Living and Non-living

Living or Nonliving
Time Frame:1 class period that runs 30 minutes.
Group Size:Pairs
Summary:Students look for living and nonliving elements on the playground.
Main Curriculum Tie: Science - 3rd GradeStandard 2 Objective 1:Classify living and nonliving things in an environment.
Materials:For each group of 2:Yarn for circle, 1 1/2 ft. Hand lens Thermometer. Student drawn data chart
Background For Teachers:An organism's habitat is the specific place that an organism lives. All habitats contain living and nonliving elements. Animals and plants are common living elements. Rocks and soil are common nonliving elements. Soil is comprised of many living bacteria and organisms. For the purpose of this activity, it will be considered nonliving. Other nonliving parts of a habitat include temperature, humidity, amount of sunlight and shade, shelter from or exposure to wind, and air quality. All of these features influence how an organism lives. Living elements change to nonliving elements through natural and unnatural processes. An example of this would be a tree. It is living if it continues to grow, however, if it dies or is harvested and turned into paper, it is nonliving. A sheep is living and wool yarn is nonliving.
Student Prior Knowledge:This activity can begin study of living and non-living things in an environment.
Intended Learning Outcomes:1. Observe simple objects and patterns and report observations. 2. Conduct a simple investigation. 3. Sort and sequence data. 4. Distinguish between examples and non-examples.
Instructional Procedures:Step 1. List the characteristics of living (i.e., growth, movement, reproduction) and non-living things in an environment.
Step 2 On the overhead or chalkboard, make two vertical columns. Label the columns living and non-living. Tell the students that all things in their habitat fit into one of these two categories.
Step 3. Use these headings and have the students list things in the classroom environment, classifying them as either living or non-living. Discuss the characteristics that identify them this way. (The chalkboard can't reproduce so it is not living. The plants on the window grow so they must be living.)
Step 4. Have each group of two students draw a T chart like the one on the board and label the columns living and non-living. Give a yarn circle to each pair. Explain that each pair will use the yarn circle on the playground. They will place the yarn circle in an area (flower bed, sandbox, tree, grass) and will record the living and non-living things they find inside the yarn circle. They should find four living and four non-living things within the circle. If necessary, they may move their circle to other locations. If they have to move their circles to other locations, they must record their move on their data sheets. Generate a list of potential organisms that the students may find. Remind students that both plants and animals are living organisms and may be used in this field research.
Step 5. Model examples of some things that might be collected on the board or overhead. Remind students that an important rule of the data collection process includes the careful observation of the organism and its habitat. There should be no digging in the soil or uprooting of plants. Hand lenses and thermometers are valuable tools for this activity.
Step 6. Prior to going outside, have students predict if they will find more living or nonliving elements on the playground. Record this information on the board..
Step 7 Take the students outside and give them 10-15 minutes to observe their organisms and collect their data.
Step 8 Encourage students to ask questions about their observations. (Are there more organisms in the shade or sun? Do plants grow bigger in shady areas?)
Step 9. Return to the classroom and compare and compile the data the students collected. Compare the results obtained with student predictions.
Step 10 Discuss why and where they found more living elements. Were there areas that the number of living and nonliving elements were similar? Why? What were some of the interesting or unusual elements the students found in the areas? Were they natural or man-made?

Extensions:Students could take the questions they asked from their outdoor investigations and create a simple inquiry based hypothesis that could be answered with experimentation and data taking. For example, students who wonderred about plant growth in sunshine and shade could take soil and air temperatures in different locations and compare plant growth in those areas, coming to some simple conclusions.
Assessment Plan:Having each group create their own chart could be used for assessment. Each team member will need to be able to give reasons why their information is in the given colum using the science language for this topic.
Author:Jennifer Edwards
Created Date :Aug 08 2002 13:53 PM
In order to transfer information about living and non-living things from students working memory into their long-term memory I would use three strategies: concept map, loci method, and elaborative rehearsal.
Concept map:
The students will create a T-chart that will allow them to list living and non-living things. They will do this while they are on the playground finding the items, so everything will still be in their short-term memory. However making the list, and looking back on it will help them transfer their findings into their long-term memory.
Loci method:
This is a type of mnemonic link system based on places (locations) that allows you to remember long lists. In order to help students remember what is living and what is non-living I will have them use their sensory memory to make the list. They will picture themselves on the playground finding living and non-living things. So they will remember what something felt like, looked like, smelled like, etc in order to make their list. Categorizing according to location and senses will help reduce decay because anytime they are in one of those places or use their senses in the same way, they will remember living and non-living things.
Elaborative Rehearsal:
This is keeping information in working memory by associating it with something else you already know. In order to do this I will have the students use attention and perception in order to create skits about living and non-living things. They will use different stimuli and show why this helps to identify whether the object is living or nonliving.

Behaviourism

By increasing interaction with living and non-living things, students knowledge and understanding will increase.

Shaping is reinforcing each small step of progress toward a desired goal of behavior. It is important to not wait until the end product and then demand perfection, but rather to aid students along the way. I would include shaping in task analysis which means to break down a task hierarchically into basic skills. Together these would help the student achieve the desired result, while being reinforced they are doing the right steps to get there.

In this lesson plan I would assign a project where students would choose either a living or non-living thing. They would have to give information about it and prove why it was living or non-living, what is function is, etc. They would have to present their findings in a science fair type setting where they had the object and/or pictures of it, posters, demonstrations, etc.

In order to use shaping and task analysis we would first learn about living and non-living things and make sure we really knew the difference. Then children would select an object, decide if it was living or non-living and bring it to me for approval. Next we would talk about research methods and as a class begin to each research our objects. Then we would talk about what makes a good presentation and students would decide how they would present their object. Then we would actually have a day where each student presented what they chose and talked about it. By doing it in steps we don’t simply give the assignment and hope that they give us the finished product we are looking for.

Positive Reinforcement is strengthening behavior by presenting a desired stimulus after the behavior. We would play a trivia or jeopardy type game as a class and go over characteristics and examples of living and non-living things. If the students got an answer right they would be positively reinforced by “money” just like in jeopardy. If they got an answer wrong they would lose “money.” This is an example of negative/removal punishment which decreases the chances that a behavior will occur again by removing a pleasant stimulus.

I would also use positive practice in the jeopardy game. Positive practice is practicing the correct responses immediately after the error. So I would design the game so that if someone got it wrong, the other students would still ‘beep’ in and give the right answer for less points.



Constructivism

Assimiliation takes place when people use their existing schemes to make sense of events in their world. Assimilation involves trying to understand something new by fitting it into what we already know.

Accommodation occurs when a person must change existing schemes to respond to a new situation. If data cannot be made to fit any existing schemes, then more appropriate structures must be developed.

Disequilibrium- In Piaget’s theory, the ‘out-of-balance’ state that occurs when a person realizes that his or her current ways of thinking are not working to solve a problem or understand a situation.

In assimilation we adjust the information to fit our thinking, in accommodation we adjust our thinking to fit the information. Both assimilation and accommodation will be used in this lesson plan in the hook activity. The students are to categorize everything in their surrounding environment as either living or non living. When they don’t know an answer they will have disequilibrium in their thinking. When disequilibrium exists we become uncomfortable and motivated to search for a solution through assimilation or accommodation. In some cases they may use what they know about living and nonliving things to correctly categorize into their already existing schemas (assimilation). If they come across something that does not seem to fit existing schemas, they may have to alter their schemas (accommodation).

Schemas are basic structures for organizing information and concepts. Piaget identified three types of schemas: behavioural, symbolic, and operational.

Behavioural schemas are mental representations of physical actions. Infants using grasping, kicking and shaking schemas to explore and make sense of their environment. The students in this lesson will use behavioural schemas such as smelling, touching, listening, tasting to make sense of living or nonliving things.

An operation is a mental action; a mental manipulation carried out to solve a problem or to reason logically. Students will use operational schema to classify living an nonliving things when they are out on the playground.

Discovery learning is where students work on their own to discover basic principles. It is used in this lesson when the children go outside to discover living and nonliving things and why they are what they are. Children will touch, smell, and interact with their environment to come to conclusions.

Classification – grouping objects into categories- is an operation mastered in the concrete operational stage. For this 3rd grade lesson plan is a great place to focus on classification. The entire lesson is about classifying living and nonliving things. As a class we might go further in depth and talk about why a certain characteristic classifies an object as living or nonliving.



Social Constructivism

Cognitive apprenticeship is a relationship in which a less experienced learner acquires knowledge and skills under the guidance of an expert.

This can also be known as more knowledgeable other, where the one with the knowledge teaches and instructs the other. In this lesson I as the teacher will be the more knowledgeable other as I teach the students about living and non living things. At the start of the class we list things in a T chart as either living or non living. After the students learn what the difference is we correct them together. As the more knowledgeable other help guide them in this activity.

Cultural tools are the real tools (computers, scales, etc.) and symbol systems (numbers, language, graphs) that allow people in society to communicate, think, solve problems, and create knowledge. Using a T chart to sort living and non living things would be an example of symbols. As well students could use computers and resource books to further investigate and find examples of living and non living things. I may have them take pictures of what they find outside and make a presentation in which they would need to use cultural tools.

Zone of proximal development is a phase at which a child can master a task if given appropriate help and support. In this lesson as a class we discussed and decided what is living and non living. Without my support and instruction the students would not have known how to differentiate the two. However by guiding them and not straight out giving the answers, I help them to come to the right conclusions.

Scaffolding according to Vygotsky is support for learning and problem solving. The support could be clues, reminders, encouragement, breaking the problem down into steps, providing an example, or anything else that allows the student to grow as an independent learner. So first off in the lesson we look at examples of living and non living things and try to categorize them as such. In order to do that we break down living and non living and decide what each of those terms mean. Using that basis we can draw conclusions and inferences first together as to what is living and non living. As the lesson goes on the students themselves will be able to correctly categorize without near as much help as they had at the start.

The relationship of the learner and the more knowledgeable other is a gradual release of responsibility. The knowledgeable other provides models, demonstrations, and corrections, as well as a person bond that is motivating. The performances required of the learner are real and important and grow more complex as the learner becomes more competent. The learner receives scaffolding and external support from the other. In this lesson I first really help the students, and am a major assistance in guiding them to the right answers. As the lesson goes on and they learn the concepts in a variety of ways they become more responsible for their knowledge. They don’t need so much help from me.