LAUNCH · GCSE Biology · Week 3 · Do
Magnification Exam & Measurement Lab
🎯 Learning objective: I can independently solve and check GCSE magnification problems and communicate my method clearly.
✅ Success criteria
- Choose the correct equation/rearrangement.
- Show conversions and working.
- Check whether the final answer is scientifically reasonable.
ArrivalStarterI DoWe DoI Do 2We Do 2IndependentExit
🧬 Edexcel GCSE Biology 1BI0 Foundation · Paper 1 · Topic 1🧪 Scale Evidence Challenge⏱ 40 minutes
🔬
Do → Scale Evidence Challengeobserve · predict · test · explain · applyQUESTIONEVIDENCEPATTERNEXPLANATIONAPPLICATIONEVALUATION
LAUNCH rule: the explanation is earned by observation, prediction, measurement, testing or reasoning from evidence.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Stable conditions and clear expectations make GCSE thinking possible.
⏱ 3 min
🚪 Arrival · previous learningRetrieve the previous learning: W3L2 equation, rearrangement and conversions. Magnification = image size ÷ actual size.
Week 3 has no taught week behind it. R3 is a second Week 3 retrieval, declared here rather than reaching for Biology that has not been taught.
Not here last lesson? Everything you need is in the box above — read it, then answer.
◆ Supported — three retrieval questions and one lead-in
R1 Last lesson
Point to the magnification formula on the card.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Standard — Last lesson you calculated magnification. Say what you divide by what.
R2 Week 3 · lesson 1
Say which lens you look through.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Standard — What is the difference between magnification and resolution?
R3 Week 3 again — declared
Point to the millimetre marks on a ruler.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Standard — How many micrometres are there in one millimetre?
Lead-in Into today
You will solve problems on your own today. Point to the first question.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Standard — Today you work independently. What would make your method clear to someone reading it?
▲ Standard — three retrieval questions and one lead-in
R1 Last lesson
Last lesson you calculated magnification. Say what you divide by what.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — Last lesson: explain why the units must match before you divide.
R2 Week 3 · lesson 1
What is the difference between magnification and resolution?
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — Past a microscope's resolution, more magnification adds no new detail. Explain why.
R3 Week 3 again — declared
How many micrometres are there in one millimetre?
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — Explain why cell sizes are usually quoted in micrometres rather than millimetres.
Lead-in Into today
Today you work independently. What would make your method clear to someone reading it?
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — An answer with the right number but no method loses more than marks. Say what it loses scientifically.
★ Stretch — three retrieval questions and one lead-in
R1 Last lesson
Last lesson: explain why the units must match before you divide.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Supported — Point to the magnification formula on the card.
R2 Week 3 · lesson 1
Past a microscope's resolution, more magnification adds no new detail. Explain why.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Supported — Say which lens you look through.
R3 Week 3 again — declared
Explain why cell sizes are usually quoted in micrometres rather than millimetres.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Supported — Point to the millimetre marks on a ruler.
Lead-in Into today
An answer with the right number but no method loses more than marks. Say what it loses scientifically.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Supported — You will solve problems on your own today. Point to the first question.
Arrival retrieves three times, then leads in. R1 is last lesson, R2 is earlier this week, R3 is a second Week 3 retrieval — declared, and the lead-in opens today without teaching today’s concept.
LAUNCH response routes
📝 write / edit🗣 structured verbal📏 measure / calculate📊 graph / interpret🧪 practical / demonstrate🔁 re-attempt
Access changes the response route, not the GCSE Biology entitlement.
QUESTIONEVIDENCEPATTERNEXPLANATIONAPPLICATIONEVALUATION
LAUNCH rule: the explanation is earned by observation, prediction, measurement, testing or reasoning from evidence.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Quiet retrieval before new demand; uncertainty is information, not public failure.
⏱ 3 min
🌱 Starter · observe / predict🔍 Scientific question
An exam answer says ‘400 mm’ for magnification. The arithmetic is correct. Why can the answer still lose the mark?
FRAME 1/4
READ THE COMMAND WORD
Pause for observation or prediction before advancing.
FRAME 2/4
AUDIT THE UNITS
Pause for observation or prediction before advancing.
FRAME 3/4
DO THE WORKING
Pause for observation or prediction before advancing.
FRAME 4/4
CORRECT ONE THING
Pause for observation or prediction before advancing.
🎯 Commit to a prediction
Before you start: what makes an answer easy for another person to check?
Choose one. Say it, point to it, or press it.
Nothing here is right or wrong yet, and nothing is marked, scored or stored. A prediction is still worth having when it turns out differently — that is what makes the test worth running.
LAUNCH response routes
📝 write / edit🗣 structured verbal📏 measure / calculate📊 graph / interpret🧪 practical / demonstrate🔁 re-attempt
Access changes the response route, not the GCSE Biology entitlement.
QUESTIONEVIDENCEPATTERNEXPLANATIONAPPLICATIONEVALUATION
LAUNCH rule: the explanation is earned by observation, prediction, measurement, testing or reasoning from evidence.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Prediction/observation precedes explanation.
⏱ 4 min
👩🏫 I Do · model the reasoning🧠 Teacher reasoning model — reveal only after the class has observed/predicted.
STEP Audit a flawed answer: wrong unit, wrong rearrangement, mixed units.
STEP Circle command word and given data before calculating.
STEP Use an estimate to catch impossible answers.
✔ What this model helps us seeIt shows a worked method laid out step by step, so the reasoning is visible and checkable.
✘ What this model does not showIt leaves out whether you could have caught your own error — a worked example never shows you the check you did not run.
QUESTIONEVIDENCEPATTERNEXPLANATIONAPPLICATIONEVALUATION
LAUNCH rule: the explanation is earned by observation, prediction, measurement, testing or reasoning from evidence.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Teacher models scientific reasoning; staff watch access and the point where the idea lands.
⏱ 4 min
🤝 We Do · hinge & responseCommit before reveal: Image 20 mm at ×400. Actual size?
Answer first. The reveal is earned by the response, not by a timer.
LAUNCH response routes
📝 write / edit🗣 structured verbal📏 measure / calculate📊 graph / interpret🧪 practical / demonstrate🔁 re-attempt
Access changes the response route, not the GCSE Biology entitlement.
QUESTIONEVIDENCEPATTERNEXPLANATIONAPPLICATIONEVALUATION
LAUNCH rule: the explanation is earned by observation, prediction, measurement, testing or reasoning from evidence.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Adult genuinely receives the response; the next question, explanation or scaffold changes because of it.
⏱ 3 min
👩🏫 I Do 2 · connect / extend🧠 Teacher reasoning model — reveal only after the class has observed/predicted.
STEP Feedback should target one error; redo that step rather than copying a whole model.
STEP Link measured image size to the equation.
STEP Use model working for answer shape, not grade labels.
QUESTIONEVIDENCEPATTERNEXPLANATIONAPPLICATIONEVALUATION
LAUNCH rule: the explanation is earned by observation, prediction, measurement, testing or reasoning from evidence.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Teacher models scientific reasoning; staff watch access and the point where the idea lands.
⏱ 4 min
🤝 We Do 2 · scientific model / dataInteractive reasoning: predict/observe first → use the model → explain the evidence → adult receives it.
📏 Local calculation lab
Use the lesson context to decide whether A/B are image size, actual size or another required pair. Units must be made consistent first.
🔎 Working check lab
The calculator above gives one answer. This lab is button-only. Three pupils answered the same question — image 40 mm wide, actual size 80 µm — and a checker built from the class rule diagnoses each answer live.
Step 1 · Predict, before you test
Which answer is right?
Choose one. Say it, point to it, or press it. Nothing here is right or wrong yet.
Step 2 · Test each answer
Press one to test it.
Frozen results — these stay on the page
Nothing tested yet.
Step 3 · Explain
SCIENCE GLITCH: “Magnification has no unit, so units do not matter.”
Use your frozen list as the evidence. Decide, then say why.
Every step is a button, and each option carries a shape and a word as well as its colour. Say it, point to it or have an adult press it — the route does not change the Biology.
LAUNCH response routes
📝 write / edit🗣 structured verbal📏 measure / calculate📊 graph / interpret🧪 practical / demonstrate🔁 re-attempt
Access changes the response route, not the GCSE Biology entitlement.
QUESTIONEVIDENCEPATTERNEXPLANATIONAPPLICATIONEVALUATION
LAUNCH rule: the explanation is earned by observation, prediction, measurement, testing or reasoning from evidence.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Adult genuinely receives the response; the next question, explanation or scaffold changes because of it.
⏱ 15 min
✏️ Independent · evidence & transfer✏️ Independent GCSE Biology
Do a short set of mixed exam questions. One uses a measured image. Now check one answer. Check it yourself. Make one clear correction. Show it to an adult. Say why you changed it.
🧪 PRACTICAL / EVIDENCE READY
EquipmentCalculator; ruler; printed cell images/questions; model working staff/reveal side.
Safety / accessExam-style work is practice, not a grade event; no public scores/timed competition.
Evidence targetIndependent set + visible correction/re-attempt + adult-received explanation.
15 minutes. Supported / Standard / Stretch are movable routes, not grade identities.
◆ Do five questions. Use the formula prompts. Use the conversion prompts.
Equation → units → substitute → answer.
Fade: remove the first prompt that no longer changes success.
▲ Do seven mixed questions. One is a measured-image task.
Check the command word. Then highlight the data.
Fade: remove the first prompt that no longer changes success.
★ Do seven questions. Some use a new context. Find your errors. Then explain them.
Use estimation where it helps. Use significant figures too.
Fade: remove the first prompt that no longer changes success.
1 · Learner decisionprediction, plan, command-word choice or calculation set-up
2 · Observable Sciencemeasurement, graph, working, model, practical result or answer
3 · Learner responseexplanation, evaluation, edit or re-attempt after feedback
📖 WORD HELP
methodthe steps you took, written so another person could repeat them
magnificationhow many times bigger the image is than the real thing
calculatework it out with numbers, showing the steps
Use the Biology word first. Ask for help only when you need it. TA fade route: model the word. Then prompt for it. Then wait for it. Drop a step as soon as the pupil no longer needs it.
LAUNCH response routes
📝 write / edit🗣 structured verbal📏 measure / calculate📊 graph / interpret🧪 practical / demonstrate🔁 re-attempt
Access changes the response route, not the GCSE Biology entitlement.
QUESTIONEVIDENCEPATTERNEXPLANATIONAPPLICATIONEVALUATION
LAUNCH rule: the explanation is earned by observation, prediction, measurement, testing or reasoning from evidence.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
Pupil reasoning stays attributable; feedback produces an edit, re-attempt, calculation, explanation or application.
⏱ 4 min
🎫 Exit · receive and use the response◆ Supported
What is the first check before calculating?
▲ Standard
Why is ×400 correct but 400 mm not?
★ Stretch
How can you check if a calculated actual size is plausible?
🔁 LAUNCH Lundy close — use the existing work
1) Pupil answers / edits / re-attempts. 2) Adult genuinely reads, listens or watches and names back what was received. 3) Where appropriate, the pupil adds the single response/next-step line on the same work: “I changed / next I will …”
No adult signature/countersignature. If local policy uses R, it follows genuine Audience only; this page never adds it automatically.
Closing the loop: this one ends on paper — your own hand, or your words scribed by an adult. Saying it aloud starts the loop; writing it is what closes it. Pass is always allowed.
What I said, and what it changed:
LAUNCH response routes
📝 write / edit🗣 structured verbal📏 measure / calculate📊 graph / interpret🧪 practical / demonstrate🔁 re-attempt
Access changes the response route, not the GCSE Biology entitlement.
QUESTIONEVIDENCEPATTERNEXPLANATIONAPPLICATIONEVALUATION
LAUNCH rule: the explanation is earned by observation, prediction, measurement, testing or reasoning from evidence.
🛡 SPACE
🗣 VOICE
👂 AUDIENCE
⚙ INFLUENCE
LAUNCH response stays on the existing work; adult genuinely receives it, then the next learning move changes.