Vocabulary: Adaptation

Subject: Science | Year: 6

Name: _________________________ Class/Set: ____________ Date: ____________

Word	Definition	Example Sentence
Adaptation	A specific change in a living thing’s body or behaviour that helps it survive in its environment.	Polar bears have a thick layer of blubber as an adaptation to the freezing Arctic cold.
Evolution	The gradual process where living things change over many generations to better suit their surroundings.	Charles Darwin is famous for his scientific theory of evolution by natural selection.
Environment	The natural world or specific surroundings in which a person, animal, or plant lives.	A cactus is perfectly suited to the dry, hot environment of a desert.
Inherit	To receive a physical characteristic or feature from parents through genetic information.	Most animals inherit their eye colour and fur pattern from their biological parents.
Species	A group of living things that share similar features and can produce offspring together.	Tigers and lions are different species, even though they both belong to the cat family.
Variation	The small differences that exist between individuals of the same species.	There is a lot of variation in the height and hair colour of the children in our year group.
Camouflage	A type of adaptation that allows an organism to blend in with its surroundings to hide.	The stick insect uses camouflage to look like a twig so that birds do not eat it.
Characteristic	A specific feature or quality that makes a living thing recognisable.	Having sharp, curved claws is a physical characteristic often found in birds of prey.
Offspring	The young or children produced by a person, animal, or plant.	Many birds work hard throughout the day to find enough food to feed their offspring.
Natural Selection	The process where organisms better suited to their environment are more likely to survive and breed.	Through natural selection, giraffes with longer necks were better able to reach high leaves and survive.

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⚠ TEACHER’S GUIDANCE

Pedagogical Pulse: Closing the Vocabulary Gap 💡

• Address Misconceptions: Year 6 pupils often confuse 'Adaptation' (a biological process over generations) with 'Acclimatisation' (an individual getting used to a temperature). Explain: That an individual animal cannot "choose" to adapt; it is born with traits that are either helpful or unhelpful for survival.
• Oracy Link: Use these words during a 'Think-Pair-Share' session. Ask: "Which characteristic of a shark is its most important adaptation for hunting?"
• Contextual Expansion: Link this vocabulary to the study of Charles Darwin and Mary Anning. This supports the 'Working Scientifically' requirement to understand how scientific ideas have developed over time.
• Retrieval Practice: Encourage students to identify variation within the classroom (e.g., earlobe attachment or hitchhiker's thumb) to make the abstract concept of 'Inheritance' more concrete.