Characteristics of Life- an inductive Learning Activity
Goals of strategy:
1. Help students formulate concepts and generalizations.
2. Help students see relationships and patterns in what is taught.
3. Help students learn to cite evidence.
4. Students will utilize above skills to determine characteristics of living things.
Directions:
1. In your groups please look at the list of words or phrases below. These words or
phrases will be considered your data.
2. Your assignment is to group the data into categories based on similarities.
3. You will need to use nine different categories.
4. After all the data is grouped into categories; label each category with a word or phrase.
5. Write a statement for each category that tells why you placed these things together.
1. Nucleus of
cell
2. Tadpole to a
frog
3. Web feet of
frog
4. Pulling hand
away from hot
flame
DATA FOR CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE
10. Smallest
19. Breaks the
28. Small to big
unit that can
bonds of food
carry out all the molecules to
activities of
release energy
life.
for use by cell.
11. Can be
20. Cells begin 29. Mendel
sexual or
to change into
asexual
skin cells,
muscle cells,
and nerve cells
12. Puberty
21. Needed for 30. Embryo
growth,
maintain
organization,
reproduction,
build structure,
and carry out
work.
13.
22. Genes are
31. Insects
Heterotrophs
regions of DNA becoming
must obtain
that provide the resistant to
food by eating
instructions for pesticide
proteins
37. Battery
38. Mating
39. Red flowers
mated to white
flowers
produced white
and red
checkered
flowers
40. Baby to
adult
1
5. DNA
14. Creates
contains genetic variation by
instructions
mixing genetic
information
between male
and female
23. Plants are
eaten by
herbivores
which are eaten
by carnivores
32. Sun
6. Caterpillar to
butterfly
15. Sperm cell
unites with egg
cell
33. You look
like your father
7. Atoms bond
to form simple
molecules
which bond to
form complex
molecules
which arrange
to form
organelles
which arrange
to form cells
16. Cells are
arranged into
tissues, which
are organized
into organs
which are
organized into
organ systems
which are
organized into
organisms.
8. Autotrophs
produce their
own food
9. Production of
new cells in an
organism
increasing
amount of
living mass
17. Sweating in
hot weather
24. Passing of
traits from
parent to
offspring
25. Leads to a
population
dominated by
organisms that
are
behaviorally,
anatomically,
and
physiologically
well suited to
survive &
reproduce in a
specific
environment.
26. Plasma
membrane
18. Plants
27. Got my
capture light
blue eyes from
energy and
mom
convert into
chemical
energy stored in
food
41.
Environment
changes and
body responds
to keep internal
conditions
stable.
42. What
happens to
seeds over time
34. Plants and
animals are
composed of
these
43. Different
cells regulate
genes
differently by
turning
different genes
on and off
creating
specialized
cells and
causing
changes to
occur.
35. Purpose of
eating
44. Predator
and prey
36. Dogs
panting when
hot
45. Plants
remove carbon
dioxide from
air and add
oxygen to air.
2