Year 10 - Science
Selective breeding and human food security
Fossil evidence, selective breeding and explaining evolution
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit explores evidence for evolution, including fossils and antibiotic resistance. It covers selective breeding, Darwin and Wallace's contributions to natural selection, and evolution as changes in inherited traits over time. It also examines how scientific theories evolve over time.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain what is meant by selective breeding and why it is important for human food security.
Key Notes
- Some plants and animals have features that are useful to us (e.g. they can provide food and materials, or do work).
- Selective breeding by humans causes particular features to become more (or less) common in the species.
- After many generations, the resulting domesticated species can be quite different to their wild ancestors.
- Examples of the selective breeding of a farm animal and a crop from their wild ancestors.
- The dependence of humans on domesticated animals and crops for food security.
Vocabulary To Learn
- Selective breeding: The process in which humans choose individuals with desirable traits and mate them in order to make offspring with these desirable traits.
- Crop: Plants grown on a large scale for food or profit.
- Domesticated: An animal that has been tamed and is kept as a pet or on a farm.
- Farm animal: Animals that are kept on farms for food or work.
- Food security: A measure of the quantity and quality of food available to support households or whole communities.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Students often forget that selective breeding is a process that happens over many generations.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.
Some plants and animals have features that are useful to us (e.g. they can provide food and materials, or do work). Selective breeding by humans causes particular features to become more (or less) common in the species.
2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'Selective breeding'
The process in which humans choose individuals with desirable traits and mate them in order to make offspring with these desirable traits. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.
3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.
Mistake: Students often forget that selective breeding is a process that happens over many generations. Correction: This lesson includes examples of how to describe the process of selective breeding.
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