1. Chapter 1 : Lesson 1
NOTES

2. Is a Robot Alive?
The image here shows Kismet, a humanlike robot. Tell students that Kismet has 21 motors, four cameras, and nine computers for vision alone. Kismet can relate to people through three modalities: tone of voice, facial expression, and body posture.
Ask: How is this robot like a living thing?
Answer: It can move, sense its surroundings, and respond to its surroundings.
Distribute the worksheets and direct students to the What You Know section. Tell students to write down things they already know about the characteristics of life. Explain that they will complete the What You Learned section after the lesson.
Then, create a master chart for the class. Have students share things they already know and write their responses in the What You Know section of the master chart. Keep the chart for the end of the lesson.

3. What is Life????? Page 4 in your new book!!! 
Organism – a complete living thing

4. Characteristics of Living Things
Cells make up organisms.
Students are probably familiar with the concept of the cell. Lead a discussion about what students know about cells.
Ask: How would you define a cell?
Sample answer: A cell is the basic unit of structure and function of all living things. A cell is the building block of life.
Ask: Are all cells alike?
Sample answer: No; cells can be large or small, have a well-defined shape or an irregular shape, and be part of a plant or an animal.
Explain to students that organisms, whether they are unicellular or multicellular, could not survive if the cell did not perform those functions that characterize something as living.
Ask: How does an organism get and use energy?
Answer: In the cell, materials are broken down and built up through the process of metabolism.
Chemicals make up cells.
Organisms use energy.

5. Other Characteristics of Living Things
Growth and development
Ask: How does an organism grow and develop?
Answer: Cells divide and specialize.
Ask: How does an organism reproduce?
Answer: In asexual reproduction, cells divide to form two new identical cells. In sexual reproduction, special cells from two parents combine to produce a new organism different from both parents.
Tell students that some plants reproduce asexually, such as plants with tubers and bulbs.
Ask: How do most plants reproduce?
Answer: by sexual reproduction
Ask: What is necessary for sexual reproduction?
Answer: two parents
Ask: What ways have you seen plants reproduce asexually, or with only one parent?
Answer: Students may be familiar with various forms of vegetative propagation, including rhizome, bulb, tuber, and root propagation.
Some students may not realize that plants are organisms, just as animals are. This misconception may arise from the fact that students do not understand how plants respond to their environment, grow and develop, and reproduce. Also, plant movement is not like animal movement and thus not always obvious.
Ask: What characteristics make plants living things?
Answer: Plants are made of cells, contain chemicals, use energy, respond to their surroundings, grow and develop, and reproduce.
Ask students to divide into small groups. Ask each group to summarize in writing the six characteristics of living things. Tell them that one characteristic is not necessary for the survival of an organism. Have them conclude which characteristic that is (reproduction).
Response to
surroundings
Reproduction

6. i. Cells make up organisms– page 6
Human cheek cell
Onion skin cells
Elodea (plant) cells
Brain cell

7. i. Cells make up organisms
1. Cell - The basic unit of structure and function in an organism.

8. i. Cells make up organisms
2. Unicellular – single celled organism

9. i. Cells make up organisms
3. Multi-cellular - many celled organism

10. i. Cells make up organisms
1. Cell - The simplest unit of life
2. Unicellular - single celled organism
3. Multi-cellular - many celled organism
SOME CELLS ARE SPECIALIZED!
Teach-okay

11. ii. Chemicals make up cells (page 6)
Most abundant chemical in cells is water
2. A cell’s main energy source is carbohydrates

12. ii. Chemicals make up cells
Building materials of cells proteins and lipids
Genetic material of cells - nucleic acids

13. All organisms take in and use energy.
iii. Energy use
All organisms take in and use energy.
They take in “food” and get rid of waste

14. All organisms take in and use energy.
iii. Energy use
All organisms take in and use energy.
They take in “food” and get rid of waste
1. Metabolism
The combination of chemical reactions where an organism builds up or breaks down materials.

15. iv. Response to surroundings
Living things react and adapt to change in their environment.
Plant leaves growing toward the sunlight

16. iv. Response to surroundings
1. Stimulus – a change in an organism’s surroundings that causes a reaction.
Example: being cold causes you to shiver

17. iv. Response to surroundings
1. response – a action or change in
behavior
Example: The heat from a hot stove causes you to pull your hand away

18. V. Growth and Development
1. Development – a process of change that occurs during an organism’s life to produce a more complex organism
An acorn develops into an oak tree which grows in size

19. vi. Reproduction “birds and the bees” Bacteria split in two
Sexual reproduction – involves 2 parents –genetic material combines to make a new organism that is different from both parents
Asexual reproduction – involves only 1 parent – offspring looks identical to the parent

20. The 6 characteristics….
Reproduce
Made of the same chemicals
Grow and develop
Energy use
Made of cells
Respond to surroundings

21. Notes on Spontaneous Generation

22. 400 years ago, people thought that flies came from rotting meat
Life Comes From Life
400 years ago, people thought that flies came from rotting meat
No refrigeration
Flies laid eggs on meat, eggs turned into maggots, maggots into flies

23. Life Comes From Life
Spontaneous Generation - The mistaken idea that living things can arise from non-living sources

24. Life Comes From Life
Redi’s experiment – designed one of the first controlled experiments. He disproved spontaneous generation by showing that flies don’t spontaneously from rotting meat.

25. Can Spontaneous Generation Happen?
Explain that Francesco Redi helped disprove the idea of spontaneous generation.
Click through the slide, explaining his experiment that helped disprove spontaneous generation.
Ask: In addition to disproving the idea of spontaneous generation, what other contribution to science did Redi make?
Answer: He designed one of the first controlled experiments.
To help students understand and differentiate between a manipulated variable and a responding variable, explain that some scientists use the terms independent variable and dependent variable instead. Discuss what the words independent and dependent mean. Explain that independent means free from control and not reliant on other factors. Dependent means reliant on another factor.
Ask: What is another term for a manipulated variable?
Answer: independent variable
Ask: What is another term for a responding variable?
Answer: dependent variable
Ask: Which variable in Redi’s experiment was the manipulated variable?
Answer: the presence of a cover
Ask: Which variable in Redi’s experiment was the responding variable?
Answer: the presence of maggots on the meat
Have students work in groups of two to develop and write a “recipe” for creating life from nonliving material, similar to those that supported the idea of spontaneous generation. Have student pairs exchange their recipes and challenge one another to design an experiment disproving them. Have the original recipe-writing pair determine the acceptability and validity of the proposed experiment.

26. Life Comes From Life
Pasteur’s experiment – mid 1800s experiment done by French chemist Louis Pasteur who proved that new bacteria appeared in broth only when produced by existing bacteria

27. The Spontaneous Generation Experiment
Click through the slide to show each step of Pasteur’s experiment.
Explain how Louis Pasteur finally disproved spontaneous generation with his bacteria and broth experiment.
Ask: Which variable in Pasteur’s experiment was the manipulated variable?
Answer: exposure to bacteria-containing dust in the air
Ask: Which variable in Pasteur’s experiment was the responding variable?
Answer: cloudiness of the broth

28. Controlled experiment – remember this…
An experiment where there is only one manipulated variable

29. What Do Living Things Need to Survive?
Explain to students that all living things have four basic needs that must be satisfied if they are to survive. The needs are food, water, living space, and stable internal conditions.
Ask: Why do all living things need food?
Answer: Food is a source of energy.
Ask: What is meant by living space?
Answer: a place to get food and water and find shelter
Direct students to examine the image on the slide.
Ask: Can animals live in a desert oasis?
Answer: Yes; it supplies food, water, and living space.
Students know that they need water to survive, but they may not understand why.
Ask: How much of your body is made up of water?
Answer: about 70 percent
Discuss with students that this water is found mainly in the cells of the body. Then discuss the various functions of cells.
Ask: Why is water necessary for the survival of living things?
Answer: All the functions that cells perform, such as breaking down and building up substances, dividing, growing, getting rid of wastes, transporting materials to other cells all over the body, and responding to the environment, require the presence of water.
Explain to students that what is meant by living space is a place that provides a living thing with all that it needs to survive. Emphasize that an organism’s living space can be very large or extremely small. It can also be very cold, very hot, very wet, or very dry. The limited amount of space on Earth often leads to competition among living things.
Ask: What is an example of an organism that requires a large amount of living space?
Sample answer: an elephant, lion, human, giraffe
Ask: What is an example of an organism that requires a small amount of living space?
Sample answer: a bacterium, ant, worm, koala
Ask: What is competition?
Answer: a struggle among living things to get the needed amount of food, water, and shelter
Have students consider the term homeostasis. Write it on the board. Remind them that the word part homeo- means “same.” Tell students that -stasis comes from a Greek word meaning “stable condition or steady state.”
Ask: Using the meanings of those word parts, what does homeostasis mean?
Sample answer: a state in which the internal conditions of a living thing remain the same
Ask: Why is it important that an organism maintain homeostasis?
Answer: to allow its cells to function properly
Using the example of internal temperature, explain to students that some animals can maintain a constant body temperature regardless of the external temperature. Such animals are called endotherms. Ectotherms are animals that have body temperatures that fluctuate somewhat with changes in the external temperature.

30. Needs of Living Things Food Living Things need Living space
Stable internal conditions
Food
Water

31. How Do Organisms Get Food?
Autotrophs - organisms that make their own food
Autotroph
Heterotrophs - organisms that can’t make their own food
Review with students the fact that all living things need food because food is a source of energy for organisms. Introduce the idea that living things differ in the way in which they obtain food. Some organisms capture the sun’s energy and use it to produce their own food. Other organisms must consume food. Emphasize the words produce and consume as you share this information.
Ask: What are organisms that make their own food called?
Answer: autotrophs
Ask: What are organisms that feed on other organisms called?
Answer: heterotrophs
Ask: What type of organism could also be called a producer? A consumer?
Answer: An autotroph is a producer; a heterotroph is a consumer.
Direct students to examine the photo on the screen.
Ask: Where is an autotroph in this picture?
Answer: the tree
Click to reveal the word “autotroph” and the arrow.
Ask: Where is a heterotroph in this picture?
Answer: the giraffe
Click to reveal the word “heterotroph” and the arrow.
Ask students to work in pairs. Each pair should write a list of autotrophs and heterotrophs that they know.
Heterotroph

32. Homeostasis - maintaining stable internal conditions
Definitions…
Homeostasis - maintaining stable internal conditions
Example: your body temperature being at 98.6 degrees

33. What Is Life? Overview Made of chemicals Cellular organization
Energy use
Response to surroundings
Growth and development
Reproduction
Direct students to the picture on the slide. Assess students’ understanding of the characteristics of life by leading a discussion.
Click through the list of life characteristics after the students answer the following question.
Ask: What six characteristics of life does this bird exhibit?
Answer: made of chemicals, cellular organization, energy use, response to surroundings, growth and development, reproduction