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Year 6 - Science

What fossils can tell us about the past

Evolution and inheritance

Unit Summary

This unit explores how living things have changed over time, using fossils as evidence of past life. It covers how offspring vary from parents and how adaptation leads to evolution. Emphasis is on planning scientific enquiries, recording data, and evaluating scientific evidence.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to describe what fossils can tell us about things that lived in the past.

Key Notes

  • Fossils are our best form of evidence about Earth's history, including the history of life
  • Fossils can give us clues about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago
  • By studying the fossil record, we can tell how long life has existed on Earth
  • Palaeontologists use the fossils they find to propose theories about living things from the past
  • Theories about prehistoric living things change over time as we gather more evidence

Vocabulary To Learn

  • evidence: Evidence is information that helps us to prove if something is true or not true.
  • fossil record: The fossil record is the collective name for all of the fossil evidence gathered by scientists.
  • fossil: A fossil is the remains or imprint of living things that are sometimes preserved in rock.
  • theory: A theory is a carefully thought-out explanation for something about our world that is based on learning from scientific enquiry.
  • palaeontologist: Palaeontologists study fossils as a guide to the history of life on Earth.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Pupils may have a limited view of what constitutes a fossil, such as only things that resemble skeletons or ammonite shells, and not recognise things like coprolites or plant imprints as fossils too.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.

Fossils are our best form of evidence about Earth's history, including the history of life. Fossils can give us clues about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago.

2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'evidence'

Evidence is information that helps us to prove if something is true or not true. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.

3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.

Mistake: Pupils may have a limited view of what constitutes a fossil, such as only things that resemble skeletons or ammonite shells, and not recognise things like coprolites or plant imprints as fossils too. Correction: Use the range of examples used in the lesson to make it clear to pupils that there are a wide range of different types of fossil and different types of organisms that become fossils.

More Lessons In This Unit

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