• 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: a cat's fur pattern? (inherited (from parents) / environmental (from life)) → inherited (from parents)Prompt: Were you born with it, or did it happen during life?
2. A plant grown in a dark cupboard is tall, thin and pale. Its seeds are planted in sunlight. The new plants are… (normal and green, because the pale look was caused by the environment / unable to grow / pale, because they inherit it / white, because their parent was in the dark) → normal and green, because the pale look was caused by the environmentPrompt: Is being pale passed on in the seeds?
3. Inheritance: which statement is true? (The language you speak is inherited. / Offspring of plants and animals usually vary from their parents. / If a parent loses a finger, its babies are born without that finger. / Children are always exact copies of one parent.) → Offspring of plants and animals usually vary from their parents.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: Continuous and discontinuous variation. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Is this continuous or discontinuous variation: height?
• Step 1: Continuous variation can take any value in a range, so it is measured.
• Step 2: So the answer is: continuous
• Answer: continuous
• 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. Is this continuous or discontinuous variation: body mass? (continuous / discontinuous) → continuousPrompt: Can it have any value, or only a few set categories?
2. Five students measured their heights in cm: 179, 168, 152, 144, 164. What is the range of their heights, in cm? → 35 cmPrompt: The range shows how spread out the data are.

• 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 8 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. Five students measured their heights in cm: 161, 181, 168, 144, 158. What is the range of their heights, in cm? → 37 cmPrompt: The range shows how spread out the data are.
2. Is this continuous or discontinuous variation: Rhesus blood type (positive or negative)? (continuous / discontinuous) → discontinuousPrompt: Can it have any value, or only a few set categories?

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