Inherited characteristics | Science | Quizalize & Oak National Academy

Starter quiz

The children or young of an organism are called …

adaptations.

generations.

ancestors.

offspring. ✓
Starting with the earliest, put these generations of Alex’s family in order.

1

⇔

Alex’s grandparents

2

⇔

Alex’s parents

3

⇔

Alex and his sisters
An ancestor is …

someone who is your child or offspring.

someone who was born in the past and is directly related to you. ✓

anyone who lived a very long time ago.

anyone who will be alive in the future.
What is a generation?

An amount of time.

The total amount of people in a population.

All of the people born and living around the same time. ✓

All of the people born in the past.
Which of these statements about offspring is correct?

Offspring usually vary and are not identical to their parents. ✓

Offspring are usually identical to their parents.

Offspring are usually completely different to their parents in every way.
These pigs have the same parents and were born at the same time. Why do they look different to each other?

Some of them have eaten less than others.

Some of them are unwell.

They each share a different combination of characteristics with their parents. ✓

They have spent different amounts of time in the sunlight.

Exit quiz

When living things reproduce they pass on ______ to their offspring.

'characteristics' ✓
What is inheritance in science?

The money passed on to offspring by their parents.

The inherited characteristics passed on to offspring by their parents. ✓

The environmental characteristics passed on to offspring by their parents.
How are inherited characteristics passed on through generations?

Older generations pass on characteristics to younger ones. ✓

Younger generations pass on characteristics to older ones.

People within the same generation pass characteristic between each other.
Which of these is not an inherited characteristic?

freckles

short hair cut ✓

curly hair

pale skin

eye colour
Characteristics that are not passed down from parent to offspring are called ______ characteristics.

'environmental' ✓
Which of these is not an environmental characteristic?

nose piercing

colour of clothing

skill with tools

brown eyes ✓

accent

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

When living things reproduce they pass on characteristics to their offspring. This is known as inheritance.
Inherited characteristics are passed from one generation to another.
Inherited characteristics include eye colour, height, skin colour, hair colour etc.
Environmental characteristics are ones which are not passed down from parent to child.

Common misconception

Pupils may think that environmental variation, such as scars, piercings or muscle size and tone, can be passed on to offspring in the same way that inherited characteristics can.

Use the examples in the lesson to make clear the difference between characteristics that we are born with and those that are acquired, and how only those we are born with can be passed on to offspring.

Keywords

Generation - A generation in a family is all of the people born and living around the same time.
Characteristic - A characteristic is a feature or property of something that we can use to help identify it.
Inheritance - Inheritance is the process of passing on physical features from parent to offspring when they reproduce.
Inherited - Something which is inherited has been received from an ancestor.
Environmental - An environmental characteristic is one which has been learned or acquired during an organism’s lifetime.