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Lesson · Grade 7 · Science

Variation: no two individuals are the same

  • Grade 7
  • Science
  • 1 min 2 s
  • British Columbia
  • BC7-SC-05

Five ladybugs of one species are compared in a table that builds up row by row, giving each one's colour, number of spots and length in millimetres. Two share a colour but differ in their spots and length, and no two columns match, so the video names these differences "variation", notes that many are passed on from parents to young, and ends on the recap "No two are alike. That is variation."

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In one sentence

The question this lesson answers

Here are five ladybugs. Are any two of them exactly alike?

All five belong to the same species, so they are the same kind of beetle.

Transcript

What the lesson says

Here are five ladybugs. Are any two of them exactly alike?

All five belong to the same species, so they are the same kind of beetle.

First, compare their colours. Some are red, some are orange, and one is yellow.

Next, count their spots. One of them has no spots at all.

Now measure how long each one is, in millimetres.

Two of them can share a feature, like these two red ones.

But these two still differ in other ways, such as their spots and their length.

Check every pair, and you will find that no two are exactly the same.

These differences between individuals of the same species are called variation.

Many of these differences are passed on from parents to their young.

So no two individuals are exactly the same, and these differences are called variation.

Curriculum

Where this fits

British Columbia, Grade 7

Science, Biology: natural selectionBC7-SC-05

Previous: Competing for Food, Water and SpaceNext: Natural Selection Step by Step: The Peppered Moth

The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.

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