  Read more...

Ask students to read the following article from the BBC  www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39947141

(The whole programme is available on iPlayer until 16/06/2017 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08qkz77/michael-mosley-vs-the-superbugs ).

The article has interesting links between antibiotic resistance and the possibility of using viruses to attack bacteria, by invading their cells. Ask students to recap how viruses invade and multiply in human cells by explaining how they could be used to destroy bacteria.

There are several resources about antibiotics which are relevant for the AQA 9-1 Biology GCSE specification.

• Antibiotic resistance - news story
• Antibiotics introduction
• Antibiotics discovery timeline

Graphene structure, properties and uses http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-21031991 Watch the video and ask students to make notes about its structure and properties. Can they suggest any possible uses? Researchers are developing Read more...

Graphene structure, properties and uses

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-21031991

Watch the video and ask students to make notes about its structure and properties. Can they suggest any possible uses?

Researchers are developing graphene as a sieve to separate the salt from salty water to produce drinking water.

Ask students to draw a diagram or model how this could work.

Read about the research on the BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-39482342

Watch the following video about how graphene was first made. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PifL8bAybyc

Further teaching ideas

W1L2 Nanotechnology lesson and resources

This 3 minute video from the BBC is a fantastic introduction to Mars. We've prepared some questions that you could ask students to answer as they watch. 1. Why did the Romans name the planet Mars? 2. Where does the rusty red colour come from? Read more...

This 3 minute video from the BBC is a fantastic introduction to Mars.

We've prepared some questions that you could ask students to answer as they watch.

1. Why did the Romans name the planet Mars?

2. Where does the rusty red colour come from?

3. What are the 2 moons of Mars called - what do the names mean?

4. Schiaparelli named the marks he observed on Mars 'canali' (this is Italian for channels). Why did this mislead some people to think that there may be intelligent life on Mars?

5. how long would it take to get to Mars from Earth?

6. How long is one martian year?

7.Why couldn't we survive on Mars?

8. Why does 100 kg on Earth weigh just 38 kg on Mars?