Organisms
Protein Soup
How can one explain the ways cells contribute to the function of living organisms?
Why are living things different from one another?
Students create and document the Protein Soup described on Pg. 106 of A Really Short History of Nearly Everything.
Miniature Ecosystem
Collect water from three different sites. These can include a lake, pond, stream, puddle, or similar. Combine the samples in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Place the jar in a sunny location and watch to see the ecosystem unfold. Soon this miniature world will start to organize itself and create some interesting results. Make notes about the daily changes. Experiment with different water sources to see how the results vary. Each ecosystem is unique. Source: Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway
Provide step by step instructions for students to complete the unit and unit project.
4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
4-LS1-2. Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.
MS-LS1-2. Develop and use a model to describe the function of a cell as a whole and ways the parts of cells contribute to the function.
MS-LS1-6. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
MS-LS2-3. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
MS-PS1-3. Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society. (GLOBAL CONNECTION)
Outcomes Courtesy of Next Generation Science Standards.
Provide rubrics used for the unit project and for any major activities done during the unit (anything we'd like to show schools how we correlated between projects, learning, and outcomes).