Ponds and Puddles Come Alive! An Introduction to Single-Celled Organisms Grades 5-8

Common Core State Standard: Reading Standards for Information Text - Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 7: Integrate Information presented in different media or formats (e.g. visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue. Students will conduct physical and virtual experiments to investigate and identify the characteristics of single-celled organisms and differentiate between organisms produced by single parents or pairs. Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Teacher Tips Standards Alignment Information The study of microscopic single-celled organisms is an essential component of an education in the biological sciences. Students learn the characteristics of single-celled organisms in order to make the learning leap to more sophisticated multi-cellular organisms or complex biological systems (cardiovascular, digestive, etc.). Individual state standards reflect that mastery of single-celled biology is generally reviewed as a prerequisite for advanced biological study, and the concepts required for such mastery are apparent in the Common Core State Standards as well. Select Inquiry Route This lesson offers an excellent opportunity for educators to utilize experimental learning in the classrooms. If microscopes are available, students can explore the exotic world of microscopic single-celled organisms by examining droplets of pond water, for example. Don’t worry if there isn’t a pond handy, as you can just leave some vegetable matter in an open vessel of water for two to three days instead. Students might draw the creatures they discover under the microscope and describe their characteristics (shape, color, movement, function, etc.) to their classmates as brief presentations. Whatever route of inquiry the teacher selects, an amazing opportunity exists to demonstrate to students the omnipresence of life all around. Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Enduring Understandings • Single-celled organisms have specialized structures. • The structures in single-celled organisms serve specific purposes. • Single-celled organisms are the building blocks of more complicated organisms and systems. Essential Questions • What component make up a single-celled organism? • What function does each component perform? • How are single-celled organisms related to more complex forms of life? Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Lesson Objectives and Project-Based Learning • Students will identify the structures in single-celled organisms. • Students will explain the function of each structure in a single-celled organism. • Students will illustrate how single-celled organisms are related to more complex forms of life. Project-Based Learning Students will view microscopic organisms in the classroom using microscopes or a virtual equivalent and log their observations. They will identify the components of single-celled organisms (nuclei, cilia, etc.) and their function. Students will evaluate their progress with a drag-and-drop matching assessment. Project 1: Students will create their own visual representations of single-celled organisms using hand-drawn illustrations, photo collage or computer art programs (MS Paint, etc.). Representations must identify components and label their functions. Project 2: Students will create a complex organism by combining their representations. Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Teacher Tips: Let’s get kids excited about the exotic world of microorganisms they have been unknowingly swimming with for their entire lives. If microscopes are available, students can use local water samples or samples cultivated in the classroom. Alternatively, students can use the video resources available on the following slide. Either way, encourage students to log their observations of the microscopic world in their journals. As students look through the microscopes or watch the videos, encourage them to guess what the functions the different components of the organism serve. Prompt them with questions like: how do you think they move? Or, where do you think digestion happens? Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Video Resources: Paramecium Click on the titles below to launch videos of paramecium! Paramecium: An Introduction to Single-Cell Biology! Paramecium Under The Microscope! Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Draw what you see in the microscope. Assessment criteria: Detail - when you look through a microscope, you are looking at something magnified and, as a result, you will be able to see tiny details. Great scientific drawings are detailed. Write a description that a scientist would add. This goes beyond labels and is actual text that is focused on the details you drew and your knowledge around what you see. Don’t limit yourself to what you already know. Use your research and inquiry skills to find out all you can about what you see and drew. Write like a scientist. This evokes a writing style that is straightforward, descriptive and factual. Use textual features to emphasize important information in your written description. Textual features include bolding, italics, highlighting, etc. Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Draw what you see in the microscope. Name: Write your description here: Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Draw what you see in the microscope. Name: Write your description here: Feedback - 6 points possible ___ Description was accurate. ___ Description was detailed. ___ Textual features emphasized key information. ___ Organism was identified. ___ When written description is seperated from drawing, it can be easily matched up correctly. Feedback - 4 points possible ___ Drawing was neatly constructed. ___ Details were shown using line and shape. ___ All components were identified. ___ Drawing was verified by peer (checked against actual sample). Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Identifying the components of the paramecium Drag the labels to the correct part of the diagram. Micronucleus Trichocysts Gullet Anal pore Cilia Lysosomes Contracile vacuole Macronucleus Food vacuoles Oral groove Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Identifying the components of the paramecium Drag the labels to the correct part of the diagram. Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Virtual Lab Resources On the Move Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media Check Out Euglena More About Amoeba Learn About More SCO On the Move Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Teacher Tips In this project, students will be expected to create a representation of a single-celled organism, either a paramecium or another creature they have discovered through their microscope or the virtual lab videos. Encourage students to go beyond simply reiterating the basic labels and descriptions they have learned earlier in this lesson. It is essential that there is a creative and constructive element to the project, so for this lesson component students are restricted from using images they find on the Internet. Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Project: Create an Organism Students, this is your chance to take everything you have learned and use it creatively! Create your own single-celled organism Steps to Success Determine which organism you are going to create. Are you creating an amoeba, euglena or paramecium? Use what you already know. Label the organims’s components and describe their functions. Use your own words for the descriptions. Create your own organism using hand-drawn illustrations, photo collages or original computer artwork. Create something of your own! Do no print a photo or picture off the computer if it is not something you did not make yourself. Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Teacher Tips: Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media One of the objectives of this lesson is to illustrate how single-celled organisms are related to more complex forms of life. Here’s a little scientific background to point you in the right direction: The task is to manipulate the creations of your students, or the students themselves, into shapes that mimic more complex organisms or systems. The students, or their creations, cannot be surrounded by other students or creations, unless the group re-forms to develop a complex solution to the problem. Think about how you will identify ineffective shapes and encourage students to regroup into complex forms. Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Teacher Tips Continued: Below are suggestions for how you can identify ineffective shapes and encourage students to regroup into complex forms. Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Project: Single-Celled to Complex Organisms Students, those single-celled organisms you created were great! Now, our next challenge is to figure out how single celled organisms develop into more complex organisms like jellyfish or chipmunks or anything else. Here’s what we’ll do: The first student will stand up. That student, or their organism representation, is the first single-celled organism. The next student, or their organism representation, must arrange with the first student to create a two-celled organism. The next student will arrange with the previous two to create a three-celled organism, and so on, until either all students are part of the complex organism or the organism fails to develop complexity and fails. Your teacher will steer you in the right direction if your class organism starts to develop unsuccessfully. Check out these additional resources for learning more about single celled and complex organisms! Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

Synthesizing what you have learned: Compare and contrast the structure and function of single-celled and multi-celled organisms. Use a diagram to help you “show or visualize” the similarities and differences between single-celled and multi-celled organisms. Copyright 2011 New Dimension Media

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