Meiosis - R2P

This resource provides a lesson plan showing how to use diagrams effectively to teach about meiosis, rated by teachers as one of the most challenging topics to teach. The approach used in the lesson is based on education research which is summarised in a separate research summary document.

The lesson outlines a sequence of activities and key questions to ask to help pupils understand meiosis. This includes studying a video and animation clip of meiosis in detail and then giving students diagrams of the stages of meiosis to place in the correct sequence. To compare meiosis with mitosis, pupils use a Venn diagram to show the features of each process that are common or unique.

By the end of the lesson pupils should be able to:

• describe and draw the process of meiosis
• compare the processes of meiosis and mitosis
• explain the dominance of certain characteristics using meiosis 

The research summary suggests that more time spent inspecting, drawing, or using meiosis diagrams enables pupils to develop a deep understanding of meiosis.

This resource is part of a collection of research informed secondary science lesson plans produced as part of the Research-2-Practice (R2P) project undertaken by research teams at the University of Roehampton, University of Lincoln, York St John University and KYRA research school, between 2020 and 2021, which was funded by Wellcome.

The overall aim of the project was to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in science by giving time-pressed teachers quick and easy access to relevant research to inform their practice and provide exemplar lesson plans to show how the research could be used in the classroom. More resources can be found here.