Lesson Plan: Water

Explain how hydrogen bonding occurs between water molecules Class ___________________
and relate the properties of water to its roles in living organisms
(limited to solvent action, specific heat capacity and latent heat of vapourisation)

Lesson outline

 Discussion / brainstorm: the importance of water to the life of a cell, including hydrogen bonding and
as a solvent in biological systems (e.g. blood, phloem sap, cytosol/cytoplasm). (I) (Basic).
 Learners make notes, including the following:
o Draw and describe hydrogen bonding between water molecules. (I) (Basic)
o Make links between hydrogen bonding and the cohesive nature of water molecules. (I) (Basic)
o Explain the link between hydrogen bonding and
 the high specific heat capacity of water
 the high latent heat of vapourisation of water. (I) (Challenging)
 Discuss the concept of polar / non-polar and the solubility or otherwise of the biological molecules in
this unit. (W) (Basic)
Note
 Ensure learners can use the following terms (see Unit 2):
hydrophilic hydrophobic
polar non-polar
charged / ionic uncharged / non-ionic
water soluble water-insoluble
lipid insoluble lipid soluble

Key: whole class (W), group work (G), pair (P) and individual activities (I). homework (H) and
formative assessment (F)
Syllabus assessment aims and objectives
 Cells as the units of life - A cell is the basic unit of life and all organisms are composed of one or
more cells. There are two fundamental types of cell: prokaryotic and eukaryotic.

Learner objectives
At the end of this activity learners will understand:

 Explain how hydrogen bonding occurs between water molecules and relate the properties of water
to its roles in living organisms (limited to solvent action, specific heat capacity and latent heat of
vapourisation)

Suggested extension work

 Research examples to show the relationship between the properties of water and its roles in
organisms. (I) (Challenging)

Resources
 http://faculty.fmcc.edu/mcdarby/majors101book/chapter_03-chemistry/03-Water_Properties.htm
 http://www.rsc.org/Education/Teachers/Resources/cfb/water.htm
 http://www.worldofmolecules.com/solvents/water.htm
 Bio Factsheet 30: The biological importance of water. www.curriculum-press.co.uk
 Bio Factsheet 78: Chemical bonding in biological molecules www.curriculum-press.co.uk

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