CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE



Introduction

The Earth is teeming with many different living things. However, do you know if this frog and computer are alive? They are both using energy.

Identifying the characteristics of what makes something alive is not easy because no single characteristic is enough to describe a living thing. In addition, some nonliving things share one or more traits with living things. Automobiles and clouds move around, but neither are living things. Trees and mushrooms live their lives in only one place, yet they are both living things.

Activity—Determining Biotic, Abiotic and Nonliving

You will use your observation skills, prior knowledge and working vocab in order to classify a variety of specimens as biotic, abiotic or nonliving.

Procedures

1. You will view one specimen at each designated lab station. Write the object in data table.

2. Decide if the specimens is biotic, abiotic or nonliving based on your definitions above. Write it in the data table.

3. List at least 2 observations that support your conclusion of biotic, abiotic or nonliving. Write your evidence in the data table

4. You will have 1 minute at each station. Move when the teacher announces.

Data Table

|Specimen Name |Biotic, Abiotic, or |2 observations that support your conclusion of Biotic, Abiotic or Nonliving |

| |Nonliving | |

|(Sample) |Nonliving |Complexity (many parts) |

|Computer | |Uses Energy (plugs into electrical outlet) |

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|Specimen Name |Biotic, Abiotic, or |2 observations that support your conclusion of Biotic, Abiotic or Nonliving |

| |Nonliving | |

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Analysis Questions

1. What characteristics of life do living things have but dead things do not?

2. Do all organisms appear to grow, develop and reproduce in the same way? Use examples from the lab to justify your answer.

Exit Ticket—BCR

Imagine that you're an alien who has never been to Earth before. You have been sent on a mission to determine whether there is life on Earth.

On your round-trip tour of Earth you saw the Statue of Liberty and an Elephant. Write a BCR that supports your decision of there being life or no life on Earth. Justify your answer by assessing the Statue of Liberty and the Elephant for each of the 5 characteristics of life.

Make sure you include the following vocab: biotic, abiotic, nonliving, homeostasis, metabolism, cells, reproduction and heredity

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Directions

Read each statement listed below. Determine if the statement is describing one of the characteristics of life. If you believe that it does, place a “+” on the small line, then write the characteristic it describes on the line next to it. If you decide that the statement does not describe a characteristic of life, place “o” on the small line

| |+ / o |Characteristic of Life | |

|1. | | |Grandma always says that Jimmy looks like a miniature version of his father. |

|2. | | |The single celled organism on the slide of a microscope. |

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|3. | | |A car must have a constant supply of gas. |

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|4. | | |The tree planted last year is now a foot taller. |

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|5. | | |Mr. and Mrs. Smith have an adopted son. |

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|6. | | |The teacher put the worksheet into the copier to make several identical |

| | | |copies. |

|7. | | |When Sue feels sick, the nurse takes her temperature. |

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|8. | | |A microwave uses electricity to run. |

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|9. | | |A bee pollinates a flower in the meadow. |

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|10. | | |Fuel cells are being developed to power passenger vehicles, commercial |

| | | |buildings, homes, and even small devices such as laptop computers. |

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