Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 10
- OCR
- Foundation
Climate change and evolution
I can explain how climate change could affect the evolution of species and lead to extinctions, and some actions we can take to help prevent the loss of species.
- Year 10
- OCR
- Foundation
Climate change and evolution
I can explain how climate change could affect the evolution of species and lead to extinctions, and some actions we can take to help prevent the loss of species.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Variation within a species may affect how well different individuals can survive when environmental conditions change
- This leads to natural selection, favouring individuals better adapted to survive and reproduce in the new conditions
- Climate change could result in natural selection of individuals that are more tolerant of drought and high temperatures
- Some species may not evolve quickly enough to keep up with climate change and could become extinct
- Humans can use various methods to help protect against species loss due to climate change, e.g. selective breeding
Keywords
Variation - Differences between members of the same species.
Natural selection - Organisms that are better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive, reproduce and pass on their genes to their offspring.
Climate change - Climate change is a long-term shift in weather patterns.
Extinction - Extinction is the permanent loss of a species
Selective breeding - The process in which humans choose individuals with desirable traits and mate them in order to make offspring with these desirable traits.
Common misconception
All species will be able to evolve to cope with climate change.
The lesson explores why not all species will be able to evolve fast enough to adapt to the pace of climate change.
To help you plan your year 10 biology lesson on: Climate change and evolution, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 biology lesson on: Climate change and evolution, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 biology lessons from the Fossil evidence, selective breeding and explaining evolution unit, dive into the full secondary biology curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Licence
Lesson video
Loading...
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.True or false? Fossils provide evidence that the characteristics of species change over generations.
Q2.What can we conclude from the fossilised leg bones of horses?
Q3.Fossils provide evidence that the characteristics of species change over generations. These gradual changes are called…
Q4.The cats are all members of the same species. But there are differences in their characteristics. These differences are an example of…
Q5.Most scientists believe that the evolution of species can be explained by a process of natural .
Q6.If environmental conditions change and a species does not evolve fast enough to adapt to the change, this can cause all members of the species to die out. The species has then become .
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is climate change?
Q2.What can we conclude from the graph shown?
Q3.Match each of the following scientific terms to its correct definition.
the permanent loss of a species when all members have died out
the movement of a species to a new area
a human process done to change the characteristics of a species
the differences between members of the same species
Q4.True or false? All species will be able to survive climate change by migrating to new areas where the conditions remain suitable for them.
Q5.The Bramble Cay mosaic-tailed rat went extinct because of climate change. Which statement about this species is correct?
Q6.Match each action to how it helps to reduce extinctions.
can change some species to be more resistant to climate change
may enable us to bring some species back from extinction
reduces agricultural emissions so reduces climate change
reduces fossil fuel emissions so reduces climate change