5E Essential Lesson
SC.6.L.14.5 - Classification
Engage – Me and Taxonomy
Today you will begin your career as a
taxonomist. Taxonomy is the science of
classification.
• What is classification?
• Why do you think it might be
important to classify living things?
Your first goal is to identify commonly known organisms based on their
physical traits.
Before you start, let’s review.
• How are vertebrates and invertebrates
different?
• What are examples of vertebrates?
• What are examples of invertebrates?
(SC.3.L.15.1, SC.3.L.15.2, SC.5.L.14.2)
Let’s Begin!...Who am I?
• I am a skilled predator with electrical sensors that allow me to sense
the electrical currents of my prey. Who am I?
Lateral line system
Don’t agree? What else do you need to know?
• I lay eggs. Who am I?
Don’t agree? What else do you need to know?
• I am a formidable competitor with venomous spurs on my back legs.
Who am I?
Don’t agree? What else do you need to know?
• I have a paddle-shaped tail that helps propel me through the water.
Who am I?
Don’t agree? What else do you need to know?
• I have a voracious appetite and eat 20-30% of my body weight daily.
My meals consist of gravel, insect larvae, and freshwater shrimp.
Who am I?
Don’t agree? What else do you need to know?
What eats rocks?
All birds eat gravel and small stones to help them digest their food.
The rocks, stones or gravel go into the “gizzard,” a part of the bird’s
digestive system where food is ground into smaller pieces. The
stones move around in the gizzard and do the grinding. Gizzard
stones are also called “stomach stones” and “gastroliths.”
Some reptiles such as crocodiles also eat rocks to use as gizzard
stones.
Some dinosaurs used to eat rocks too—and for the same purpose
that birds still eat them today.
• I lose my teeth early in life, and have rough patches in my mouth.
Who am I?
Mammals with No Teeth
Pangolin – only scaled mammal in existence
Giant Ant Eater
Don’t agree? What else do you need to know?
• I have webbed feet. Who am I?
Blue-footed boobies
Flying frog
Don’t agree? What else do you need to know?
• I have hair and store my young in a pouch. Who am I?
Koala bear
Kangaroo
Quokka
Don’t agree? What else do you need to know?
• I have a bill. Where do I belong?
Toucan
Shoe Bill
Roseate Spoonbill
Don’t agree? What else do you need to know?
Who am I?
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I lay eggs on land.
I have venomous spurs on back legs.
I eat 20-30% of my body weight daily.
I eat meals consisting of gravel, insect larvae, and freshwater shrimp.
I have paddle-shaped tail that helps propel me through the water.
I lose teeth early in life.
I have webbed feet.
I have hair.
I have a bill.
I store young in a pouch.
I have electrical sensors on my bill.
I am a duck-billed platypus!
• Based on its physical traits, is a platypus a fish, amphibian, reptile,
bird, or mammal?
• Why is classification sometimes difficult?
Monotremes are mammals
that lay eggs instead of
giving birth to live young.
• Based on the diagram,
what group of living
things did monotremes
such as the platypus
evolve from?
• How does this additional
knowledge help to
explain the
characteristics of the
platypus?
Introduction to SC.7.L.15.2 – Theory of Evolution
Explore – Kingdoms Cards
• How are eukaryotic and
prokaryotic cells alike and
different?
• Which type of cell do you
think is more complex?
Why?
Explore – Argumentation Session
1
2
3
Why is classification sometimes difficult?
Why do you think classification systems have changed over time?
Is their one “right” classification system?
Explain – Explain Domain
There is an even larger classification
group than kingdom and it is called a
domain. Each kingdom fits within one
of the three domains. The domains are
Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya.
• What are the six kingdoms of life?
• What kingdom have you not
explored?
Organize your Kingdom Cards into the
three Domains of Life, Bacteria, Archaea,
and Eukarya.
• How are domains and kingdoms
related?
• Use the information
on the cards to
complete the
domains and
kingdoms of life
concept map
• Leave Kingdom
Protista blank for
now.
Protista
Elaborate – Problematic Protists
Common Name:
Common Name:
Common Name:
Number of Cells:
Number of Cells:
Number of Cells:
Cell wall: Cell wall
Cell wall: Cell wall
Cell wall: Cell wall
Kingdom: Protist
Kingdom: Protist
Kingdom: Protist
• Why
sometimes difficult?
Habitat: is classification
Habitat:
Habitat:
Type of Cells:
Type ofhave
Cells: changed
of Cells:
• Why
do you think Type
classification
systems
Energy Source:
Energy Source:
Energy Source:
over time?
• IsChloroplasts:
their one “right”Chloroplasts:
classification system?
Chloroplasts:
You have explored the
domains and kingdoms
of living things, but
there are more specific
classification groups.
• Review: How are
domains and
kingdoms related?
• How do you think
kingdoms and phyla
are related?
• Which taxon
(classification group)
contains the most
types of organisms?
• Which taxon is the
most specific?
• The scientific name of giant kelp is
Macrosystis pyrifera. How are living things
scientifically named?
• When I was little, I memorized the
sentence, Distinguished King Phillip Can
Order Fresh Green Spinach, in order to
recall the taxonomic levels. How are you
going to remember them?
Scientific Name:
Macrosystis pyrifera
Evaluate – What about Me?
???
???
What is the scientific name
for human beings?
Homo
sapiens
Evaluate – What about Me?
Human cheek cells
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Human nerve cells
Human heart cells
Are humans eukaryotic or prokaryotic? Why?
Within which domain do humans belong? Why?
Within which kingdom do humans belong? Why?
Do you think that humans will could ever be scientifically reclassified? Why
or why not?