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Name_______________________________________________ Period ____ Date ______________________________The Characteristics of Living Things – ZOMBIES: MR RAGUBig Question: How do you know whether something is LIVING or NON-LIVING?Have you ever walked around your neighborhood, or school and wondered what was living and what was not living? How could you tell the difference between a zombie and a regular person? THERE ARE 6 EASILY OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTICS THAT ALL LIVING THINGS DO!Made of Cells: All living things are made of cells. Without cells, a living thing could not function. Do zombies have or need cells? React to Changes: All living things react to changes in their environment. Do zombies react to their environment?Reproduce: All living things produce more organisms of their own kind. Reproduction allows organisms to continue living on the earth. Humans produce offspring (children) and plants produce seeds that grow into new plants. Adapt to their surroundings: All organisms have features that help them survive in their surroundings. Fish have gills that help them survive in their environment. Do zombies have features that help them survive? Grow and develop: All living things change, or develop, during their lifetimes. One way organisms change is by growing.Living things may also change in appearance. For example: tadpoles and frogs. Do zombies change or develop or grow over time? Use and Need Energy: All living things need and use energy such as moving to get food. Plants use the sunlight to make their own food or energy. Do zombies use and need energy? M ade of cellsR react to changesR eproduceA dapt to surroundingsG row and developU se and need energy1264920147320Hi, My name is MR RAGUHi, My name is MR RAGUNext time there is a Zombie Apocalypse and you are wondering whether something is living or not, think about MR RAGU, this is a great mnemonic device to remember the characteristics of living things.PROJECT: ZOMBIE APOCALYPSESCENARIO: You wake up on Monday morning to find people in the street walking funny and not responding to you, they seem disoriented. The news and media are saying that it is a Zombie Apocalypse. You are unsure and think that maybe some of the people walking around are not zombies, but just tired people, who had a busy weekend.You go to your friend’s house, he is acting strange, you try talking to him but he does not respond, could he be a zombie? Or is he suffering the effects of a busy, tiring weekend? Or perhaps it could be his allergies acting up again? Before you rule him out as being a Zombie, you need to investigate. PROBLEM: How can you determine whether your friend is a Zombie; or in fact just suffering from the effects of a long weekend, accompanied by his allergies. Explain using evidence whether your friend is living or non-living. Demonstrate your knowledge of MR RAGU, and the 6 characteristics of Living things. Include evidence to support your argument. USE THE PLANNING SHEET PROVIDED.Present your findings. Produce visual and information product. Questions to answer: INVESTIGATING THE 6 CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE IN YOUR FRIENDDoes your friend have cells? What do they look like? Would they be animal cells, plant cells, bacteria cells or fungus cells? Living things reproduce. You can’t determine whether he has this characteristic. Does your friend grow and develop or even get older? Does your friend react to changes such as going through homeostasis such as sweating, increased heart rate or breathing rate, increased temperature? Does your friend have adaptations to help adapt to his surroundings? Does your friend use and need energy? If so, where does he get his energy from? Directions for the assignment: Your assignment is to create a poster comparing your friend to the 6 characteristics of living things. Then you are to write a summary of your investigative findings in paragraph form explaining your results. Answer the above 6 questions to create your paragraph. Your poster should look something like this: 6 Characteristics of Living thingsPicture ExampleYour Friend the Zombie? Write in whether he/she shares this characteristic or not. Explain.Made of CellsReact to changes in environmentReproduceExample: Show a picture of a human with a child or a dog with puppies etc. This is difficult to determine so leave this blank. Adapt to surroundingsGrow and DevelopUse and need energy ................
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