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A-level set practicals - using a potometer
This new resource supports the use of practicals across various 2015 A-level biology specifications. The simple potometer allows students to measure the rate of transpiration of a plant specimen within a one hour lesson. Students can record the water loss at regular intervals and could investigate the effect of different abiotic factors on the rate of transpiration.
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A-level set practicals - dissection and microscopy of a plant stem
This new resource supports the use of practicals across various A-level biology specifications.
This experiment allows students to go from the plant on the desk, to observing a stained specimen under the microscope in less than 4 minutes. The viewed specimen clearly shows the location of vascular bundles and the xylem, phloem and sclerenchyma or collenchyma.
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Diagrams of parts of a plant - stem, twigs, bud, cone, stamen and ovaries
Diagrams of parts of a plant - stem, twigs, bud, cone, stamen and ovaries - suitable for use in worksheets, Powerpoints, etc.
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Why do bananas fluoresce? An unexpected view of chlorophyll
As a banana ages, black spots appear on the skin. Shine ultraviolet light on them, and you will see an amazing fluorescent blue ring around each black spot. This is produced as the chlorophyll in the banana skin is broken down. This makes a fun and thought-provoking lesson starter for a topic on chlorophyll.
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Can you beat the Giant Redwood? Investigating xylem
In this lively starter activity to introduce the topic of xylem, students are posed the question ‘Can you beat a Giant Redwood?’. Giant Redwoods can reach 100m tall and have to transport the water they absorb through their roots up through the trunk to the very top of the tree. How do they do this?
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Key Stage 3 Outline Scheme of Work
Plants and KS3 Science provides teachers with ideas and resources where ‘plants’ provide contexts for learning in some KS3 topics or parts of topics. And this doesn’t just mean the biology topics. Plants can provide intriguing contexts for learning chemistry and physics. These contexts include innovative applications of science, media coverage of science, and working with science and careers in science.
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How to run a science journal club for A-level students
This resource introduces how to run a journal club for your A-level science students, together with a full list of appropriate open-access papers for your students to discuss. Great for stretching and challenging your students!
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PlantPowerED 2014 - Science & Design Competition
The SAPS Summer Challenge 2014 asked students aged 14-19 to think about some of the challenges in everyday life – everything from flooded towns to charging up a smartphone in a desert - and to create an idea for an invention that could tackle them. The 'ideas and inspiration' section introduces some of the unexpected ways plants are being used by scientists and engineers today.
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How healthy are your trees?
This activity is designed to get students thinking about plants as living organisms that have to survive, breed and defend themselves against disease. Students begin by cataloguing the health of trees in the area, and can then follow this with a statistical investigation.
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CSI Trees - investigating plant pathogens
A sickly tree might not look like much of a crime scene, but the influx of pathogens on plants is causing increasing concern in the UK.
In this resource, students take on the role of plant pathologists, asking questions to determine the cause of a tree's death.
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Gravitropism at post-16 - the Role of Roots
This post-16 resource looks at root growth, with a focus on gravitropism. Using agar plates and white mustard seeds, students can visualise the development of roots, their root hair cells, observe the zones of elongation and differentiation and illustrates gravitropism very effectively in roots.
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C4 rice - The science behind the poster
How can understanding photosynthesis help save thousands of lives every year? In this article, accompanying our poster on 'C4 Rice', we take a deeper look at the hidden aspects of photosynthesis and the work UK scientists are hoping might increase crop yields dramatically.
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Epigenetics - The science behind the poster
How can understanding photosynthesis help save thousands of lives every year? In this article, accompanying our poster on 'C4 Rice', we take a deeper look at the hidden aspects of photosynthesis and the work UK scientists are hoping might increase crop yields dramatically.
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Revising A-level Biology: Plants 'R' Mint
'Revising A-level Biology: Plants ‘r’ mint' is an innovative revision resource, designed to encourage synoptic thinking and to develop a broader understanding of biology in A2 students.
Each of the four student revision packs brings together a range of topics in animal, human and plant biology, centred on a common theme. The revision packs are intended to stretch and challenge students.
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Tackling tropisms: gravitropism and phototropism
This set of demonstrations into the effects of tropisms on seedlings is both simple and extendable. Seeds sown on damp cotton wool in (plastic) Petri dishes are grown either flat, or stuck vertically to a wall.
Students enjoy the dramatic effect of sticking Petri dishes to the wall, and you will have well-grown seedlings within a week, showing the different effects of gravitropism and phototropism.
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Tropisms - how do plants grow in space?
This short activity uses recently published research into plant behaviour, conducted on the International Space Station, to get your students thinking more about tropisms.
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Photosynthesis Quiz: Test Your Knowledge!
This quiz about photosynthesis was designed to uncover various misconceptions that students often have, starting with GCSE level misconceptions and moving onto undergraduate level misconceptions.
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Photosynthesis: testing a variegated leaf for starch
This resource tackles the learning objective “Only areas of the plant with chloroplasts can make starch in photosynthesis”. This is activity 11 in the ‘Photosynthesis: A Survival Guide’ scheme. Students carry out a starch test on a variegated leaf to demonstrate that only the parts containing chloroplasts are able to synthesise starch.
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