Enzymes KS4
These activities can be used in the teaching of the topic "Enzymes" at KS4. It is envisages that lessons would run in the following sequence: 1. What are enzymes and how do they work? Use one of the experiments from "Enzymes Experiments" plus text activity 1 from "Industrious Microbes". 2. What factors affect the rate of enzyme activity? Again, use one or more experiments from the first resource along with text activity 2 from "Industrious Microbes". 3. How are enzymes used in respiration? Use activities from "Staying Alive" to teach about the processes of aerobic and anaerobic respiration. 4. How are enzymes used in digestion? Two to three lessons could be spent using the activities in "Staying Alive" to teach about the process of digestion and the enzymes involved. 5. What other uses do enzymes have? One to two lessons could be used to work through the remaining activities on "Industrious Microbes", followed by "Enzymes outside the body" if appropriate. 6. Either as a lesson or for homework, students can work through the website "Enzyme Action" to summarise the topic or for revision.
Enzymes Experiments
This website contains a series of experiments which can be used to allow students to investigate the effects of different factors on the rate of enzyme-controlled reactions. Use either "1. Effect of amylase on starch" or "4. Catalase" as an introduction to the practical work, then students can investigate the effects of pH, temperature and enzyme concentration on the rate of a reaction. Each section also contains discussion questions.
Staying Alive
Respiration and digestion are examples of biological processes that make use of enzymes. Pages 26-44 conmtain a series of experiments and activities on respiration. Pages 70-86 contain experiments and activities on digestion. See pages 26-27 for details of how to run the activities on respiartion and pages 70-71 for the activities on digestion.
Industrious Microbes
Pages 15-33 contain a number of activities which could be used to teach the majority of this topic. Of particular interest are the following activities: 1. Text activity 1 - students match enzymes and substrates to illustrate the specificity of enzymes; 2. Text activity 2 - looking at factors that affect the rate of enzyme activity; 3. Text activity 3 - looking at the commercial uses of enzymes; 4. Practical work 1 - comparing the effects of biological and non-biological washing powders; 5. Discussion - selecting true statements about enzymes and their functions.
Enzymes Outside the Body *suitable for home teaching*
This is an article from the February 2009 edition of "Catalyst". It contains information about how enzymes function and their applications in biological detergents. It would be best used for higher sets as the language may not be accessible to lower ones. It could be given either as background reading or as a reading activity to be followed by a series of comprehension-type questions. Alternatively, students could be asked to read the article and summarise the key points.
