Written By Kennda Lynch!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
What is Life? - Part 1
Lesson Objective: The objective for this lesson is for the students to understand how
to identify some basic attributes that define living systems.
Colorado Department of Education Science Standards Addressed:
Standard 2: Life Sciences
• Kindergarten: Expectation 1 - Organisms can be described and sorted by their
physical characteristics
• 1st Grade: Expectation 2 - An organism is a living thing that has physical
characteristics to help it survive
• 2nd Grade: Expectation 1 - Organisms depend on their habitat’s nonliving parts
to satisfy their needs.
• 4th Grade: Expectation 1 - All living things share similar characteristics, but they
also have differences that can be described and classified
• 4th Grade: Expectation 3 - There is interaction and interdependence between
and among living and nonliving components of systems
Materials (You should have enough of each material for the students to be split
into groups of ~4 students each):
• Fresh earthworms
• Crickets, beetles or some other type of insect (individually caged or in plastic
bags)
• Fresh leaves and/or fresh flowers
• Gummy worms or plastic worms
• Plastic insects
• Plastic/silk flowers
Estimated Time: 1 Hour
Background:
What is life? Believe it or not, this is a very difficult thing to define. What makes
something alive or not? This is a question that astrobiologists (scientists that
specifically study the origin and evolution of life) have been asking for decades.
Consequently, there is not firm scientific definition of life nor is there any one definitive
test to prove that something is alive or not. We can, however, start to define life by
listing various attributes and characteristics that are common to virtually all life. All earth
life:
1. Has carbon based chemistry or backbone (all life uses carbon to make
structures such as organs, skin, fat, proteins, etc.)
2. Has a membrane, wall or "skin" to protect itself & support an internal
environment
3. Needs water
4. Needs energy (e.g. food & air= both are energy)
5. Can extract that needed energy from its surrounding environment
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Written By Kennda Lynch!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
6. Performs metabolic processes that result in the exchange of solids and/or
gases (another way to say it: "all life poops"). Another way to explain this is
that all life has energy go in and wastes products go out.
Energy
Life
Waste:
Solid, Liquid or Gas
7. Grows or changes (cell division, human growth, reproduction)
8. Evolves and adapts to its environment.
Some non-living things can exhibit some of these attributes (for example: fire can grow,
it extracts energy from it's environment and it can replicate...), but only living systems
exhibit ALL of these attributes.
Procedure:
• Discuss the characteristics of living systems with the students
• Have them list what they think are important aspects of "being alive"
• Split the class into groups
• Give each group one set of all living and nonliving items
• Have the students identify the living items versus the nonliving items
• For each living system, have the student identify three different aspects that
make each item alive
• Allow the student to work in groups for bout 20 minutes and come up with group
lists of characteristics for life.
• After the students have worked in groups, bring them back together as a class and
help them to develop an overall class list of 8 characteristics (Note: a good way to
guide them is to explain that each characteristic defines either what life needs or
what life does...)
• Once they have defined a group definition of life, revisit the items they have just
been looking at and discuss how each organism meets each of the 8 criteria. If
they have a science notebook, have them record there results and definitions in
their notebook.
Adams 50 Science Standards Addressed
Kindergarden
• Life Science: Structure and Function of Cells and Organisms
- SC.00.05.01.01 Identifies the common needs such as food, air, and water of
familiar living things.
- SC.00.05.02.01 Predicts, explains, and infers patterns based on observations
and representations of living things, their needs, and life cycles.
• Nature of Science: Scientific Knowledge and Inquiry
- SC.00.11.01.01 Uses senses and tools to make and record information through
discussions, drawings, and charts scientific (e.g., magnifying glasses, scales).
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Written By Kennda Lynch!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
1st through 5th Grades (Note: XX in the SC number denotes this standard covers
multiple grades).
• SC.XX.12.02.03 An organism is a living thing that has physical characteristics to
help it survive
• SC.XX.22.01.03 Organisms depend on their habitat's nonliving parts to satisfy
their needs
• SC.01.42.01.03 All living things share similar characteristics, but they also have
differences that can be described and classified.
• SC.XX.42.03.03 There is an interaction and interdependence between and among
living and nonliving components of systems.
• SC.04.62.01.03 Changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of
individual organisms, populations, and entire species.
• SC.04.62.02.03 Organisms interact with each other and their environment in
various ways to create a flow of energy and cycling of matter in an ecosystem.
• SC.04.72.04.03 Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are important processes
by which energy is acquired and utilized by organisms.
References & Additional Resources:
1. Astrobiology in your classroom: Life on Earth...and elsewhere? An Educator
Resource Guide. NASA Document number: EG-2006-10-901-ARC: http://
astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/education-and-outreach/products-and-resources/life-onearthand-elsewhere/
2. Life in the Universe Online Science Curriculum - http://www.seti.org/seti-educators/
life-in-the-universe
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