This is a short revision lesson (@10-15 minutes) which supports students to recall and understand the key differences between mitosis and meiosis. The lesson has been primarily designed for use with those students taking the AQA Combined Science FT in the lead up to mock and GCSE examinations, but is also suitable for students taking the HT, or separate biology.

The lesson begins with a reminder that mitosis or meiosis are both types of cell division that occupy a single stage in the cell cycle, which begins with a single parent cell, and ends with some daughter cells. There is a key focus on using words to describe the chromosomes in the cells (e.g. full number, or half the normal number), because students cannot simply rely on the human numbers in case they encounter questions from different organisms. Mitosis and meiosis are commonly assessed topics in papers 1 and 2, so this is a good opportunity for students to pick up marks. There are understanding checks in the style of exam questions throughout the revision lesson and all answers are embedded into the PowerPoint to allow students to assess their understanding and progress. The key points associated with the topic have also been displayed on a resource which can be kept with the understanding checks for use in the final days and hours before the exam.

The lesson finishes with a quick quiz game to challenge students to recognise whether a statement refers to mitosis or meiosis.