The Seven Characteristics of Life
1. Living Things Are Composed of Cells
Single-cell organisms have everything they need to be self-sufficient.
In multicellular organisms, specialization increases until some cells do only certain things.
2. Living Things Have Different Levels of Organization:
Both molecular and cellular organization.
Living things must be able to organize simple substances into complex ones.
Living things organize cells at several levels:
3. Living Things Use Energy:
Living things take in energy and use it for maintenance and growth.
4. Living Things Respond To Their Environment:
Living things will make changes in response to a stimulus in their environment.
A behavior is a complex set of responses.
5. Living Things Grow:
Cell division - the orderly formation of new cells.
Cell enlargement - the increase in size of a cell. Cells grow to a certain size and then divide.
An organism gets larger as the number of its cells increases.
6. Living Things Reproduce
Reproduction is not essential for the survival of individual organisms, but must occur for a species to survive.
1. Living Things Are Composed of Cells
Single-cell organisms have everything they need to be self-sufficient.
In multicellular organisms, specialization increases until some cells do only certain things.
2. Living Things Have Different Levels of Organization:
Both molecular and cellular organization.
Living things must be able to organize simple substances into complex ones.
Living things organize cells at several levels:
- Tissue - a group of cells that perform a common function.
- Organ - a group of tissues that perform a common function.
- Organ system - a group of organs that perform a common function.
- Organism - any complete living thing.
3. Living Things Use Energy:
Living things take in energy and use it for maintenance and growth.
4. Living Things Respond To Their Environment:
Living things will make changes in response to a stimulus in their environment.
A behavior is a complex set of responses.
5. Living Things Grow:
Cell division - the orderly formation of new cells.
Cell enlargement - the increase in size of a cell. Cells grow to a certain size and then divide.
An organism gets larger as the number of its cells increases.
6. Living Things Reproduce
Reproduction is not essential for the survival of individual organisms, but must occur for a species to survive.
- 7. Living Things Adapt To Their Environment:
- Adaptations are traits giving an organism an advantage in a certain environment.
- Variation of individuals is important for a healthy species.
- Is It Alive? Project
- Description:
- Pretend you are a biologist, researching the study of life…. choose one living thing that you would like to focus on whether it is the mold on your sandwich all the way to monkeys in the rainforest.
- Essential question:
- Do all living things have all of the characteristics of life?
- Objective:
- In partners, students will choose one living thing to focus on and identify the characteristics of life. Make a powerpoint with some background information about your living thing.
- Slide 1: Introduction
- Slide 2: Background Information
- Slide 3 - 9: Characteristics of Life
- Slide 10: Closing Information
- Presentations will be due Friday, September 20th
- Challenge Option: Make an interactivity for the class to assess their knowledge. See me for ideas! :)