Worksheet 5: Characteristics of lifet

Teaching aids:

• Worksheet

Procedure:

The teacher introduces the following instruction to the students: “Look again at your tables. Why did you write something to the aspect “alive” and not to “not alive”? What distinguishes living creatures? Find at least one characteristic of life and note it!“

All living creatures are/have/can: _________________________________________

The further procedure has different phases:

Phase 1: The students should first answer the task on their own or in small groups. Then the results are discussed together in class. Depending on the situation, the teacher summarizes the results during the class discussion or discussed it at the end.

Phase 2: The teacher introduces the most important characteristics of life (at least three of them!) to the students:

Living creatures...:

Grow, develop and change.

Reproduce themselves and inherit traits

Absorb energy and transform it

React to light, wind, heat and water

Have a figure (gestalt).

Adapt to their habitat over many generations.

Phase 3: The children compare the characteristics with their found characteristics or hypotheses.

Phase 4: The students check their tables according to the mentioned characteristics. The teacher gives them the instruction: “Verify if these characteristics are true for all the creatures you have identified!”

The aim of this task is to deepen and extend the results of the students by introducing the criteria for “living”. In addition, the students should learn and try out how to reflect their own hypotheses with the help of this information.

This work assignment can be adapted to the students‘; abilities, e. g. by selecting the type of the group work (individual or group work) for phases 1 and 4 and/or the number of characteristics (criteria) individually.