NAME: ______________________
SCIENCE – CLASSIFICATION
March 10, 2008
Section #/color: __ /______
So, are you one of those super-organized neat-freaks like me?
Or, are you notorious for having a locker that looks like it’s puking out all of its contents?
No matter what type of person you are – organized or not so organized – in science you MUST be organized! Why?
Being organized makes it easier for you to study things and make connections between them.
Kinda like when you’re playing cards…you may put the cards in order of number and suit so you can see the patterns that may help you win the game. Or, kinda like when you’re getting dressed…you may have arranged your closet and drawers so it is easier to see which pants, shirts, socks, shoes, etc. would go best with one another.
That’s why when it comes to studying living things, scientists have their own system of organization.
This system of organization of living things – of
CLASSIFICATION (i.e. putting things into groups according to their similarities and differences ) – has a special name: TAXONOMY.
Taxonomy is the classification of LIVING THINGS according to their similarities and differences.
To get you ready to understand how and why scientists CLASSIFY living things, I want you to do some investigation and classification of your own.
This pre-unit activity will help you be ready to understand some deeper info about classification as we combine our microscope lab activity with some hands-on classification activities!
SEE OVER FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT!
THE ASSIGNMENT IS DUE TOMORROW(sections 4/3) and
WEDNESDAY (sections ½)!

Journal #13
Intro to Classification
March 10, 2008
1) Write/type the above heading at the top of your paper. Don’t forget your name.
2) Select some part of your life that NEEDS classification or that is ALREADY classified (i.e. grouped in some special way).
3) In your journal entry, write down/type that “classified” or not yet “classified” part of your life.
(e.g. your closet, music on your i-Pod, your computer files, your books and class work, etc.)
4) Draw a picture or make a list of the way you have classified OR should classify the items in this part of your life. Write a sentence that explains how you have classified your items.
5) As stated on the opposite side of this page, the field of scientific study in which living things are classified and grouped in a special, easy to study way is called TAXONOMY .
TAXONOMY comes from the Greek words for order (“TAXIS”) and law
(“NOMOS”)…hence TAXONOMY is the laws or rules by which we order and group living things! Keeping this definition in mind as well as the answers to #3 and #4 above and… a) Explain WHY you have grouped or classified your items in the way that you did.
What does classifying your items help you to do? Does HOW you group them serve a purpose? b) What would you call YOUR classification system? What name would you give to the
“laws” by which you “ordered” your items?