• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Inherited and environmental characteristics). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Is this characteristic inherited or environmental: the language you speak? (inherited (from parents) / environmental (from life)) → environmental (from life)Prompt: Were you born with it, or did it happen during life?
2. Why do puppies look like their parents but not exactly the same? (They get a mix of characteristics from both parents. / They eat the same food. / They copy their parents on purpose. / All dogs are identical.) → They get a mix of characteristics from both parents.Prompt: Each parent passes on half of the genes.
3. Inheritance: which statement is true? (A scar is an environmental characteristic. / Children are always exact copies of one parent. / The language you speak is inherited. / If a parent loses a finger, its babies are born without that finger.) → A scar is an environmental characteristic.Prompt: Which things can be passed on in genes?

• Show a microscope image of cells and ask what students think they are looking at.
• Share the objective: Evolution and fossil evidence. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Mary Anning was famous for…
• Step 1: Mary Anning's fossil finds helped show that species can become extinct.
• Step 2: So the answer is: finding important fossils, such as ichthyosaurs
• Answer: finding important fossils, such as ichthyosaurs
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Finches on different islands have different beak shapes. The best explanation is… (Each bird stretched its beak to reach food. / The birds chose their beak shape. / Beaks suited to each island's food helped birds survive and breed. / Beak shape is random and has no effect.) → Beaks suited to each island's food helped birds survive and breed.Prompt: Which birds would have had more chicks?
2. Evolution: which statement is true? (Variation between individuals is needed for natural selection. / Humans evolved from modern chimpanzees. / Individual animals evolve during their own lifetime. / Dinosaurs and early humans lived at the same time.) → Variation between individuals is needed for natural selection.Prompt: Evolution is about populations over many generations.

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Mary Anning was famous for… (inventing the telescope / finding important fossils, such as ichthyosaurs / discovering electricity / landing on the Moon) → finding important fossils, such as ichthyosaursPrompt: She searched the cliffs of the Jurassic Coast in England.
2. Evolution: which statement is NOT true? (Birds are descended from dinosaurs. / Fossils are evidence for evolution. / Evolution happens over many generations. / Humans evolved from modern chimpanzees.) → Humans evolved from modern chimpanzees.Prompt: Watch out for a common misunderstanding about apes.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-6.