Lesson 6: Enzyme Catalysis & Factors Affecting Reaction Rates
Use molecular reasoning and simulated data to explain factors that change enzyme-controlled reaction rates.
60-minute plan: retrieval 5 · media 10 · data task 25 · portfolio 15 · exit check 5
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
Enzyme specificity and factors influencing activity: temperature, pH, substrate concentration, coenzymes, cofactors and inhibitors.
Interpret enzyme denaturation curves, model competitive vs non-competitive inhibition, and explain enzyme-catalysed life processes.
🎥 Media Anchor & Pedagogical Scaffold
Enzymes (Updated)
Video: Amoeba Sisters (full runtime: 5m 47s).
🧠 1. Before Viewing (Activate & Predict)
Why are biological reactions dependent on specific protein catalysts, and how do extreme temperature/pH break their active sites?
👁️ 2. During Viewing (Watch With a Job)
- Watch for: Observe how substrate and active-site shape relate to enzyme specificity.
- Watch for: Explain how environmental change can alter active-site function.
- Watch for: Distinguish slowing from reversible conditions and loss of function through denaturation.
🗣️ 3. After Viewing & Kaiako Move (Process & Apply)
Kaiako move: Ask for a different molecular explanation on each side of a temperature optimum.
Immediate task: Open Learner Evidence Pack · Sheet 6.
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now: Cell Recall Challenge (5 mins)
Fresh pineapple ruins jelly. Tinned pineapple does not. Same fruit, same jelly, opposite result.
Two minutes: jelly sets because of a protein. Fresh pineapple contains an enzyme that digests protein. So why does the tinned version leave the jelly alone? Your answer needs to name what canning does to the enzyme — and that word is the whole lesson.
📖 Activity 1: Core Process Investigation & Diagram Analysis (25 mins)
Explain the curves (13 min). Use the supplied temperature, pH and substrate-concentration data. Describe each pattern, then explain it through collisions, active-site availability or protein shape.
Inhibitor evidence (12 min). Compare the two simulated inhibitor datasets and justify a competitive/non-competitive identification. Add a prediction for a missing cofactor or coenzyme.
Supplied inputs
- Learner Evidence Pack · Sheet 6 — three factor datasets and two inhibitor datasets, all labelled simulated
- Kaiako Guide · Lesson 6 — molecular answer cues
📝 Activity 2: Portfolio evidence (15 mins)
Complete Portfolio Section 6. For the 5-minute exit check, explain why low temperature and very high temperature can both slow a reaction for different reasons.
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
Level 2 Biology focus: the current specification names temperature, pH, substrate concentration, coenzymes, cofactors and inhibitors. See Kaiako Guide · Lesson 6.
Paired enzyme-action concept in Mechanism & Exam Synthesis →
Paired enzyme-factors concept in Mechanism & Exam Synthesis →