Characteristics and Needs of Living Things

TIPC Ratings

Students collaborated as a class on various search engines that are available on the internet.   Afterwards each group decided which search engine to utilize and began to brainstorm on characteristics and needs of living things.   Students critiqued Individual websites and then decided which were reliable websites .

Students worked in teams of 3 to brainstorm characteristics/needs of living things.  The information was put on a Google Doc so the list could be shared with the entire class.  I made the Wordle from their list and students identified the common traits.  It was interesting listening to my students challenge each other on the importance of a trait.

After the students had use the Intel Visual Ranking Tool., I had the students go onto the discussion board on School Space.  There they write why they thought their opinion outweighed everyone else.

Students use their research they did at the beginning of the class to answer the question “Is Sammy Alive” using higher order thinking skills.  This was not just a yes/no response but they had to identify when they believe the young man was no longer living.  Students also had to explain their reasoning to the audience.   Once we designed the two Wordles, each student used the Intel Visual Ranking Tool to determine the importance of the characteristics.   Students had to be able to explain why they thought one trait was needed more than a second trait.

Students use critical thinking and research methods to create one presentation on Google Docs.  Each team was assigned a slide which they were to answer the question about “Is Sammy Alive” using the research they obtained and discussing with their peers.   At the end each group had a presenter for their slide.