A fossil is the remains or imprint of living things that are sometimes preserved in rock.

Prehistoric times are time periods which came before written records began.

Palaeontologists study fossils as a guide to the history of life on Earth.

Sedimentary rock is formed when sediment collects at the bottom of a lake or sea.

Secondary sources are texts, images or objects created using information gathered by others.

Where fossils are found (non-statutory)

Science

What fossils can tell us about the past

How living things have changed over time

Human skulls: using evidence from the past (non-statutory)

Offspring: similar but not identical

Family trees (non-statutory)

Inherited characteristics

Animal adaptations

Charles Darwin and finches

Plant adaptations

More about plant adaptations

The survival of the fittest

Evolution: evidence

Evolution: presentation

In this Evolution and inheritance unit, pupils learn that, normally, offspring vary and are not identical to parents. In the Heredity and DNA unit, they will build on this knowledge to learn about how genes and chromosomes work. 

In the New life unit, pupils learnt that animals, including humans have offspring which grow into adults. In this Evolution and Inheritance unit, pupils will build on this knowledge to recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to parents

This unit explores how living things have changed over time, using fossils as evidence of past life. It covers how offspring vary from parents and how adaptation leads to evolution. Emphasis is on planning scientific enquiries, recording data, and evaluating scientific evidence.

Evolution and inheritance

Evidence is information that helps us to prove if something is true or not true.

The fossil record is the collective name for all of the fossil evidence gathered by scientists.

A theory is a carefully thought-out explanation for something about our world that is based on learning from scientific enquiry.

A geologist is a scientist who studies what Earth is made of.

Evidence is information which helps us to prove that something is true or not true.

A model is used to describe something that can't be experienced directly.

Your ancestor lived in the past and is directly related to you.

The skull is the name for the bones of the head.

Living things create offspring when they reproduce.

Things that are similar have some things in common or are alike in some ways.

Things that are identical are exactly the same as each other.

A variation is a difference between two or more things.

A generation in a family is all of the people born and living around the same time.

A similarity is something that two or more objects have in common.

The way someone or something looks is called its appearance.

A characteristic is a feature or property of something that we can use to help identify it.

Inheritance is the process of passing on physical features from parent to offspring when they reproduce.

An inherited characteristic has been passed from parent to offspring during reproduction.

An environmental characteristic is one which has been learned or acquired during an organism’s lifetime.

The place where a plant or animal lives is called its habitat.

An adaptation is a feature of a plant or animal that helps them to survive in their habitat.

To survive means to continue to stay alive.

An environment is the surroundings or conditions that an animal or plant lives in.

An animal that catches and eats other animals is a predator.

Charles Darwin was an English scientist who studied nature.

We make observations when we look closely at something and use other senses, too.

A species is a group of animals or plants that are similar and can have babies together.

A finch is a type of small bird with a short beak.

A species that is well suited to its environment has adaptations that help it survive there.

A pollinator is an animal which pollinates a flowering plant.

The way in which plants make food in their leaves is called photosynthesis.

When living things reproduce they create their offspring.

Evolution is the process by which living things change over time.

A science communicator's job is to share science information with the general public.

To communicate is to share or exchange information or ideas.

Information that is accessible can be understood by lots of people.

Evolution and inheritance

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