LAUNCH · GCSE Biology · Week 7 · Explore
GCSE Command Words Across Topic 1
🎯 Learning objective: I can identify what a GCSE command word requires and shape my Biology answer accordingly.
✅ Success criteria
- Distinguish describe/explain/calculate/compare.
- Match answer structure to command word.
- Identify/correct command-word mismatch.
ArrivalStarterI DoWe DoI Do 2We Do 2IndependentExit
🧬 Edexcel GCSE Biology 1BI0 Foundation · Paper 1 · Topic 1🧪 Question Decoder⏱ 40 minutes
🧬
Explore → Question Decoderobserve · 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: W7L1 connected Topic 1 knowledge map.
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 two ideas that link on the map.
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 connected Topic 1. Name two ideas that link, and say how.
R2 Week 6
Say which process needs energy.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Standard — Week 6: what makes active transport different from diffusion?
R3 Week 5
Point to the membrane on the diagram.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Standard — Week 5: define osmosis.
Lead-in Into today
Look at the two questions. Point to the first word of each.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Standard — Describe, explain and calculate are different instructions. What does each one ask you to do?
▲ Standard — three retrieval questions and one lead-in
R1 Last lesson
Last lesson you connected Topic 1. Name two ideas that link, and say how.
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 one link across Topic 1 that you could use in an answer.
R2 Week 6
Week 6: what makes active transport different from diffusion?
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — Week 6: explain how evidence distinguishes active transport from diffusion.
R3 Week 5
Week 5: define osmosis.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — Week 5: explain what percentage change let you compare that raw mass could not.
Lead-in Into today
Describe, explain and calculate are different instructions. What does each one ask you to do?
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Stretch — Two questions on the same Biology can need completely different answers. Say what decides that.
★ Stretch — three retrieval questions and one lead-in
R1 Last lesson
Last lesson: explain one link across Topic 1 that you could use in an answer.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Supported — Point to two ideas that link on the map.
R2 Week 6
Week 6: explain how evidence distinguishes active transport from diffusion.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Supported — Say which process needs energy.
R3 Week 5
Week 5: explain what percentage change let you compare that raw mass could not.
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 membrane on the diagram.
Lead-in Into today
Two questions on the same Biology can need completely different answers. Say what decides that.
Non-reading route: point to it, say it, or show it. An adult can scribe your exact words. Next step up: Supported — Look at the two questions. Point to the first word of each.
Arrival retrieves three times, then leads in. R1 is last lesson, R2 is the previous week, R3 is older material, 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.
⏱ 4 min
🌱 Starter · observe / predict🔍 Scientific question
Same Biology, four questions: describe, explain, calculate, compare. Why can correct facts still answer the wrong question?
FRAME 1/4
READ COMMAND WORD
Pause for observation or prediction before advancing.
FRAME 2/4
CHOOSE ANSWER SHAPE
Pause for observation or prediction before advancing.
FRAME 3/4
USE BIOLOGY
Pause for observation or prediction before advancing.
FRAME 4/4
REPAIR MISMATCH
Pause for observation or prediction before advancing.
🎯 Commit to a prediction
Before we decode: what does 'explain' ask for that 'describe' does not?
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 Read command word before Biology content.
STEP Describe=what; explain=why; calculate=working; compare=both sides.
STEP Model same osmosis context under four commands.
✔ What this model helps us seeIt separates what the question is asking you to DO from the Biology you already know.
✘ What this model does not showIt leaves out that more than one clear answer form can be acceptable — a decoder makes it look like each command word has exactly one shape.
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: COMPARE diffusion and active transport: what must answer include?
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.
⏱ 4 min
👩🏫 I Do 2 · connect / extend🧠 Teacher reasoning model — reveal only after the class has observed/predicted.
STEP Diagnose mismatch before revealing model.
STEP Use model answers as shape checks, not grades.
STEP Deferred response only if extended writing benefits from re-reading.
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.
⏱ 5 min
🤝 We Do 2 · scientific model / dataInteractive reasoning: predict/observe first → use the model → explain the evidence → adult receives it.
🧭 Command-word decoder
DESCRIBEwhat / pattern
EXPLAINwhy / causal link
CALCULATEworking + answer
COMPAREboth sides
Pick a Topic 1 idea and say how the answer shape changes under each command word.
🗝️ Answer shape lab
The decoder above names the command words. This lab is button-only. It puts the SAME result — potato pieces lost mass in strong solution and gained mass in pure water — through three command words, so you can watch the answer change shape while the facts stay still.
Step 1 · Predict, before you test
Which command word demands the word “because”?
Choose one. Say it, point to it, or press it. Nothing here is right or wrong yet.
Step 2 · Test each command word
Press one to test it.
Frozen results — these stay on the page
Nothing tested yet.
Step 3 · Explain
SCIENCE GLITCH: “A good fact earns credit whatever the command word says.”
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.
⏱ 12 min
✏️ Independent · evidence & transfer✏️ Independent GCSE Biology
Answer the mixed Topic 1 prompts. Two answers do not match their command word. Say why. Fix them.
🧪 PRACTICAL / EVIDENCE READY
EquipmentCommand-word cards; mixed Topic 1 questions; model-answer reveals.
Safety / accessFormative exam practice; no public scores/timed competition.
Evidence targetMixed answer set + command-word annotations + two repairs.
12 minutes. Supported / Standard / Stretch are movable routes, not grade identities.
◆ Six questions. Command words are highlighted. Use the frames.
Command-word list stays in view.
Fade: remove the first prompt that no longer changes success.
▲ Eight mixed questions. Some say calculate. Some say compare.
Circle the command word. Underline the data. Then the subject.
Fade: remove the first prompt that no longer changes success.
★ Answer all eight. Then edit your own work. Make it precise.
Cut what is not needed. Do not add more.
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
describesay what is there or what happens, without saying why
explainsay how or why, linking cause to effect
evaluateweigh it up and reach a judgement you justify
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 does EXPLAIN require?
▲ Standard
What must COMPARE include?
★ Stretch
Rewrite a description into an explanation.
🔁 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.