This lesson is designed for the Activate KS3 Science Course, specifically Year 7 B1.1 Module on ‘Cells’
 
For more lessons designed for KS3 and KS4 please visit my shop at: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/SWiftScience.
The lesson begins with an introduction to cells as the building blocks of life and the smallest units found in living organisms, this is demonstrated with diagrams of animal and plant cells.
 
The scientist Robert Hooke is then introduced as someone who firstly coined the phrase ‘cell’ after observing plant tissue down a microscope, this leads into the main part of the lesson which is on microscopes.
 
Students will be shown a diagram of a microscope and are told some details of factors which should be considered when observing a specimen using a microscope. A video is then played which students need to watch in order to complete a ‘fill-in-the-blank’ task which summarises how to use a microscope and the main parts of the structure of a microscope. This task can be self-assessed using the mark scheme provided. Once this task has been completed it can be self-assessed using the mark scheme provided.
 
Next, students are shown how to calculate the total magnification of a microscope using the magnification of the objective lens and the eyepiece lens. Students will then need to work their way through a set of problems using this calculation. The answers to this task is included in the PowerPoint so students can mark and correct their work.
 
The last part of the lesson requires pupils to follow the instructions included in the PowerPoint to prepare an onion slide to then observe plant cells under the microscope. Once students have carefully prepared their slide they should observe the plant cells at a range of magnifications, sketching a diagram of their observations onto the worksheet provided.
 
The plenary requires pupils to copy and complete sentences which summarise what they have learned this lesson.