Higher:
Explain why the changes to the animals may have occurred.
Middle:
Describe some of the examples of changes that have occurred.
Lower:
Identify some examples of animals that have changed over time.
Show children starter slide. Why do you think animals change over time and how? Can they think of any animals which look very different when they're young and then change in appearance over time? i.e. frog, butterfly.
Also discuss how animals may be different now from hundreds or thousands of years ago
Presentation - starter slide.
Answer questions and take part in activities during the presentation.
Presentation
Zoologist Mike Linley describes how crocodiles have changed over time.
Presentation - Expert film.
Adapted Animals
Children have learnt in today's lesson that animals adapt over time. This may include how their bodies and instincts have changed as their environment has changed or the climate has changed.
Children are to look at the four climates on the Handout. For each of these climates the children should create the perfect predator for each of these environments. They should add labels onto the different parts of their animal and say why this makes them adapted for each of their environments and what makes them a well-suited predator to this climate.
Children to share their Adapted Animals, and draw one up in large and create a class display of the adapted animals. Discuss - how important is it to keep the climate stable? Research Task - Page 2 of the handout on extinct animals.
Handout
Research books / internet
Mission to Write - Predator Profile
Children are to create a profile of one of the predators they created in the mission assignment task. They should draw their predator, and could label the features. On the handout provided, they should describe the predator using the sentence starters given, as well as explaining how it survives in its given habitat. Encourage children to use the rocket words provided at the bottom of the handout.
Quiz
With their talk partners, the children are to go through the quiz at the end of the presentation and answer the questions.
Mission to Write Handout
Quiz in presentation
How have animals change over time?
Give an example of a species that has changed?
How might an animal change or adapt if...? (give varied scenarios)
How have animals changed over time?
Choral Response/suggested phrasing
Animals change over time because of changes in...
An example of how an animal might change is by...
Animals are adaptable because...
If an animal doesn't adapt, it is in danger of...
The Science Behind the Science
Charles Darwin's seminal piece, On The Origin of Species, lays out the fundamentals of evolution. It describes how animals have adapted to work under the rules of 'survival of the fittest'. This means that an individual animal in a species is more likely to mate and pass their genes on if they have adapted to their environment better than their competitors.
Take a fish, for example. All of the fish in one species are red. A species of shark eats this type of fish and can see red colours clearly in the ocean. A fish is born and is another colour, say silver for example, due to a genetic mutation. The shark cannot see silver as easily and preys upon the red fish in the species first. This means the silver fish is able to breed more, which means more silver fish are born. As the next generation of silver fish still survive for longer periods than the red fish they can also breed and give birth to even more silver fish. This cycle will continue until all fish are silver. This is survival of the fittest in an idealised example, but it explains one way of how animals adapt to their environment over time.