Year 9 - Science
Natural selection
Adaptations, competition, natural selection and 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 variation within and between species, competition, and natural selection. It focuses on asking questions, making predictions, planning scientific enquiries, and testing hypotheses. It also covers analysing results, explaining findings, and identifying new questions that arise.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain how variation and competition lead to the natural selection of individuals with the most helpful characteristics.
Key Notes
- Variation within a population of a species means some individuals are better adapted to compete and survive.
- The fittest (better adapted) individuals are more likely to survive to reproduce.
- These individuals are more likely to pass on heritable, advantageous features to their offspring.
- This is natural selection, and causes the advantageous features to become more common in each generation of offspring.
- Changes in environmental conditions, including changes caused by humans, can affect natural selection.
Vocabulary To Learn
- variation: Variation is the term for differences between individuals of the same species.
- competition: Living organisms struggle for access to limited resources. This struggle is known as competition.
- fittest: Organisms that are the best adapted to their environment are said to be the fittest.
- reproduction: Reproduction is the process of making offspring.
- natural selection: Organisms that are better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive, reproduce and pass on their genes to their offspring.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Students often think that advantageous traits are due to an organism choosing to change itself in order to be successful.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.
Variation within a population of a species means some individuals are better adapted to compete and survive. The fittest (better adapted) individuals are more likely to survive to reproduce.
2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'variation'
Variation is the term for differences between individuals of the same species. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.
3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.
Mistake: Students often think that advantageous traits are due to an organism choosing to change itself in order to be successful. Correction: This lesson uses CfUs in order to explore and deconstruct this misconception.
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