Snail Space (Key Stage 2)

This activity introduces students to Darwin’s ideas on evolution by looking at variation, adaptation and distribution of banded snails. It links to the topics of living things and their habitats and evolution and inheritance. Children are introduced to Charles Darwin and his work whilst on his five year voyage on the HMS Beagle. They then look at snails found in different locations in Europe and discuss reasons for their variation such as, temperature, food, predators, landscape and camouflage. Interpreting data on snails found in different regions they determine which snails are found in which habitats and discuss the reasons why this is the case. They could then go on to carry out a snail hunt using How to Hunt Banded Snails. This resource has been produced by Evolution Megalab and links to the following resource: Professor Steve Jones: Variation, Evolution and Inheritance.