Part 1: Living Or Nonliving How Do We Determine If Something Is Living Or Non-Living?

FOCUS QUESTION:

·  Part 1: Living or Nonliving – How do we determine if something is living or non-living?

·  Part 2: Is Anything Alive in Here? – What evidence is used to determine if something is living or non-living?

LANGUAGE OBJECTIVE:

· 

CONCEPTS:

·  Any free-living thing-plant, animal, or other, is an organism.

·  All living organisms exhibit common characteristics: they grow, consume nutrients, exchange gases, respond to stimuli, reproduce, need water, eliminate waste, and are composed of cells.

Content Standards/Performance Expectations:

Standard / Students know that: / Students are expected to:
6-8 INQA / Scientific inquiry involves asking and answering questions and comparing the answer with what scientists already know about the world. / Generate a question that can be answered through scientific investigation. This may involve refining or refocusing a broad and ill-defined question.
6-8 INQF / It is important to distinguish between the results of a particular investigation and general conclusions drawn from these results. / Generate a scientific conclusion from an investigation, using inferential logic, and clearly distinguish between results (i.e., evidence) and conclusions (e.g., explanation). Describe the differences between an objective summary of the findings and an inference made from the findings.

This lesson builds a foundation for understanding the Life Science 1 (LS1) Content Standards, Structure and Function of Organisms.

WORD BANK / WASL WORDS
Dormant
Stimuli / Organism – 5th
WORKING DEFINITIONS / OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS
Living
Non-living

Materials Management:

·  Part 1: Keep camphor very dry; if you receive a block that has already been open, you may need to microwave it for a very short period of time to get some of the moisture out.

·  Part 1: Use an overhead with the camphor activity; you’ll need a black background underneath the Petri dish if you use a document camera (it doesn’t work as well)

·  Part 1: Create a separate list of “Evidence of Life” for each period, labeling the period so you can refer back to them. You can do this on the document camera. Once you have a more complete list, you can post one for all the classes created from everyone’s input.

·  Part 2: Leave the 5 Unknowns in the bags labeled “A” through “E” for the next teacher to use.

·  Part 2: 30 ml is about 2/3’s of a vial.

·  Part 2: If brine shrimp don’t hatch, discuss possible reasons for this. Possibilities of poor habitat conditions include the amount of salt, amount of light, temperature of the water, other chemicals in the water. The eggs may be old and no longer viable. (Check the stock date on the vial.)

·  Part 2: Number each paragraph in the reading with students to help them follow it.

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES:

·  Part 1 – Give students only the categories “Living” and “Non-living” for sorting the cards. As they work, suggest to groups that are struggling that they can include an “Unknown” category as well. This forces students to have longer conversations on the cards they are unsure about.

·  Part 1 – The Teacher Guide suggests setting up mini-ponds at the end of Part 1. These often become a messy chore that don’t produce great results. You may skip the mini-ponds by substituting observations of pond water in Investigation 3 (rather than making observations of the mini ponds.)

·  Part 2 - Encourage small groups to reach a consensus as to whether each of the unknowns is living or non-living. Push them to defend their positions with evidence.

·  Post a master list of the characteristics that all living organisms share. You will refer back to this list, and even modify it, throughout the module.

ASSESSMENT:

·  At the conclusion of the Investigation, have students reread their original Quick Write (p. 47 TG). Ask them to use a different color pen or pencil and revise their definition of a living thing using the word organism. Review these to understand how each students’ thinking has changed.

·  Homework: Ask students to create a poster illustrating organism needs and organisms functions.

·  Use mid-summative exam 1.

DIFFERENTIATION

·  Advanced Learning – Have students research and create a scaled timeline from the big bang until the present. Ask them to show on the timeline when major forms of life appear in the fossil record (e.g., bacteria, multi-cellular organisms, terrestrial organisms, plants fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and early human ancestors). Ask them to think about why all living things have common needs and functions.

·  English Language Learners - Use the modified reading for “What is Life?”

·  Special Needs – Use the modified reading for “What is Life?”

CULTURAL RELEVANCE

·  Guide students to relate what they have learned about the characteristics of living organisms to their own bodies and to any pets they have.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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Investigation 2: Introduction

to the Microscope

FOCUS QUESTION:

·  Part 1: Meet the Microscope – How do the parts of a microscope work together as a system to magnify an object? What do you observe about the behavior of objects when viewed through a microscope?

·  Part 2: Exploring the Microworld – What is meant by “focal plane?” How do you calculate magnification? What is the field of view (in mm) under different magnifications?

·  Part 3: Microscopic Life – What additional characteristics of life can we observe when looking at brine shrimp under a microscope?

LANGUAGE OBJECTIVE:

· 

CONCEPTS:

·  The microscope is a tool used by scientists to study organisms in detail.

·  An optical microscope is composed of a two-lens system (eyepiece and objective lens), a stage on which to mount the material being observed, a light source (radiant or reflective), and a mechanical system for adjusting the position of the focal plane.

·  Field of view is the size of the area seen under a specific magnification with the microscope.

·  Focal plane is a thin plane at a fixed distance from the objective lens where the image is in focus.

·  Optical power is the product of the magnifications of the eyepiece and the objective lens.

·  A microscope image appears reversed (flipped left to right) and inverted (flipped top to bottom). When an object is moved from left to right, through the eyepiece it appears to move from right to left.

·  Scientific illustrations, to scale and with labels, of objects viewed under the microscope help us understand the details of what we observe.

Content Standards/Performance Expectations:

Standard / Students know that: / Students are expected to:
6-8 APPC / Science and technology are interdependent. Science drives technology by demanding better instruments and suggesting ideas for new designs. Technology drives science by providing instruments and research methods. / Give examples to illustrate how scientists have helped solve technological problems (e.g., how the science of biology has helped sustain fisheries) and how engineers have aided science (e.g., designing telescopes to discover distant planets).

This lesson builds a foundation for understanding the Life Science 1 (LS1) Content Standards, Structure and Function of Organisms.

WORD BANK / WASL WORDS
Parts of a microscope (eyepiece, objective, stage, neck, coarse focus, fine focus, diaphragm, light, base
Magnify/magnification
WORKING DEFINITIONS / OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS
Field of view Wet Mount
Focal plane Dry Mount

Materials Management:

·  Part 1: Have a TA prepare the microscope trays a couple days before using the microscopes.

·  Part 1: Emphasize that students always begin to focus with the shortest objective and with the stage in the closest position to the objective. Microscopes should be stored with the shortest objective ready to be used.

·  Set up a microscope under the document camera (remove light from document camera) to project images for the entire class to see. Use this to help students identify air bubbles, dirt or dust, and any interesting images.

·  Part 1: Prepare slides with a letter “e,” a piece of a photo and a piece of a feather taped onto one slide for each group. Keep these to reuse every year. This allows students to concentrate on focusing and drawing scientific illustrations and simplifies materials managements. They will learn to prepare slides themselves in Parts 2 & 3 and Lessons 3 & 4.

·  Part 3: Even if the brine shrimp don’t hatch, it is interesting to look at the eggs underneath a microscope. Continue the discussion of reasons why the eggs didn’t hatch.

Instructional Strategies:

·  Part 1: Don’t spend too much time on the letter “e,” photo and feather. There are much more interesting things to observe. Students do need to learn to be proficient at focusing and finding objects with the microscope.

·  Save some time for students to look at other objects they bring in. This keeps interest levels high and promotes their curiosity.

·  http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html

ASSESSMENT:

·  Use questions 1 & 2 at the bottom of the Brine Shrimp Alive! Student page to connect the microscope work with the concepts of needs & functions of living organisms from Investigation 1.

DIFFERENTIATION:

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

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Investigation 3: Microscopic Life

FOCUS QUESTION:

·  Part 1: Discovering Cells – When looking at an Elodea leaf under magnification, what evidence of life can be observed? What characteristic appears to be common in all the leaf samples? What do we call the unique structures that appear to make up this organism?

·  Part 2: Paramecia – What evidence can be observed to support the idea that the single-celled paramecium is an organism?

·  Part 3: Microworlds – How is it possible that living microorganisms can be found in miniponds made from clean, drinkable water?

LANGUAGE OBJECTIVE:

· 

CONCEPTS:

·  The cell is the basic unit of life.

·  Cells have the same needs and perform the same functions as more complex organisms.

·  Paramecia have shape, a membrane, cilia, an oral groove, and organelles, including vacuoles.

·  Plant cells (like elodea) have some different and some similar structures as paramecia.

·  Some living cells are organisms (single-celled organisms) and some are not organisms (cells in multicellular organisms).

Standard / Students know that: / Students are expected to:
6-8 LS1A / All organisms are composed of cells, which carry on the many functions needed to sustain life.
/ Draw and describe observations made with a microscope, showing that plants and animals are made of cells, and explain that cells are the fundamental unit of life. Describe the functions performed by cells to sustain a living organism (e.g., division to produce more cells, taking in nutrients, releasing waste, using energy to do work, and producing materials the organism needs).
6-8 LS1B / One-celled organisms must contain parts to carry out all life functions.
/ Draw and describe observations made with a microscope, showing that a single-celled organism (e.g., paramecium) contains parts used for all life functions.
6-8 LS1D / Both plant and animal cells must carry on life functions, so they have parts in common, such as nuclei, cytoplasm, cell membranes, and mitochondria. But plants have specialized cell parts, such as chloroplasts and cell walls, because they are producers and do not move.
/ Use labeled diagrams or models to illustrate similarities and differences between plant and animal cell structures and describe their functions (e.g., both have nuclei, cytoplasm, cell membranes, and mitochondria, while only plants have chloroplasts and cell walls).
WORD BANK / WASL WORDS
Organisms: Elodea, Paramecia
Cell wall
Cell membrane
Nucleus
Chloroplasts
WORKING DEFINITIONS / OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

MATERIALS MANAGEMENT:

·  Part 2: Observing the paramecia feeding can be difficult. Don’t worry if this doesn’t work.

·  Part 3: Rather than preparing mini-ponds, provide students with pond water for a pond water safari (student sheet p. 25). Obtain the pond water from a source with year-round water. Include leaves and mud from the bottom in your bucket or container. To avoid splashing in your car, use a lid or place a piece of plastic across the surface of the water. Fill the container half-full or less. The creek behind (west of) the Meadowbrook Community Center generally has a high concentration of organisms for students to be successful.

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES:

·  Part 2: Use a box (for similarities) and a t-chart (for differences) to compare elodea cells and paramecium cells. (step 13 in Teachers Guide, p. 112)

·  Part 3: Making observations of amoeba and euglena cultures after spending so much time on lthe paramecia may become tedious for students, especially if the cultures are weak. One student reported they spent 3 days looking at water in the microscope! Streamline these observations and have students make scientific illustrations of the organisms in their notebooks rather than following the student sheets. Note that euglenas are flagellates.

ASSESSMENT:

·  Use the student Response Sheet – Microscopic Life (p. 19) to assess student understanding of single-celled and multicellular organisms. Consider having students write individually, share their response with a neighbor, give advise or ask questions about the neighbor’s response, then revise their own responses based on the feedback received. Read the responses to determine how well the students understand the concepts and to focus your teaching efforts in Part 3. Students will review and score their responses at the end of Part 3.

DIFFERENTIATION:

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CULTURAL RELEVANCY:

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

· 

Investigation 4: The Cell

FOCUS QUESTION:

·  Part 1: Human Cells - What are living things, including humans, made of? What evidence do we have that humans not only have cells, but are cells?

·  Part 2: Ribbon of Life – What are the cellular structures that define cells? How are cells organized into more advanced levels or organization within multi-cellular organisms?

LANGUAGE OBJECTIVE:

· 

CONCEPTS:

·  Humans and all other life forms are made of cells; cells are the basic units of life.

·  All life is aquatic at the cellular level.

·  A major subdivision in cells is whether they have a nucleus (eukarote – includes protist, plant and animal cells) or not (prokaryote – includes bacteria).