Time
10-15 min glue monsters demo
30-40 min alive or not alive card sorting and discussion
30-45 min create characteristics of life lists
Grouping
The card sorting activity and initial creation of a list of the characteristics of life is done in pairs. These pairs will eventually merge in groups of 4 to compare, discuss, and revise their lists. The remainder of the discussion takes place as an entire class.
Materials
For the “glue monsters” demo, the teacher needs:
- 1 overhead projector
- 1 tube of Duco® cement glue (according to Flinn Scientific, this is the only brand of glue that works reliably)
- 1 clear Petri dish
- water
- ground pepper or pencil shavings
For the card sorting activity, each pair of students needs:
- copy of the sorting cards on cardstock paper, cut out and placed in an envelope
For developing a characteristics of life list, each class needs:
- butcher paper or flip chart paper
- markers
Setting
Classroom