Ryan Gilbert
Defining Processes of Life
7th Grade
Ryan Gilbert
7th Grade – Defining processes of life
Subject Area Description:
This “Defining Processes of Life” unit will explore topics similar to what would
be found in a “Characteristics of Life.” The topics will be similar, but instead of being
presented as a list of facts in the form, “Livings do X, or have X characteristic,” the
processes will be presented as dynamic and interrelated pieces that make up any living
thing.
This unit will be taught in an upper-middle class suburban junior high. The
students are mostly white and mostly well off. Before this unit, they will have been
through a “Thinking Like a Scientist” unit in which they have learned about inquiry and
some of the tools that scientists use (meter sticks, microscopes, etc.). The students are,
on average, very highly motivated and high achieving. However, they lack critical
thinking and questioning skills. They have a very hard time answering non-knownanswer questions that require thinking and may or may not have a right answer. They
also do very little questioning beyond “What’s the answer to number 13?” in their
scholastic lives. Hopefully this unit will use the strengths of their motivation and
achievement to develop thinking and questioning skills.
Essential Question:
Which of the following are alive, and how do you know?…Cricket?…Bean
seed?…Fire?…Car?…Gravel?
Students will need to come up with some criteria for determining what is living
and non-living to answer these questions. They will need to think critically about their
preconceptions and question each other’s ideas. They will also need to come to a
definition of the word “living,” which will lead into the exploration of the defining
processes of life.
Learning Goals and Objectives:
Goal 1: Students will understand how each process contributes to the survival of an
organism.
Objective 1.1: Students will understand that cells work together to perform all
the functions of any organism. (EALR 1.2 Life Science Benchmark 2) (Atlas of Science
Literacy CF 6-8)
Objective 1.2: Students will understand that energy constantly flows through any
living thing and then back to the environment. (EALR 1.3 Life Science Benchmark 2)
(Atlas of Science Literacy FE 6-8)
Objective 1.3: Students will understand that matter also flows through organisms
and back to the environment. (EALR 1.3 Life Science Benchmark 2) (Atlas of Science
Literacy FM 6-8)
Objective 1.4: Students will grasp the importance of reproduction for the
survival of any species.
Objective 1.5: Students will understand some common ways that organisms
respond to their environment.
Goal 2: Students will be able to apply their knowledge of each process to identify some
interrelations between them. (EALR 1.2)
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Ryan Gilbert
7th Grade – Defining processes of life
Objective 2.1: Students will recognize that organisms cannot properly reproduce
without a sufficient in-flow of energy and matter.
Objective 2.2: Students will recognize the impact that human matter and energy
requirements have had on the ability of some organisms to respond to a changing
environment. (EALR 1.3 Life Science Benchmark 2)
Objective 2.3: Students will be able to explain the role that cells play in the
maintaining all of these processes.
Goal 3: Students will be able to develop and implement basic scientific investigations.
(EALR 2.1) (Atlas of Science Literacy ER and SI 6-8)
Objective 3.1: Students will be able to develop testable scientific questions.
Objective 3.2: Students will be able to research and collect relevant background
information prior to performing an investigation.
Objective 3.3: Students will be able to design an experiment that will validly
answer their question.
Objective 3.4: Students will be able to develop a working hypothesis based on
their questions and methods.
Objective 3.5: Students will be able to collect and analyze data relevant to their
hypothesis.
Objective 3.6: Students will be able to present and discuss their conclusions, as
well as discuss the conclusions of others.
Goal 4: Students will develop scientific teamwork skills. (EALR 3.1)
Objective 4.1: Students will be able to conduct an intelligent discourse on
scientific topics.
Objective 4.2: Students will be able to compromise and come to a consensus
within groups about what they want to study and how to study it.
Objective 4.3: Students will practice defending their arguments in front of peers.
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Ryan Gilbert
7th Grade – Defining processes of life
Day 1 and 2
1) What will students do?
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
Day 3
1) What will students do?
2) Learning objectives for the class:
4
- Students will make observations of crickets, bean seeds,
and gravel.
- Students will examine the question, “How do we know that
something is alive?” with the aim of defining the word
“living.” They will share their ideas with the class and,
together, formulate a working list of defining characteristics.
This list will be displayed throughout the entire unit. The
class will discuss how possible characteristics are exhibited
in living and non-living things.
- Students will then use their observations of crickets, gravel,
and bean seeds to figure out how to show that the bean is
alive and the gravel is not. Some bean seeds and gravel will
then be placed in water to soak for a couple days.
Students will understand how each defining process
contributes to the survival of an organism. (Goal 1)
The lesson will elicit preconceptions that students have about
what “living” means.
Crickets, bean seeds, gravel, jar or beaker of water.
The definition of “living” is the crux of the unit. They
should examine this thoroughly and come up with a list of
characteristics that are processes that will be examined
throughout the unit.
It’s important to get students’ preconception out on the table,
so that they can be examined and dealt with. It’s a starting
point that I don’t want to ignore.
I will have my notes and observations from the class
discussion, along with student notes and observations in their
science journals.
- Students will briefly observe the soaked bean seeds. Some
will probably have sprouted, indicating growth.
- We will then use classroom resources (books, magazines,
internet) to study how different organisms grow. Students
will find three different organisms to study, each from a
different source. One should be an animal, one a plant, and
one is their choice. In their science journals, they will
answer the following questions for each organism: (1) “How
much does it grow (in a year, in a lifetime, etc.)? (2) How
does it develop or change through its lifetime? (3) What is
one interesting fact about this organism and (4) one question
you still have about its growth?”
- Students will understand that matter flows through
organisms and back to the environment. (Obj. 1.3)
Ryan Gilbert
7th Grade – Defining processes of life
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
Day 4
1) What will students do?
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
5
- Students will understand that different organisms exhibit
growth in different ways, but all organisms do it.
- Students will be able to research and collect relevant
background information prior to performing an investigation.
(Obj. 3.2)
Computers, science resource materials
Students’ ability to find information on their own will be
critical to the background research phases of inquiry later on.
Allowing students some freedom in research will help them
explore some scientific resources in a way that suits their
individual needs.
Their answers to the questions above will be in their science
journals and will show me how well they were able to find
the needed information.
Students will discuss, with as little teacher input as possible,
the question, “Where do plants get their food?” They may or
may not come to a consensus, and any consensus they do
come to may or may not be correct. They will then read
about Van Helmont’s experiment, which found that plants do
not get food from the soil. They will then discuss how this
reading changes or affirms their previous conclusions.
- In their science journals they will make the following short
entries…Notes from discussion:…Notes from
reading:…Questions I have about where plants get food:.
- Homework-- Reading: The flow of matter through plants
and animals. Questions: How do animals get the matter they
need to grow? How do plants get the matter they need to
grow?
- Students will understand that matter flows through
organisms and back to the environment. (Obj. 1.3)
- This will also serve to raise the issue of how plants take in
matter for growth.
Van Helmont’s experiment readings
This will introduce the flow of matter to students, as well as
show that plants and animals do this differently.
It is important that they have practice discussing their ideas
with each other. As 7th graders, they will come to me with
very few discussion skills. We can’t do inquiry project
presentations without first building these skills.
My notes from the discussion, students’ notes in their
journals.
Ryan Gilbert
7th Grade – Defining processes of life
Day 5
1) What will students do?
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
Day 6
1) What will students do?
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
6
- Discuss the homework and what was learned and what is
still unclear from the reading.
- Read a short section about the flow of energy in plants and
animals.
- Discuss how the flow of energy and matter in plants and
animals in similar and different.
Students will understand that energy flows through
organisms and back to its environment or to other organisms.
(Obj. 1.2)
Textbooks
The flow of energy is closely linked to the flow of matter.
Discussing these two topics back-to-back should give them
both some context.
The flow of energy in organisms is not something that is
seen. Reading first, then discussion, will give more value to
the discussion.
None, until the next day.
Students will work do a worksheet that shows the flow of
matter and energy among plants and animals. They will then
be given about 15 minutes of direct instruction to recap and
clarify what we have learned growth and the flow of matter
and energy.
- Homework: Reading about cells from book, plus find one
other source for information about cells. Come ready to
discuss.
- Students will understand that energy constantly flows
through any living thing and then back to the environment.
(Obj. 1.2)
- Students will understand that matter also flows through
organisms and back to the environment. (Obj. 1.3)
- Students will be able to research and collect relevant
background information prior to performing an investigation.
(homework) (Obj. 3.2)
- Emphasize the interdependence of plants and animals.
Matter and energy flow worksheets
This will help to connect, clarify, and summarize the
concepts of growth and matter flow before moving on.
We’ve been doing a lot of thinking and discussing, which the
kids are not used to. The worksheet will serve as a rest and
reprieve for them. I will have had a chance to read their
journals and have more insight into what they are and are not
understanding, so I can emphasize important missed points
Ryan Gilbert
7th Grade – Defining processes of life
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
Day 7-9
1) What will students do?
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
Day 10 and 11
1) What will students do?
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during direct instruction.
Worksheets, the questions that they ask during direct
instruction.
- Students will begin by discussing the cell reading.
- We will then look at a slide of a root tip from one of the
bean seeds with a microscope camera hooked up to the TV.
Students will examine some of the differences between cells
in the root tip.
- This kicks off a 3-day exploration of different cells using
pre-prepared and student-prepared slides.
- Students will also get direct instruction and reading about
some key parts of the cell.
- Students will make observations and drawings in science
journals.
- Homework on Day 9: Reading about microorganisms. 3
questions: (1) Where are they found? (2) What are some
good and some bad things they do? (3) How do they
reproduce?
Students will understand that there are many different kinds
of cells that work together to perform the functions of an
organism. (Obj. 1.1)
Onions, eggs, toothpicks (for cheek cells), prepared slides of
many different cells and single-celled organisms.
Cells are an important component of the working definition
of an organism. Differences in cells can also be used to
explain and explore differences between organisms, which
could come into play in the inquiry project.
Intertwining direct instruction and hands-on exploration
should bring relevance to what they see under the
microscope, which does not happen automatically.
Student notes, observations, and drawings. Also, a short quiz
on day 9 on the most important of the cell functions and
parts.
Students will discuss microbes…how prevalent they are,
what good things they do, what bad things they do, how they
survive…for about 15 minutes. Students will then see a
demonstration of swabbing a surface to culture microbes, as
well as a sample of a growing culture. Each student (or
group) will then take a swab of one surface in the classroom.
We will then discuss asexual and sexual reproduction.
Plates will be examined on the 2nd day.
Ryan Gilbert
7th Grade – Defining processes of life
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
Day 12 and 13
1) What will students do?
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
Day 14-16
1) What will students do?
8
- Homework/in-class research: Pick one organism from a
list. Find out how it reproduces (sexual or asexual, eggs, live
birth?), how often, how many offspring, and find one
interesting fact you can tell us about this organism’s
reproduction. Ready to present to the class tomorrow.
- Students will grasp the importance of reproduction for the
survival of any species. (Obj. 1.4)
- Introduction to reproduction and different types of
reproduction.
Agar plates, sterile swabs, saline
It is very easy and interesting to watch the reproduction of
microbes, so this follows the cell topic very well because
microbes are an example of a living cell.
This activity will give students some ownership of their Petri
dish. It will make them more interested in the reproduction
of the microbes they collect. Also, working with microbes
will give them an idea of how vital reproduction is in nature.
I will observe them making cultures. Their notes and
drawings of their plates in their journals. More assessment
tomorrow.
Reproduction presentations (3-4 minutes each).
- Students will grasp the importance of reproduction for the
survival of any species. (Obj. 1.4)
- Students will be able to conduct an intelligent discourse on
scientific topics. (Obj. 4.1)
Students (with prepared presentations).
Students should know not just that organisms reproduce, but
that it is vital to the survival of the organism’s species, and
that different organisms do it differently.
The discussion skills will be very helpful with inquiry
presentations.
Students will have a vested interest in choosing an organism
that interests them and finding information to present to their
peers.
My notes and a grading rubric of their presentations.
A three-day mini-inquiry into cricket behavior. Students will
observe “natural” cricket behavior in aquariums and then
change the environment in a couple different ways (possibly
temperature, light conditions, or the threat of a predator).
Students will ask the question, “How will cricket behavior
Ryan Gilbert
7th Grade – Defining processes of life
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
Day 17
1) What will students do?
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
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change when ___________ changes?”
- Discussion of why and how different organisms must react
will be interspersed through these 3 days.
- Students will be able to develop testable scientific
questions. (Obj. 3.1)
- Students will be able to design an experiment that will
validly answer their question. (Obj. 3.3)
- Students will be able to collect and analyze data relevant to
their hypothesis. (Obj. 3.5)
- Students will understand some common ways that
organisms respond to their environment. (Obj. 1.5)
Crickets in aquariums.
The phases of inquiry addressed here will be necessary for
completion of the inquiry project.
The fact that organisms react to their environment is
probably the most obvious and observable of all of the
defining processes of living things. It is also the most easily
related to other processes and, thus, will be a subject of many
of the students’ inquiry projects. This is why we cover it
last.
This is a sort of dress rehearsal for the inquiry project. It is
smaller and does not tie together multiple processes, but the
inquiry process is there. Having kids go through this piece of
inquiry in the classroom will bring up problems that need to
be dealt with before the bigger inquiry project.
They will write a lab report with their observations, question,
methods, data and conclusions.
Students will work in small groups to create a concept map
of the concepts they have learned in the unit. They will base
this on the defining processes that are posted in the room,
and organize their concept map based on what they have
learned. Students will draw dotted lines between processes
that they think are related.
Students will be able to apply knowledge of the processes to
see interrelations between them. (Goal 2)
Defining processes poster from start of unit, butcher paper.
This will serve to sum up and review the concepts, as well as
to think about some relationships that will be important in the
next phase of the unit.
Them doing this in groups will give them more practice with
scientific conversations and help to elicit what they learned,
not what I think they learned.
The concept maps, my notes about what goes on in each
group.
Ryan Gilbert
7th Grade – Defining processes of life
Day 18-23
1) What will students do?
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
Day 24-26
1) What will students do?
2) Learning objectives for the class:
3) Resources?
10
The students will design and conduct an inquiry project
based on the interrelations between processes that they
expressed in their concept map. I will pick 3-4 interrelations
and develop testable questions based on each one. The
students, in groups of 3, will then pick a question that they
want to explore. They will design an experiment, which will
need to be approved by me, hypothesize, design and conduct
the experiment, collect data, and come to conclusions based
on that data. While they are doing the inquiry, they will
write, in their journals, other questions that are brought up
for them and how they might design and experiment to
answer one of those questions.
- Students will be able to design an experiment that will
validly answer their question. (Obj. 3.3)
- Students will be able to develop a working hypothesis
based on their questions and methods. (Obj. 3.4)
- Students will be able to collect and analyze data relevant to
their hypothesis. (Obj. 3.5)
- Students will develop scientific teamwork skills. (Goal 4)
Lots of stuff – depends what questions and designs are being
used. Resources will also severely limit the questions and
designs that can be used, which is why I have lots of control
over those phases of the inquiry.
The students have worked with a lot of background content
knowledge. Now it’s time to do some very authentic
scientific work.
This will hopefully get them excited about science. By
working in groups of 3 on a very independent project, they
will see what they can find out for themselves by thinking
through problems that come up.
They will write all of their observations, data, etc. in their
journals for me to look at after the unit is complete.
Inquiry project presentations. Each presentation will be 1015 minutes and include about 5 minutes of peer questions
and discussion.
- Students will be able to conduct an intelligent discourse on
scientific topics. (Obj. 4.1)
- Students will practice defending their arguments in front of
peers. (Obj. 4.3)
Whatever students need for their presentation – video,
projector, etc.
Ryan Gilbert
7th Grade – Defining processes of life
4) (a) Why introduce idea at this time?
(b) Why this instructional strategy?
5) What evidence of student
learning/understanding will I collect?
11
This is the culmination of the inquiry and the unit.
The ability of students to hold intelligent discussion with
each other, not with the teacher, will help them develop
independent scientific thinking skills.
I will have the scoring rubric from the presentations, as well
as my notes about the presentations and the questions that are
asked.