C Curriculum Explorer
Science·Organisms & Life Processes·conceptual

How animals adapt to environments

Identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment and understand that adaptation may lead to evolution over time

Suggested ages 8–11

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Learning journey

Your child is discovering how the human body works — learning about the digestive system and how different types of teeth help us eat and break down food.

Evidence of understanding

  • Define adaptation as a feature that helps an organism survive in its environment
  • Give at least three examples of adaptations in different organisms and explain how each helps survival
  • Explain that over many generations, organisms with helpful adaptations survive and reproduce more, leading to evolution

Assessment prompt

Can How animals adapt to environments explain how a camel's humps, a cactus's thick skin, or a polar bear's white fur help them survive where they live, and how these adaptations developed over time?

Standards alignment

3-LS4-3US · ngss-k5

3-LS4-3

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) K-5

Y6.Sci.EI.3GB · uk-nc-2013

Adaptation and evolution

The national curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 framework document · Key Stage 2