Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and thank you so much for joining me for today's lesson.

Now we're going to be doing something a little bit different today, we're going to be giving an oral presentation about an animal we've designed ourselves.

I think you're going to really enjoy it so let's get going.

Today's lesson is called Presenting Information about Evolution for my unit called Charles Darwin: Biographical Writing.

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to present our ideas orally to a group, giving a clear explanation of evolution by natural selection.

So today, we're going to wrap up our understanding of Darwin's theory of evolution by thinking about how it could have led to animal adaptations evolving, and applying that to creating our own animal.

We're then going to give oral presentations explaining how our animal's adaptations have evolved.

I think you're gonna really enjoy this, so let's get to work.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Adaptations, fronted adverbial of cause, and presentation.

Well done! So an adaptation is a feature of an animal or a plant that allows it to function well in its normal habitat.

A fronted adverbial of cause is a sentence starter that tells the reader the cause and effect of something.

And when we give a presentation or present our work, we are saying it out loud to an audience.

So let's look at out lesson outline.

We're going to start off by preparing a presentation, including rehearsing it, and then we'll give our presentation to a group or to a class, depending what your teacher decides.

So as we know, Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection has changed our understanding of the world.

And we're just going to recap it quickly because remember, it has quite a few steps.

So it goes as follows.

First of all, there are variations between animals in a species in a habitat.

So different animals will have, for instance, slightly different length of claws if they're a tiger or slightly different fur colour if they're a lion, those are variations within a species.

And then these animals compete against each other for resources, for instance, for food, for mates, or for space, and animals whose variations make them better adapted for their environment, are more likely to be successful in getting resources.

So, for instance, if your fur colour makes you slightly more better camouflaged than another individual in your species, you are better adapted, and you might therefore, be more successful in catching food.

So this means those animals, the ones with the better-adapted variations are more likely to survive.

And if they survive for longer, they're more likely to reproduce, to have offspring.

And when they reproduce, they pass on those useful variations to their offspring.

And then this is the point where we get to the main thrust of the theory.

Over many generations, these useful variations become normal in the species or they can lead to the creation of a new species altogether.

Remember, that process can take many hundreds of thousands or millions of years.

And what we can see is that the useful variation is strengthened, and enhanced, and made more prominent over many, many, many generations, and that can be when we say, "Oh, this is now so different that it's become a new species." So we've just summarised there the theory of evolution by natural selection as outlined by Charles Darwin in "On the Origin of Species." So can you put the steps of evolution by natural selection in order? Pause the video and have a go.

Well done, good effort! So hopefully you started here.

Some animals in a species have a helpful variation.

Then, this variation makes those animals more successful, they compete better than the ones who don't have the helpful variation.

Then, these successful animals pass on their variation to more offspring.

We now know that they pass on through their genes, that wasn't known at the time Darwin wrote about this, but he still knew that something was being inherited, and there was some means of passing on these variations.

And then finally, over many generations, the variation becomes normal for that species.

So the species has adapted, it had become more closely in line with what's beneficial to living in its habitat.

So now let's imagine a penguin.

And that penguin is born with un-webbed feet, so its feet aren't webbed.

Usually, penguin's feet are webbed to help them to swim.

So this is just a random variation that's happened with this particular penguin.

Can you explain why it's unlikely that this variation is going to become common in the penguin population as a whole? Pause the video and see if you can explain it really clearly.

Well done, good explanation.

So maybe you started here.

You know that that penguin is competing for food with other penguins that do have webbed feet.

So the penguins with webbed feet are better-adapted to their environment, they can hunt more successfully, maybe they can swim faster, maybe they can swim longer distances, so they're better-adapted to hunting for fish, and for krill, and other things the penguins eat.

So the penguin with un-webbed feet will struggle to swim to catch food.

It may struggle to survive at all.

So that means it's unlikely to find mates.

And if it's unlikely to find mates, then it's unlikely to be able to reproduce.

So that means it's unlikely to pass on the variation that it has of having un-webbed feet to any offspring.

So that variation is very unlikely to become common.

And because it's not useful to the species to have un-webbed feet, we can see that that might be a beneficial thing.

So this is where natural selection is helpful to the species because it makes sure that traits or variations that aren't useful to the species are unlikely to become common.

So that means the species doesn't get less well-adapted to its environment or to its habitat.

Now we can apply this theory of evolution by natural selection to explain how any adaptation might have evolved.

So let's look at our giant panda here, he is gripping a piece of bamboo so that he can eat it.

Now, bamboo is the panda's main food source and it's very hard and thick.

It comes in these thick stems, so that a panda needs to crunch down and then eat.

So pandas have a little thumb.

Now it's not really a thumb like ours, but it's a piece of bone that sticks out from their wrist that helps them to grip bamboo.

Now that doesn't sound very remarkable, but remember, that most animals do not have a thumb, we're quite unusual in having a thumb that allows us to grip onto things.

But pandas have got this piece of bone that is like a thumb that allows them to hold on to bamboo stems while they eat them.

So how might this adaptation have evolved? Pause the video and chat to your partner or have a think on your own.

Well done, great ideas.

We'll discuss this in full on the next page.

So here are the steps for the evolution of the panda's thumb.

Can you pause the video and put them in the correct order? Have a go.

Well done, really good job.

So we'd start here and we could say, "Some pandas have a more prominent, more slightly sticking out bone on their wrist as a random variation.

So there just happen to be as natural variation, some pandas who have a bit of a more prominent bone on their wrist.

And then these pandas, are more successful at holding bamboo, and as a result, they can eat more of it.

Then, these pandas because they can eat more bamboo, live longer, and because of that, they reproduce more passing on the variation of having a slightly more prominent bone to their offspring.

Then over many, many generations, the bony variation in their wrist is going to become stronger as it leads to more success.

So the bony thumb becomes not only more common, but more prominent, it gets bigger over time because it gradually accumulates over these many, many generations.

Really well done if you manage to get those in the correct order, great job! So we know that variations can be helpful or unhelpful depending on the animal's habitat and lifestyle.

Let's think of three habitats.

There's the polar regions, deserts, and forests.

So what adaptations might be helpful in each of these habitats? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, I bet you thought of some really good ones.

We'll talk about that more on the next page.

But let me just set our task for this lesson.

We're going to come up with an idea for a fictional animal that lives in a particular habitat, maybe one of these three, and we're gonna think of some adaptations it may have evolved to be well-adapted to that habitat.

So first, let's see if we can work out what adaptations will be useful in each habitat.

I've got my three habitats here and a list of adaptations.

Can you match up the habitat to the adaptations that might be useful within it? Pause the video, and have a try.

Well done, really good job.

So hopefully, for desert, you notice these ones, able to go long periods without water and those long eyelashes to stop sand, like we know camels have.

For polar regions, maybe you said this one, thick fur, blubber layer, strong flippers for swimming, and webbed feet.

And for forest, we could say camouflage, strong legs for claiming, and able to jump between trees.

Now not every animal in the forest habitat has those things, but these might useful adaptations to have if you do happen to live in a forest.

Now we know that animals do not choose to have those adaptations, those adaptations evolve over time through evolution by natural selection.

So let's do our first part of this task.

I want you to come up with an idea for an animal that might exist in a particular habitat.

You're going to decide on what your animal's habitat is.

Then, think about the adaptations your animal might have to that habitat like the ones we just discussed.

I want you to give your animal a name, and draw a picture of your animal, labelling its key adaptations.

You might want to choose between these different habitats, and you may want your animal to be similar to a real one.

So maybe it just has a slightly exaggerated feature compared to a real version, or you might want to create something completely new.

Either way, that's fine.

So I want you to really think carefully about this.

What is the adaptation that really helps your animal in its habitat? And why is that adaptation so useful in this habitat that it lives in? You might have several adaptations that you choose to label on your animal.

Pause the video and have a go at that first part of the task.

Okay, so here's an example of a picture of an animal with its adaptations labelled.

And I've cheated a little bit, I've used an AI to create mine, but I've got here the large-eared desert mouse.

So you can see it's got enormous ears there, and very long whiskers as well.

So those were the two adaptations I was trying to show in my picture.

So how are these adaptations? Well, I've got long whiskers here, why are they useful? They can sense predators coming from across the sand, from long distances away.

You can see how that might be useful.

And then I've got large ears here.

So with those large ears, they can hear their prey, the insects moving from far away, and it also allows heat to leave their body really easily.

So it cools it down in this very hot, sunny desert.

So those are the adaptations I chose, I bet you came up with some even more imaginative ones and I'm sure you've got some beautiful pictures there as well, well done.

So now that we've drawn and designed our animal, we want to explain how its adaptations may have evolved through evolution by natural selection.

And to do that, we might want to use some fronted adverbial of cause.

For example, as a result of this, as a result.

Consequently, due to this, because of this, and as a consequence of this.

So all of these start a new sentence and show that this sentence is the effect of the cause that was in the previous sentence.

Let me show you some examples Using our panda idea.

I could start off with this first step in our explanation of the panda's evolution towards that adaptation.

I've said, "Some pandas had a variation that gave them a bony wrist." Then I'm gonna say, "As a result of this, these pandas were able to hold bamboo slightly more easily than other pandas." So that sentence is the effect of the previous sentence, which was the cause.

But now I've got another effect.

So I'm going to say, "Consequently, they were able to consume more bamboo and be more successful." So when the sentence builds on from the last one, when it's an effect of the last one, I can start it with a fronted adverbial of cause to show that.

So using the fronted adverbials of cause, can you complete the explanation of how the panda's thumb might have evolved? So I've got that last step I have just explained there.

What would the next few steps be? Now they might not all start with a fronted adverbial of cause, and that's okay, but see where you can use these fronted adverbials of cause, to continue the explanation, pause the video, and have a go.

Well done, great job! So maybe you said the next step was this.

"As a result of this, the pandas with the bony variation were able to live longer and reproduce more." Then I did one without a fronted adverbial of cause, I just said, "Their offspring inherited the bony variation." Then I said, "As a consequence of this, their offspring were themselves more successful and reproduced more." And finally, "Due to this, over time, the bony variation became more common and over thousands of generations the 'thumb' developed." So lots of the steps there, I was able to start with a fronted adverbial of cause, to show that it built on from the last sentence, that it was the effect of what happened in the last sentence.

Really well done if you did the same.

So let's do the second part of this task.

We need to explain how our animal's adaptations have evolved.

So think about each of your animal's adaptations.

How could this adaptation have evolved through natural selection? I want you to jot down notes for each step of this process, using the keywords to help you, and you've got your keywords here.

For example, I could say my variation was having large ears, because of that, that's what my arrow shows, it was able to hear the prey more.

And because of that, it's more successful.

I could continue that, couldn't I? To explain how that led to the evolution of those large ears over many thousands of generations.

So we are just writing notes for each step here.

You don't have to include the fronted adverbial of cause just yet.

So pause the video and see if you can jot down the notes that led to the adaptations that you've drawn in your picture, have a go Really good job, well done! So here's an example of the notes you might have made to explain how one of your animal's adaptations have evolved.

So I started off with that variation for large ears.

That meant those animals could find prey and lose heat better.

They're more successful, so they survive, and they reproduce more, and their offspring inherit that variation.

Those offspring are also more successful, and over a very long time, having large ears becomes normal for the species.

Really well done if you've managed to explain yours using a similar process.

So finally, we need to orally rehearse our explanation so we're ready to present it in the second half of our lesson.

So working with a partner, or on your own, if you need to, do the following.

Say the name of your animal and where it lives as a sentence, explain its adaptations and how they're helpful.

And then using the notes you just made, explain in detail how one of its adaptations evolved, using fronted adverbials of cause to link up the ideas.

And you've got your fronted adverbials of cause here, So we're just speaking out loud here.

One sentence to say your animal and where it lives, an explanation of its adaptations and how they're helpful in its habitat, and then the big part is gonna be using your notes to create or rehearse that explanation using your fronted adverbials of cause.

Pause the video and have a try.

Really good job, well done! So here's an example of the explanation you might have given for the evolution of one of your animal's adaptations.

I said, "Some mice were born with a variation of having slightly larger ears.

As a result, they were able to lose heat more easily and to hear prey incests from further away.

Consequently, they were more successful and survived longer.

Because of this, they were able to reproduce more.

Their offspring inherited the variation of being larger-eared.

Due to this, they were also more successful.

As a consequence, over many generations, the variation of being large-eared became normal for the species." Really well done if you've managed to do something similar, great job, you're ready to present! So we're now ready for the second part of our lesson, where we're going to give the presentation we've just practised.

So we now have a picture of our animal and we've prepared an explanation for how its adaptations evolved.

We're ready to present it.

Now your teacher may ask you to present to the whole class, or they may ask you to present to a small group.

If you're doing this on your own, you could present it to an adult at home, maybe another child at home, or you could record it yourself.

So when we're presenting, we really must project our voice so it's loud enough and we should use good diction.

That means we're trying to say each word clearly.

Now bear in mind, for instance, when your teacher normally talks to your class, they don't use that voice when they're talking normally to their friends or to their family.

They are projecting their voice much more than they normally would because they want every child in the room to hear.

Think as well of your head teacher, maybe, in assembly, maybe in their school hall, talking to maybe hundreds of children, they are projecting their voice so every person can hear, and they're using good diction to say every word clearly.

So even people at the very back can hear every word.

We should also try and make eye contact and use strong, positive body language.

So we're not going to slump over, we're going to stand positively, showing people that we're confident, even if we don't feel it, we're going to try and stand in a confident way, and actually, that can often make us feel confident even when we're not.

Then finally, we're going to try and speak slowly and clearly.

Not too fast and not too slow.

We don't wanna bore our audience, but we also don't wanna rush because then they might not understand every word, so we've got to get it right somewhere in the middle.

As with any skill, practising presenting makes it easier.

So if you need some more time to practise, then you could take some now.

So let's think about the skills below.

Which do you think you should set as your own target when presenting to a group, to your class, or to someone at home? Pause the video and see if we can decide.

Well then, now we're all going to have different answers for this, aren't we? Because we all have different things we think we might find tricky to do.

But whichever target you've chosen, try and work on that target when you give your presentation, really focus in on doing that one thing really well.

You might not be able to do all of these at once, that's fine, pick that one target and see if you can really hit that while you do your presentation.

So it's time to present your explanation of your animal's evolution to your class or to a group.

And remember, if you're doing it at home, you might want to record it or present it to someone else at home with you.

So first of all, show your picture and describe your animal's habitat.

Then, point out the adaptations it has to its habitat, and then explain how one of those adaptations has evolved through an actual selection using those keywords, and the fronted adverbials of cause, just like you already rehearsed with your partner.

So pause the video and let's hear those presentations.

Fantastic job, well done! So here's an example of what you might have said about your animal.

And this time, I've given it the full details.

So I've said, "This is the large-eared desert mouse; it lives in hot desert in Africa.

It has large ears that help it lose heat and it has whiskers that help it sense predators.

How did these adaptations evolve? Long ago, some mice were born with the variation of having slightly longer whiskers.

As a result, they were able to sense predators coming.

Consequently, they were more successful and they survived longer.

Because of this, they were able to reproduce more.

Their offspring inherited the variation of having longer whiskers.

As a consequence, over many generations, the variation of being long-whiskered became normal for the species.

Really well done, for presenting your work so well.

It can be a little bit scary, can't it, to present to a large group? But hopefully, every time you do it, you'll become more confident.

Really well done.

So let's summarise our learning in this lesson, and we said that when we give a presentation, we can prepare by orally rehearsing what we want to say and making notes to support ourselves.

We said that we can plan to use particular language structures such as fronted adverbials of cause that help our reader to understand what we're saying.

And we said that when we present, we should use good diction, positive body language, eye contact, and good vocal projection.

Really well done, for all your effort in this session, and in this unit altogether.

I hope you've really enjoyed learning about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution by natural selection, and I'm really impressed with the presentations you've done today.

Really well done, and I hope to see you again in a future lesson, goodbye!.