• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Heart, blood and circulation). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Fatima counts 21 pulse beats in 10 seconds. What is the pulse rate in beats per minute? → 126Prompt: How many lots of 10 seconds are there in one minute?
2. What does blood carry to every part of the body? (oxygen and nutrients / bones / undigested food / air bubbles) → oxygen and nutrientsPrompt: Cells need these to release energy.
3. Blood and circulation: which statement is NOT true? (Blood in veins is blue. / Blood is always red; it is bright red with oxygen and darker red without. / Veins carry blood back to the heart. / White blood cells help fight infection.) → Blood in veins is blue.Prompt: One of these is a famous myth.

• Ask everyone to find their pulse, then jump for 30 seconds and find it again.
• Share the objective: Pathogens, immunity and vaccines. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: What type of pathogen causes malaria?
• Step 1: Protists are single-celled organisms; malaria is spread by mosquitoes.
• Step 2: So the answer is: protist
• Answer: protist
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. What type of pathogen causes gonorrhoea (gonorrhea)? (virus / bacterium / fungus / protist) → bacteriumPrompt: Colds and flu cannot be treated with antibiotics.
2. How does a vaccine protect you? (It trains white blood cells to make antibodies quickly if the real pathogen arrives. / It makes you ill so you learn to avoid germs. / It kills every bacterium in your body. / It is an antibiotic.) → It trains white blood cells to make antibodies quickly if the real pathogen arrives.Prompt: Vaccines contain a harmless form of the pathogen or its antigens.

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Disease: which statement is NOT true? (Some bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics. / You can catch heart disease from someone else. / Heart disease is a non-communicable disease. / Antibiotics kill bacteria but not viruses.) → You can catch heart disease from someone else.Prompt: Think about what each treatment really does.
2. What type of pathogen causes ringworm? (virus / bacterium / fungus / protist) → fungusPrompt: Colds and flu cannot be treated with antibiotics.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-9.