Science Dinosaurs & Paleontologyusually ages 10–11

Life Changed Over Time

Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about organisms that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

State that living things have changed (evolved) over millions of years
Describe how fossils form and what information they provide about the past
Compare a fossil organism with a modern relative, noting similarities and differences

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Can your child explain that the animals and plants alive today are different from those that lived millions of years ago, and that we know this from fossils?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Fossils as Evidenceages 8–11Must analyse fossil evidence before drawing the broader conclusion that life has changed over time

Evolution vocabularyages 10–11Recognising that living things have changed over time and fossils provide evidence requires evolution and fossil record vocabulary

Life Cycles of Organismsages 7–9Understanding life cycles supports understanding how species change across generations

Life Changed Over Timethis skill · ages 10–11

Unlocks

How animals adapt to environmentsages 8–11Within GB sequence, knowing life changed over time supports understanding adaptation; US teaches adaptation earlier without this prerequisite

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S6U01medium confidenceYear 6 · Science understanding

investigate the physical conditions of a habitat and analyse how the growth and survival of living things is affected by changing physical conditions

AC9S5U01low confidenceYear 5 · Science understanding

examine how particular structural features and behaviours of living things enable their survival in specific habitats

AC9S4H01low confidenceYear 4 · Science as a human endeavour

examine how people use data to develop scientific explanations

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

ST2-SCI-01low confidenceScience and Technology K-6 · Stage 2

ST3-SCI-01low confidenceScience and Technology K-6 · Stage 3

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S4U01high confidenceScience · Levels 3 and 4 · Science Understanding strand

VC2S6U02medium confidenceScience · Levels 5 and 6 · Science Understanding strand

VC2S4H01low confidenceScience · Levels 3 and 4 · Science as a Human Endeavour strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Birds Evolved from Dinosaursages 9–11 Changing Scientific Knowledgeages 9–11 Dinosaur Hip Groupsages 9–11 Dinosaur-to-Bird Transitionages 11–13

All Dinosaurs & Paleontology skills →