🌱 Science: Evolution and Inheritance

This half term in science, we are learning about Evolution and Inheritance.

We will be finding out how living things have changed over time and how animals and plants pass on characteristics to their young.

You can explore this topic further using this page:
🔗 BBC Bitesize – Evolution and inheritance

🧠 What We Are Learning (Our Knowledge)

By the end of this unit, you will know that:

• Evolution means that living things change over a very long time

• Inheritance is when offspring get characteristics from their parents

• Living things are not exactly the same – this is called variation

• Some features help animals and plants survive in their environment

• These helpful features are called adaptations

• Fossils give us clues about living things from millions of years ago

• Scientists use evidence to explain how living things have changed over time

You will learn and use words like:
evolution, inheritance, variation, adaptation, fossil, environment, species

🔍 How We Think Like Scientists

We are not just learning facts – we are learning to think like scientists.

This means we will:

• ask questions about how living things change

• look closely at evidence, such as fossils and observations

• compare animals and plants to spot similarities and differences

• explain our ideas using scientific words

• understand that scientific ideas can change when new evidence is found

Scientists use evidence and reasoning, not guesses.

❓ Questions to Think About

Try answering some of these as you learn:

• Why are offspring similar to their parents but not exactly the same?

• How do adaptations help animals survive in different environments?

• Why does evolution take a very long time?

• How do fossils help scientists learn about the past?

🚀 Challenges (Choose One)

🐾 Adaptation Challenge
Pick an animal.
What feature does it have and how does it help the animal survive?

🧬 Inherited or Learned?
Decide if these are inherited or learned:

• eye colour

• reading

• hair colour

• accent

Explain your choices.

🦴 Fossil Detective
If scientists found a fossil with sharp teeth, what might that tell them about what the animal ate?

🌍 Big Question

Why do you think learning about evolution helps us understand the world today?

⭐ Remember

Evolution does not happen in one lifetime.
It happens slowly, over many generations.