Writing the first half of a biography about Darwin and his theory of evolution

English

Identifying features of a biography in preparation for writing about Darwin

Researching Charles Darwin's life

Researching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution

Planning a biography about Charles Darwin's life and theory of evolution

Writing the second half of a biography about Darwin and his theory of evolution

Presenting information about evolution

In this unit, pupils write a biography based on research about a scientific theory of a famous scientist. In 'Climate Emergency: Journalistic Report Writing', pupils will use a scientific, environmental speech to write a journalistic report from.

In 'Harriet Tubman: Biographical Writing', pupils learnt to research an inspirational figure's life to write a celebratory biography. In this unit, pupils will write a biography based on research about a scientific theory of a famous scientist.

In this unit, pupils research Charles Darwin's life and evolution theory in order to write a biography. The biography is written chronologically, from his early life to university, his trip to the Galapagos and his theory of evolution. Finally, pupils present information about evolution to a group.

Charles Darwin: biographical writing

Which of the following language features will we find in a biography? 

Which of these will form part of the structure of our biography of Darwin? 

Which cohesive devices are used in this sentence? 'Although Darwin disliked his academic studies, he enjoyed spending time collecting insects (his favourite hobby).'

Which cohesive devices are used in this sentence? 'Darwin was sent to Edinburgh to study medicine; however, he did not enjoy the subject.'

Which subordinating conjunctions could work in the gap in this sentence? '{{}} Darwin had finished university, he joined the voyage of the Beagle.'

Which fronted adverbial could be used as a cohesive device in the gap this sentence? 'Darwin was born into a wealthy family; {{}}, he did not always have an easy childhood.'

Darwin was sent to Edinburgh to study medicine, but he didn't enjoy it.

He was sent to Cambridge to study to be a vicar.

Here, he spent a lot of time collecting insects (his favourite hobby).

In 1831, he joined the voyage of HMS Beagle.

The Beagle spent five years circumnavigating the globe.

Put the events shown in the text map in the correct order.

Match the sections of our Darwin biography to appropriate subheadings we could use for them. 

Darwin was born in 1809 into a wealthy family.

Darwin noticed that the birds had different-shaped beaks.

Which of the following is an appropriate note for the paragraph about Darwin's early life? 

Match the subject-specific vocabulary words to their meanings. 

what a person does that is significant or important

a species found only in that particular place

a set of ideas to explain why something happens

Match the subject-specific vocabulary words to their meanings.

Which of the following are cohesive devices? 

Starter Quiz

Put the events shown in the text map in the correct order.