A Learning Activity is a strategy a teacher chooses to actively
engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.
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Phase:
Before/Engage, During/Explore/Explain
Activity:
1. The teacher will pose the question to the class "How do you decide if something is living?". The teacher should allow students to generate answers and write them on the board. Do not allow any items to be removed from the list in this brainstorming session.
2. The teacher will show the Amoeba Sisters Characteristics of Living Things video. Students will take notes on the characteristics and description/examples given in the video.
3. The teacher will assign each student (or pairs, see variations) an item. These can be written on index cards or printed on card stock. (see advanced prep). The student will analyze the item based on the characteristics of life.
4. The student will create a Claim-Evidence-Reasoning on a sheet of paper to argue their analysis. The Claim should state if the item is considered living or non-living. The teacher may decide how many pieces of evidence (characteristics) will be required, but a minimum of 3 would be recommended for this activity. The reasoning should be an explanation of how the piece of evidence supports the student's claim.
Assessment Strategies:
The teacher may use the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning as an assessment.
The Claim-Evidence-reasoning should include an essential question, a claim written in sentence form, several pieces of evidence, and an explanation (reasoning) for how each piece of evidence supports the student's claim.
Advanced Preparation:
The teacher will need to prepare items for the class to analyze and decide if students will work alone or in teams. The teacher may verbally provide the name of the item or write them on index cards to distribute and collect. Examples of items to give students can include but are not limited to: snail, lichen, fern, fallen log, shark, blue whale, bears that hibernate, snow, rock, seed, liger, laptop computer, cell phone, paper.
The teacher will introduce the students to the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning protocol and provide a rubric for the students to know what to include on their product. A short introduction to the protocol for teachers is provided at the link
The teacher may assign students to work alone or in pairs to determine if their assigned item meets the characteristics of life.
The teacher may assign specific examples/items to students based on how challenging the example is.
Notes or Recommendations (optional):
This activity can be used to introduce Claim-Evidence-Reasoning technique. This technique encourages students to explain how their evidence or data supports their claim, not simply restate their evidence, which is common among high school student lab report analysis.
Keywords and Search Tags:
abiotic, biotic, Characteristics of Life, Characteristics of Living Things