Living, Dead, or Nonliving; SCIS 3+

Lesson at a Glance:
Curriculum: SCIS 3+, Lawrence Hall of Science, Delta Education
Grade: Second
Topic: Living, Dead, or Nonliving

From September to February, Ms. Kelly taught the first of two SCIS kits for 2nd grade, which covered physical interaction systems. The second kit, Life Science, began in March with organisms. From there it moved onto habitats and introduced the food chain before arriving at the lesson that was taped, “living, dead, and never-living.”

In the lesson, Ms. Kelly introduced the students to a number of living organisms and guided them in a discussion about classification. What makes something “living,” “dead,” or “never living”? After discussing essential characteristics of each category, Ms. Kelly distributed a mystery material, the “green stuff,” and asked her students to determine what category it belonged to.

Through that inquiry exercise, her students developed their ideas and, along the way, surprised their teacher: “I thought they would all agree that it wasn’t alive. I thought they would say that it was plastic since it doesn’t move and doesn’t do anything -- but they really looked very closely.” And it’s a good thing they did. The “green stuff,” it turns out, was an air fern.

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