KS2 (Years 3–6) · Science
Evolution and Inheritance
What is it
Children learn, in simple terms, that living things produce offspring of the same kind but that offspring vary and are not identical to their parents, that variation can make some individuals more able to survive, and how fossils give evidence for living things that lived long ago.
Why it matters
This is a first, accessible taste of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection — one of science's most important ideas — studied formally and in much greater depth at KS3 and GCSE biology.
Exam tip
Learn to explain 'variation helps survival' using a simple example (e.g. camouflage colour) in a full sentence — one-word answers rarely earn full marks on 'explain' questions at this level.
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