• 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: flower colour of a plant variety? (inherited (from parents) / environmental (from life)) → inherited (from parents)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. / If a parent loses a finger, its babies are born without that finger. / The language you speak is inherited. / Children are always exact copies of one parent.) → 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: Variation within a group: read the data. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Most pods were a medium length, with fewer very short or very long ones. What shape does the bar chart have?
• Step 1: Many traits make a hump shape: lots of middle values, few extremes.
• Step 2: So the answer is: high in the middle, low at both ends
• Answer: high in the middle, low at both ends
• 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. Pods from the same kind of pea plant were 6 cm to 10 cm long. What does this show? (All pea pods are identical. / The ruler was broken. / Living things of the same kind vary. / They were different kinds of plant.) → Living things of the same kind vary.Prompt: Are all your classmates the same height?
2. Why did the class measure lots of pea pods, not just two or three? (A big sample shows the real pattern of variation. / Rulers only work with many pods. / To make the peas grow. / Small samples are always exactly right.) → A big sample shows the real pattern of variation.Prompt: Could two pods show what is most common?

• 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. Why did the class measure lots of pea pods, not just two or three? (Small samples are always exactly right. / A big sample shows the real pattern of variation. / Rulers only work with many pods. / To make the peas grow.) → A big sample shows the real pattern of variation.Prompt: Could two pods show what is most common?
2. Why is variation useful for a group of living things? (It stops them from growing. / If conditions change, some individuals may survive better than others. / It makes them all the same. / It has no use at all.) → If conditions change, some individuals may survive better than others.Prompt: Imagine a cold winter. Would a rabbit with thicker fur have an advantage?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-3.