Download Characteristics of life

First: Re-take Science Quiz
Then: Characteristics of Life
Discussion
Then: Outside!
Learning Target:
Identify the 8 characteristics of life and apply
them to living and non-living things
Discuss in your table groups:
What is it that makes something alive?
What characteristics do an elephant, a beetle, a tree, a
bacterium, and a virus all have in common?
Characteristics of Life
Life’s characteristics unify all living things
Cells - the basic unit of life
Characteristics of Life
Energy
Consumption
And Life’s
resulting
Organization
Organisms Sense
and Respond to
Change (respond
to external stimuli)
Living things are irritable!
Organisms must
maintain a stable
internal
environment:
Homeostasis
All organisms
exhibit Growth
and Development
Characteristics of Life
All organisms have Genetic Material in the form of DNA
and RNA
Reproduction
• DNA is stable and can be
passed from parent to
offspring
Adaptation through Evolution
• DNA is also able to change
through time by way of
mutation which can lead to
variation and adaptive traits,
natural selection, and
ultimately evolution and
adaptation in a population
Reproduction
• DNA is stable and can be
passed from parent to
offspring
Adaptation through Evolution
• DNA is also able to change
through time by way of
mutation which can lead to
variation and adaptive traits,
natural selection, and
ultimately evolution and
adaptation in a population
Descent
Charles Darwin’s big
idea: descent with
modification (variation
in a population) by way
of natural selection
with Modification
The Characteristics of Life Unify all living things
• Energy consumption
• Cells
• Response to external stimuli
• Homeostasis
• Growth and Development
• Genetic material (DNA and RNA)
• Reproduction
• Adaptation through Evolution
Scavenger hunt time!
We are going to go outside!
1. With your group take a picture of something that is alive.
2. Email your photo to me at [email protected]
• When we come back you will have to explain how your photographed
something exhibits all of the characteristics of life.
• Which characteristics are really obvious in your photo?
Are Viruses Alive?
1. Read “Are Viruses Alive?”
2. Should viruses be classified as alive? On a separate sheet of paper,
write a paragraph arguing your point. The paragraph should be at
least 8 sentences long