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Year 6

Planning a biography about Charles Darwin's life and theory of evolution

I can plan the structure and content of a biography about Charles Darwin's life and theory of evolution and I can practise using a range of cohesive devices.

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New
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Year 6

Planning a biography about Charles Darwin's life and theory of evolution

I can plan the structure and content of a biography about Charles Darwin's life and theory of evolution and I can practise using a range of cohesive devices.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Writing is most successful when it is planned.
  2. Our biography of Charles Darwin will contain paragraphs organised by theme and in chronological order.
  3. We can plan in note form, using our text map to support us in recalling information about the subject of the biography.
  4. When we write, we use a range of cohesive devices to connect ideas together.

Common misconception

Pupils may struggle to describe Darwin's theory of evolution in simple terms.

You may wish to allow time to model this section to pupils, showing them that a simple explanation can cover the main points briefly.

Keywords

  • Theme - a central idea that the writer intends the audience to engage deeply with

  • Text map - a visual representation of a series of events, where pictures represent events

  • Notes - ideas recorded without using complete sentences

  • Subject-specific vocabulary - vocabulary we use when writing about a particular subject

  • Cohesive devices - language structures that develop text cohesion

Complete lessons on each of the cohesive devices touched on in this lesson can be found in our Grammar curriculum. Encourage children to 'play' with different cohesive devices - usually, different ideas can be connected in many different ways.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the following an example of? Lions in a population have different levels of jaw strength.
natural selection
Correct answer: variation
competition
evolution
Q2.
What did Darwin notice about the Galapagos finches?
Finches on different islands had the same beaks.
Correct answer: Finches on different islands had different beaks.
Correct answer: These beaks were well-adapted to the food on each island.
These beaks were poorly-adapted to the food on each island.
Q3.
What kinds of variations become more common due to natural selection?
ones which are unhelpful to the individual's survival
Correct answer: ones which are helpful to the individual's survival
all of them
Q4.
Why is an unhelpful variation less likely to be passed on to offspring?
because it will kill the individual instantly
because individuals with unhelpful variations cannot reproduce
Correct answer: because the individual is less likely to survive and reproduce
Q5.
What do we mean if we say a variation helps an individual to be 'more successful'?
that they will have no health problems
Correct answer: that they will have better access to resources like food and mates
that they will defeat all the other animals
Q6.
Is this statement true or false? The process of evolution takes many generations and can take thousands or millions of years to make significant changes.
Correct Answer: true, True, true., True.

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Put the events shown in the text map in the correct order.
An image in a quiz
1 - Darwin was born in 1809 into a wealthy family.
2 - His father was a doctor and his mother had a family fortune.
3 - The six Darwin children lived in a large house called 'The Mount'.
4 - Darwin loved to do science experiments with his brother in the garden shed.
5 - His mother died when he was eight and he was sent to boarding school.
6 - He did poorly at school because he wanted to be outside in nature.
Q2.
Which note best matches this picture from our text map of Darwin's biography?
An image in a quiz
went to South America
Beagle went to Galapagos
Correct answer: Beagle went to Galapagos - off coast of S. America
Beagle went to S. America
Q3.
Put the sections of our Darwin biography in the correct order.
1 - Early life
2 - University & the Beagle
3 - The Galapagos
4 - Darwin's theory
Q4.
Match the subject-specific vocabulary words to their meanings.
Correct Answer:specimens,samples of plants or animals

samples of plants or animals

Correct Answer:naturalist,someone who studies plants and animals

someone who studies plants and animals

Correct Answer:observations,things a scientist notices

things a scientist notices

Correct Answer:theory,a set of ideas to explain why something happens

a set of ideas to explain why something happens

Q5.
Match the subject-specific vocabulary words to their meanings.
Correct Answer:species,a group of living things that can breed with each other

a group of living things that can breed with each other

Correct Answer:circumnavigate,go all the way around the world

go all the way around the world

Correct Answer:entomology,the study of insects

the study of insects

Correct Answer:endemic species,a species found only in that particular place

a species found only in that particular place

Q6.
What is the purpose of cohesive devices?
Correct answer: to help connect ideas
Correct answer: to show how ideas relate to each other
Correct answer: to help our writing flow together
to disrupt the flow of writing