This is a lesson which meets specification points within the WJEC GCSE ‘The Sciences’ Double Award (2026) spec, specifically from the Unit 1 - Basis of Life (Biology).

The lesson starts with an overview of the key vocabulary which students will be learning and using this lesson. Students can stick their key word lists into their books before the lesson begins.

Pupils will firstly be introduced to guard cells and stomata and how they are able t control the loss of water from the plant, diagrams of guard cells turgid and flaccid will help with this description.

Pupils will then be given a set of questions which they will complete using a video, once completed pupils can then assess their work using the answers provided.

The next slide shows the process of transpiration, pupils are shown a diagram and then descriptions of each stage in the transpiration process are shown stage by stage. You may need lower ability pupils to copy the stages up off the board in note form first. For higher ability pupils after you have gone through it a couple of times you can move the slide forward and pupils will need to write a description of the process of transpiration using the list of key words and diagram as a cue.

After this has been completed pupils will then focus on the factors affecting the rate of transpiration, pupils will each be given a slip of information about a factor and how it affects the loss of water from the plant. Pupils will need to swap information with those around them to complete their table. If pupils do not quite finish this task they can assess their work using the completed table provided in the PowerPoint.

The last activity is for pupils to complete exam questions on the topic of the lesson. Pupils will be given 6 minutes as it is worth 6 marks, they should try and complete the question in silence at the back of their books if possible.

Plenary task is to write a twitter message about what they have learnt this lesson, including #keywords.