Name: Biology Lab and POE

Time: 25 minutes

Material:

1. Insects, brick, tooth pick and plant per group.

2. POE worksheet, 4 per group. (See appendix III)

Student Learning Outcomes:

1.      Develop criteria to decide if something is living or nonliving

2.      List some characteristics that all living things have in common.

3.      Classify different objects and discuss whether they are alive or not alive and provide evidence for their decision.

Procedure:

1.      To prepare biology lab, facilitator will place a piece of a brick, plant and insects box on each group table gather students around so that they can see what is going on. Facilitator will ask student to work on their worksheet on comparison sheet.

2.      Facilitator will follow the instructions below to complete the activity that demonstrates the characteristics of life.

Ø  Ask students to decide whether each object has characteristics of living or not? If they cannot or you need to point it out to them, ask them to see how the insects is moving and is therefore capable of moving on its own .

Ø  Touch the insects with tooth pick to show students how it responds to stimuli. Touch the brick to show that it does not respond to stimuli. This is yet another characteristic of life.

Ø  Propose the idea that there was no air and soil on the earth. What would happen to the brick? What would happen to the insects?  And what would happen to plant. The brick would stay the same while the insects would adapt to seek its nutrients elsewhere and plants surely die.

Ø  Insects also excrete takes out waste material and plant give as oxygen where brick did not.

Ø  Discuss how the insects survives and breathe, takes in oxygen through soil. The brick does not need to acquire oxygen from soil or energy as it will be a brick without those things.

Ø  Talk to the students about reproduction and what it means. Insects are able to reproduce, but the brick is not able to.

Ø  Talk to students about the various size of insects that they have seen. Discuss how these insects and plant grow as they get older; the brick will remain the same size always.