Science Year 6 The Game of Survival

Play inheritance detective and identify inherited and environmental characteristics. Score survival points by identifying examples of variation through the creation of your very own dog Top Trumps cards.

Science Objectives
i) Recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents.

Working Scientifically

1. Report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations.
2. Identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

Take a look at mutations and how adaptation can prove useful in the real game of survival! Meet the man behind the theory of natural selection and play the variation game.

Science Objectives
i) Recognise that living things have changed over time.

ii) Identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution.

Working Scientifically

1. Report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations.
2. Identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

Other Curriculum Areas
Geography

• Describe and understand key aspects of physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes.

Play ‘survivor’ to see which creatures will survive in a range of environments and biomes. Can you score more survival points through your own living thing ‘survivor’ designs?

Science Objectives
i) Identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution.

Working Scientifically

1. Report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations.
2. Identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

Other Curriculum Areas
Geography

• Describe and understand key aspects of physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes.

Meet Darwin, Anning and Wallace - the evolutionary dream team - and find out the scientific importance of their work and have a go at proving their theories. Play fossil, ‘what if’ to top up your survivor score.

Science Objectives
i) Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago.

Working Scientifically

1. Report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations.
2. Identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

Have you ever wondered how the humble biscuit has evolved over the past 100 years? Well, this is your chance! Create a biscuit cladogram and use your evolutionary expertise in the exploration of bird flight and animal cladograms.

Science Objectives
i) Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago.

Working Scientifically

1. Identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

How did the giraffe get a long neck and why does the camel have a hump? Read some traditional folk tales to explain these features then find out the evolutionary facts behind the myths and write your own fact-based versions. Add up your survivor score - will you make it onto the leaders’ board?

Science Objectives
i) Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago.

ii) Recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents.

iii) Identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution.

Working Scientifically

1. Report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations.
2. Identify scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

Extended Writing Opportunity
Argument and debate: Write up your new animal or plant explaining all adaptations to an extreme climate and why it would be the most valuable addition to the world.
Fiction: Explain through story writing how certain features of animals have evolved.