Teacher Answer Key
Living or Nonliving…That is the Question!
Starter ?’s What makes something living or alive? Do all living things have to have similar
qualities? If so, what traits do they share? What makes them different than nonliving?
Can nonliving things appear to be alive? How can this be?
Objectives In this activity you will:
Observe and compare living and nonliving things in order to compile a list of the
characteristics of life
Materials Unlabeled specimens
Light microscopes
Stereomicroscopes
Methods Read the entire lab and follow all prelab instructions before coming to class.
1. Prelab: Brainstorm ideas on what traits you believe living things have in common and list at least five
(5) in the data table. You will be adding more as you observe the specimens during the lab.
2. When you get to class, observe each of the numbered specimens and observe them closely. Be sure to
follow any special directions for viewing the specimens at each lab station.
3. For each of the specimens you observe, place an “X” in the data table for each trait you observe in the
specimen. Feel free to add new traits as they become apparent to you during your observations.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 for each of the specimens.
5. After you have made all your observations, review the data you collected, and in the last column of the
data table, indicate whether you believe the specimen to be Living (L), Nonliving (NL), or Dead (D).
Postlab Questions- To be completed individually after the lab.
1. How did you determine the difference between a living specimen and a nonliving one?
Answers will vary. Most will look for movement, cells, or evidence that it “eats” and releases wastes.
2. What is the difference between a nonliving specimen and a dead one?
Non-living specimens were never alive, never had all the characteristics of life. However dead
Specimens at one point did have all the characteristics of life, but no longer do.
3. According to your data table, what traits do most living things have in common?
Answers will vary. Probably growth, movement, and cells.
Lab
4. What traits do nonliving things have in common?
Answers will vary. The important ones are: They don’t have cells and they don’t have DNA.
5. Why can it be difficult to observe all the traits common to living things?
Traits are not always easily observable. For example, need microscope to see if there are cells.
Some traits require time to determine whether or not the specimen exhibits that trait.
6. Pick a specimen from the lab that you categorized as nonliving and (for fun) argue that it is living. You
must be sure to use what you have learned about the traits that make things living in your argument.
Therefore, be sure to include characteristics that this nonliving specimen shares with other living things.
This answer must be at least four (4) sentences long.
Answers will vary. However, student must have chosen a nonliving entity to argue, and their
statements must be reasonably true. For example: Candle flame appears to reproduce, die, and
respond to environment like living things.
Lab
Living or Nonliving….That is the question!
Specimen # and Descriptions
Trait
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1. has cells
2. reproduces
3. moves
4. responds to
environment
5. eats/poops
6. breathes
7. grows
8. has DNA
9. maintains
homeostasis
10. has order
Living (L),
NonLiving (NL), or
Dead (D)?
Sample items to put at the stations; yogurt; germinating seeds, flame, cheese/mold, yeast, hair, oil & water, cork, sea sponge, copper
sulphate, cut flower, potted plant
Lab
7. For the following items label them as Living (L), Nonliving (NL), or Dead (D) and then give a short onesentence explanation for why you put it in that category. Be ready to defend your answer! Purpose here
is not that students get the answer “right” but that they are thinking about the characteristics of
life and can discuss them intelligently.
a) HIV Virus
Scientists still argue this one. It has DNA, but no cells. It can reproduce, but only using a cell’s
Organelles. It is made up of chemicals. Just because it can kill doesn’t make it alive.
b) brown grass
Tricky one…hibernating? May not show characteristics of life from above the soil, however when
spring comes the grass continues to grow.
c) fertilized chicken egg
Living. Egg is a single cell.
d) egg bought in a grocery store
Living/dead. Egg is a single cell. Eggs bought in the store were never fertilized, which means they
don’t have a full set of DNA.
e) your skin on the back of your hand
Dead. Skin levels of the skin are alive, but on the surface the cells are dead and slough off.
f) hair on a fruit fly’s back
Non-living. Hair is just protein, and although it is made by cells, it itself is non-living.
g) boiling water
Non-living. H20 is just molecules, not cells. Although it can provide life, water itself is not alive.
Although it can kill, water itself can not die because it is not alive.
h) whale sperm
Living. Has DNA (albeit only half of the required # by the species). Sperm is a single cell that contains
organelles that perform life functions.
Lab
Notes to Teachers: Set up stations for students to observe various living, non-living, and dead.
Consider adding notecards with tips on how to observe the specimen. If you do this as the first lab of
the semester, you might want to have specimens already on slides on microscopes for students to
observe. However, if students already have these skills, allow them to make the slides.
Include hand magnifying glasses and/or dissection microscopes for many of the stations.
Be sure to allow classtime for students to “argue” the living/non-living debate. It is a good way to get
them critically thinking about the definition of life. They should come to understand that it is not
always easy to determine. Some overall conclusions students usually come to:
Non-living can’t become living
2 non-living things can’t make a living thing
Also be cautious, the traits students pick are not always the best to use, because ALL living things
must share all the qualities of living things. For example: Movement is one students usually pick, and
while many living things do move, many do not (on their own volition) and many non-living things also
move. Therefore, movement is not a good indicator of whether or not something is alive.
Lab