How do we know that living things are made of cells, and what are some ways we can classify living things?
Cycle Summary
Session
5
Elicit
Students complete a probe asking them to identify which items are made of cells.
Engage
Students look at pictures on the SmartBoard showing living things under a microscope and try to match the microscopic view with the macroscopic view of an organism.
Explore
Students observe and sketch multicellular organisms under a microscope and complete analysis questions
Session
6
Explain
The student complete guided practice using a microscope to focus on comparing non-living objects to unicellular, and multicellular organisms.
Session
7
Elaborate
Students view living organisms in pond water and identify them using a key.
Session
8
Evaluate
Students identify samples as living or nonliving using a microscope.
Extend
Extend
Students explore how pathologists use microscopes to view normal and abnormal/diseased cells.
In the previous cycle, students defined the characteristics of living things, and used evidence to support an argument about whether or not a sample contained life.
In this cycle, students will answer the following guiding question, “How do we know that living things are made of cells, and what are some ways we can classify living things?” They explore the phenomenon of microscopic and macroscopic views of the same organisms, as they begin to build their knowledge that cellular structure and function leads to macroscopic structure and function of organisms. They conduct investigations to observe unicellular and multicellular organisms under the microscope, and compare nonliving objects to living objects using this tool.
This cycle is an introduction to microscopic views of organisms and using microscopes. In the next Concept, students will go deeper into cells, considering cell structure and function, and how plant and animal cells compare structurally.