Armadillos:  Pictures and Videos

Armadillo Rolling into a Ball

River Otter and Wolves Video

Exploring Characteristics of Living Organisms

Subject: Life Science

Topic: The students will investigate life cycles, speeds, and sizes of living organisms.

NSTA Teaching Standards: A, B, C, D, E, F

NSTA Content Standards:

            Unifying Concepts and Processes:

                        K-12: Change, constancy and measurement

            Science as Inquiry

                        K-12: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry

            Earth and Space Science

                        K-4: Properties of earth materials

                        5-8: Earth's history

            Life Science Standards

                        K-4: Life cycles or organisms

                        5-8: Structure and function in living systems

                        9-12: Behavior of organisms

            History and Nature of Science

                        9-12 Historical perspectives

NCTM Standards

            Content Standard: Number and Operations

            Process Standards: Connections and Problem Solving

Teaching Procedures:

            Essential Questions:

                        How do plant and animal lifespans compare? What factors contribute to the length of plant and animal lifespans?   What is the oldest living organism known to man? How fast are living organisms? How do the speeds of living organisms compare to the speed of humans? How do sizes of living organisms compare to the size of humans? How are human beings different from other living organisms?

            Introduction (Activating):

1. Begin the lesson with some pictures different living things. As you show pictures of living things, allow the students to classify them according to their own system of classification. You may use the attached pictures or you may supply your own.  
2. After the students have developed a classification system, introduce the essential questions. "What do you think is the oldest living organism on earth?" 
3. Ask the students, "What is the average lifespan of the butterfly? (1) 3 hours (2) 3 days (3) a month (4) 3 months." 
4. Allow the students to form their own hypotheses and discuss the reasoning behind their choices.  

                        Teaching Strategies:

1. Using the pictures you have provided, ask the students to predict the lifespan of each living thing and put the pictures in order from the shortest lifespan to the longest.
2. Distribute the information charts for each living thing. Have the students compare their hypotheses with the information found on the charts.
3. Ask the students how scientists determine the age of trees. With tree ring dating, do the scientists have to chop down the tree to determine how old it is? Discuss how scientists can determine the age of a tree without killing the tree.
4. Discuss the possibility of bacteria as the oldest living organism and define living as continuous.

            Closure:

1. Have the students write about their thought processes as they discovered the oldest living organism.
2. Students should write a summary of their conclusions with possible implications.

            Differentiated Instruction:

1. As the students are working in groups, circulate to assist when needed.
2. Multiple intelligences addressed:
   1. Verbal/Linguistic: Students communicate in groups and write about their findings.
   2. Logical/Mathematical: Students use numbers to compare the life spans of various living organisms.
   3. Spatial: Students consider the number of rings in terms of estimated time.
   4. Musical/Rhythmic: Students see patterns in the life cycle/reproduction of living things.
   5. Interpersonal: Students discuss possibilities and implications with their group members.
   6. Intrapersonal: Students write about their thought processes in an essay.
   7. Bodily/Kinesthetic: Groups of students arrange the pictures in order from the shortest to the longest lifespan.
   8. Naturalist: Students appreciate the order, beauty and diversity found in nature.

            Lesson Assessment:

1. Have the students write an essay about their thinking processes in finding the oldest living organism on earth. Use the essay-scoring rubric to assess learning.
2. Use the "Discussion Question Handout" student responses to assess learning.

            Materials/Resources

1. Pictures of living things handouts
2. Charts of information on living things
3. Discussion Question Handout
4. Additional Activity #1: How Long is a Whale?
5. Additional Activity #2: Who is the Fastest?

Who is the Fastest?

1. Working in groups, without using the information charts, make a hypothesis to determine the order, from fastest to slowest, of all the living creatures.
2. Use the information contained in the living things description charts to rank the fastest living creatures. Put them in order from the fastest to the slowest.
3. Create a story problem involving the animals in which one animal is trying to catch up to another animal. Determine how long it will take one animal to catch up to another one if one of the creatures has a head start. (You may alter the head start you will give to the slower animals.)
4. Example problem: If a man started running at a speed of 5 miles per hour and he had a one-hour head start on a giraffe, trying to catch him at 35 miles per hour, how long would it take the giraffe to catch the man? (Assume they are running in the same direction.)
5. Example solution:

Begin with the formula distance = rate X time.

If H is equal to the number of hours that the giraffe runs, what is the number of hours that the man runs?

The man runs H + 1 hours since the man had a one hour head start.

When will the giraffe catch the man? The giraffe will catch the man when the distances are equal. So, if the distances are equal, then the following equation can be used:

Rate (of the man) X Time (of the man) = Rate (of the giraffe) X Time (of the giraffe)

With the numbers filled in:

5 miles per hour X (H+1) = 35 miles per hour X H

Simplified:

5H + 5 = 35H

Now solve:

5 = 30H

5/30 = H

H= 1/6 or H = 1/6^th of an hour or 10 minutes