KS3 - Evolution

This 50-minute KS3 lesson introduces evolution by natural selection in a clear, structured, and SEN-friendly way. Created for students in KS3 in an SEN Secondary School.

Students build understanding through explicit teaching, scaffolded questioning, and a final hands-on game. Following teacher instruction -> student activity. Before each activity are content slides.

Lesson Structure:

Task 1 – Starter (Adaptations):
Students identify features of animals (e.g. claws, stripes, tentacles) and explain how these help them survive, introducing the idea of adaptation.

Task 2 – Darwin’s Finches:
Students match different beak shapes to food sources and answer guided questions to explore variation, environmental factors, and natural selection.

Task 3 – Darwin’s Theory (Stages):
Students learn and apply the key stages of evolution: variation, environmental change, natural selection, inheritance, and evolution, as part of a matching activity with pictures.

Final Activity – Evolution Game (Beak Simulation):
Students take part in an interactive survival game where they act as birds using different “beaks” (tools) to collect food. Across rounds, environmental changes (e.g. disease, mutation, habitat loss) model natural selection and how species evolve over time. Instructions on slide one

Includes:
Fully resourced PowerPoint
Practical game instructions and equipment list
Worksheet unblurred when bought