Learning+Experience+1+Living+Proof

= Learning Experience 1: Living Proof = Objectives ** Driving Questions **
 * Determine the criteria used for identifying a substance as living or nonliving
 * Identify the characteristics essential for survival
 * Explain the difficulty in defining life only in terms of visually observable properties
 * Determine that organisms must use environmental resources for survival
 * What distinguishes living things from nonliving things?
 * What do living things need to survive?


 * Time requirement **
 * Preparation time 10-15 minutes
 * Setting the Context 5 minutes
 * Lab activity  1 class session 45-50 minutes

Characteristics of living things:
 * Materials and Equipment**
 * //For each student or group://**
 * ¨ Hand lens ||
 * ¨ 1 glass stirring rod or dissecting needle ||
 * ¨ Unidentified substances (corals, morels, broken animal bone, moss, box jelly, rocks) ||
 * Background **
 * Growth and repair
 * Energy utilization
 * Reproduction
 * Respond to environment
 * Evolve
 * Made of cells
 * Made of organic matter
 * Will die

Show a photo of a plant and have students respond in writing to the Brainstorming questions. **1.** **Are these plants living? How do you know?** Pre-lab Preparation ** 1.  Setup stations with unidentified substances. Lab Safety ** ¨ Careful handling of the unidentified substances. Experimenting and Investigating ** ¨ Students observe unidentified substances and classify them as living or nonliving according to the criteria they have developed. Processing for Meaning **
 * Setting the Context **
 * Discuss the evidence needed in order to determine whether a substance is living or nonliving
 * Make changes or additions to the master list of characteristics of living things

Applying ** Notes **
 * Read “Aliens” and discuss the criteria scientists use for identifying life forms
 * Answer Analysis questions following the article
 * Make pdf version of “Aliens” available to students that do not yet have their textbooks.
 * The Alien article was a bit difficult for students to understand the experimental design. This needs to be unpacked in class the next day.