©
Triceratops (Plenary 6 in Topic 9Ae)
purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
Pearson Education Ltd 2019. Copying permitted for
In the table below, examples of how progression bands might be interpreted for this activity are given. It is suggested that a student needs to
demonstrate work at a progression band in two different strands to achieve that band.
Recalling
Working Students correctly use the
towards term ‘habitat’.
Developing
Exemplar: Triceratops lived
in a forest habitat.
Developing Students use the terms
‘variation’ and ‘extinction’
correctly.
Exemplar: There are
differences (variation)
between Triceratops and
Titanoceratops.
Developing + Students identify or give
examples of further
environmental variation.
Exemplar: one
environmental variation of
Triceratops would be holes
in its frill.
Students identify or give
examples of further
inherited variation.
Exemplar: one inherited
variation between
Triceratops and
Titanoceratops was the size
of its horns.
Page 1 of 2
Explaining
Students re-use information
given to explain what
Triceratops used one of its
characteristics for.
Exemplar: Triceratops used its
front horn to dig up roots.
Students outline why dinosaurs
became extinct.
Exemplar: a change in the
conditions on Earth meant that
dinosaurs could no longer
survive.
Students explain how changes
in an ecosystem can cause
extinction.
Exemplar: a meteorite could
have hit the Earth 65 million
years ago, causing massive dust
clouds, which blocked out the
Sun so dinosaurs had too little to
eat.
Using knowledge
Students identify variation
between Triceratops and
Titanoceratops.
Exemplar: Triceratops had
a much bigger, lower horn
than Titanoceratops.
Using evidence Applications and
implications
Students re-use information
given to explain how we
know something about
9
Triceratops.
A
Exemplar: it was attacked by
T. rex because T. rex marks
have been found on
Triceratops fossils.
Students use information
given to explain how we
know something about
Triceratops.
Exemplar: Triceratops used
its front horns for defence
against predators such
as T. rex.
Students use information Students make
given to explain how an deductions about
adaptation would have been Triceratops adaptations
important. from the information
Exemplar: Triceratops could given.
eat the tough tree-fern and Exemplar: Triceratops
palm leaves because it had a had a short neck and so
beak to pull at the leaves would have eaten plants
and slicing teeth that could that were growing near
cut the tough plant material the ground.
up finely to be digested.
Assessment Task
Open-ended
 ©
purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free.
Recalling
Pearson Education Ltd 2019. Copying permitted for
Securing Students describe where
genetic information is found.
Exemplar: genetic information
is found in the nuclei of cells.
Securing + Students describe the
relationship between cells,
nuclei, chromosomes, genes,
DNA and genetic information.
They state what is meant
by evolution.
Exemplar: evolution is the
change in the characteristics
of a species over a long
period of time.
Page 2 of 2
Explaining
Students explain how
environmental variation is
caused.
Exemplar: environmental
variation is caused by factors in
the environment, such as other
dinosaurs or the temperature.
Students explain how inherited
variation is caused (not including
genes).
Exemplar: inherited variation is
variation that an organism
inherits from its parents.
Students explain how natural
selection may have changed
Titanoceratops.
Exemplar: if leaves became
scarce, the animals that by
chance had a slightly longer,
lower horn would have been
better at digging up roots. They
would therefore have been more
likely to survive and reproduce.
Using knowledge
Students fully explain a
wide variety of adaptations
and how they would aid the
survival of the animal.
Exemplar: explanations of
the frill, upper horns, lower
horns, teeth, beak, wide
feet, strong, short legs, tail.
Students explain how the
adaptations of Triceratops
would have limited the
habitats it could have
survived in.
Exemplar: its beak was
good at pulling large
leaves, but it would not
have been able to survive
outside forests on more
open land due to the lack
of suitable food.
Using evidence
Students identify adaptations
of Triceratops further to
those given.
Exemplar: Triceratops had
big, wide feet to stop them
sinking into the ground. They
had big tails for balance.
Students describe how a
large meteorite crater off the
coast of Mexico provides
evidence that a meteorite
impact led to the extinction of
the dinosaurs.
Exemplar: there is a crater
off the coast of Mexico
caused by a meteorite
impact that happened at the
same time that the dinosaurs
became extinct.
Applications and
implications
Students outline how it
could be possible to
bring dinosaurs back to
life.
Exemplar:
chromosomes contain
the instructions for
making an organism,
so if we could find
9
dinosaur chromosomes
A
we might be able to
recreate them.
Students suggest how it
could be possible to
bring dinosaurs back to
life using knowledge
of DNA.
Exemplar:
chromosomes contain
DNA, and this has the
code for inherited
characteristics. If we
could find intact
dinosaur DNA we might
be able to bring them
back to life. However,
DNA degrades and so
this is highly unlikely.
Assessment Task
Open-ended