Year 6 Churchill – Evolution and Inheritance

Today in science, we looked at the peppered moth case study to aid our understating of natural selection and read about Charles Darwin’s voyage on the HMS Beagle in 1831 to study animals, plants and rocks. On his trip, he visited ecologically diverse regions including the Galapagos Islands (a group of 19 islands and more than 100 islets and rocks in the Pacific Ocean). ​Whilst he was there, Darwin observed that although the different islands had similar creatures and plants, many seemed to have adapted to suit their environments.

To help us understand why each of the Galapagos Islands has its own species of finch, we carried out an investigation to see which beaks were more efficient at picking up different food types. We used chopsticks, tweezers and pegs to act as beaks to pick up rice, lentils, marbles and other items that could replicate seeds, insects and berries.