• 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 plant growing pale in the shade? (inherited (from parents) / environmental (from life)) → environmental (from life)Prompt: Were you born with it, or did it happen during life?
2. Identical twins have the same genes. One becomes much stronger. Why? (They are not really twins. / Their genes changed into different ones. / Strength is never affected by exercise. / The environment, such as exercise, made a difference.) → The environment, such as exercise, made a difference.Prompt: What can be different if their genes are the same?
3. Inheritance: which statement is true? (If a parent loses a finger, its babies are born without that finger. / A scar is an environmental characteristic. / 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: How the environment can change an organism's traits. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Flamingos are born grey. Why do adult flamingos turn pink?
• Step 1: The flamingo's diet, part of its environment, gives it its pink colour.
• Step 2: So the answer is: Pink colours in the shrimps and algae they eat build up in their feathers.
• Answer: Pink colours in the shrimps and algae they eat build up in their feathers.
• 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. Identical twins grow up in different countries. One becomes much more muscular. What best explains this? (They have different parents. / Muscles are inherited only. / One of them grew an extra bone. / Different exercise and diet changed their bodies.) → Different exercise and diet changed their bodies.Prompt: Identical twins share the same inherited information.
2. Is this trait mostly inherited, or affected by the environment: a pet's weight after overeating? (mostly inherited / affected by the environment) → affected by the environmentPrompt: Was the living thing born with it, or did it come from how it lives?

• 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. Traits and the environment: which statement is true? (The environment cannot change any trait. / Plants grown with more light and nutrients usually grow larger. / Identical twins always have exactly the same weight. / A plant kept in the dark will pass paleness on to its seeds.) → Plants grown with more light and nutrients usually grow larger.Prompt: Were the traits born in, or caused by how the living thing grew up?
2. The same type of hydrangea plant has blue flowers in one garden and pink in another. What could cause this? (the gardener's favourite colour / differences in the soil / the plants are different species / the day of the week) → differences in the soilPrompt: What do roots take in from the ground?

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