SCIENCE – TERM 4BIOLOGY – ORGANISING ORGANISMS

INTRODUCING CLASSIFICATION

Exploring classification of living things and the development of classification

Lesson Goals & Success Criteria:• Recall the five (5) kingdoms of life• Describe the distinguishing characteristics of the 5

kingdoms• Classify organisms by kingdom based on their key

characteristics

Warm-Up:Draw this table into your workbook and complete.

Suggested responses to warm-up:

Slide Title

What is the problem with Johnny’s classification? Discuss with your elbow partner.

Check the characteristics you used for the classification for animal groups in the warm-up. If you used any behavioural characteristics that could vary, draw a neat line through them.

Open the Learning object — Animal classification game to see a list of characteristics used to define different animal groups. Click on the ‘Animal Classes’ tab to view the characteristics of each animal group and then complete the activity by clicking the ‘Classification Games’ tab.

Can you add any more characteristics to your table from the warm-up?

Most scientists today accept that there are five different kingdoms:Animalia, Plantae, Monera, Protista and Fungi.Let’s have a closer look at these on the next slides.

ANIMALIA

Multi-celled organism (multicellular)

Divided into vertebrates and invertebrates

Examples – mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish

PLANTAE

Multi-celled organism (multicellular)

Divided into flower and fruit-producing plants and non-flower and fruit-producing plants

Examples – garden flowers, agricultural crops, grasses, shrubs, ferns, mosses, and conifers

MONERA

Single-celled organism (unicellular)

No nucleus (the central and most important part of an object, movement, or group, forming the basis for its activity and growth)

Examples – bacteria, cyanobacteria

PROTISTA

Single-celled organism (unicellular)

Have a nucleus (the central and most important part of an object, movement, or group, forming the basis for its activity and growth)

Examples – algae, paramecium and amoeba

FUNGI

Most multicellular; some unicellular

Motionless organisms that absorb nutrients for survival

Examples – mushrooms, moulds, and yeasts

Let’s watch this video to better understand the ‘Five Kingdoms of Life’

Your turn:Draw a table in your workbook, label them with the ‘five’ kingdoms of life and sort each living thing into the correct column.

Monera Protista Fungi Animalia Plantae

Bacteria-streptococcusBacteriaBacteria-spirilium

AlgaeAmoebaSeaweedParamecium

LichenMushroomShelf-mushroom

DuckFishSnakeButterflySpongeBear

FlowersTreeFern

Your table should look like this -

Lesson summaryClassification is a way to organise and help study the nearly 2 million organisms already identified. Organisms are grouped according to characteristic features. Physical features that do not change over time are most often used to group similar organisms together.

Living things are grouped into the ‘five kingdoms of life’. These are: Monera, Protista, Fungi, Animalia and Plantae.They can be distinguished between each kingdom based on their key characteristics.Monera - single-celled organisms such as bacteria and cyanobacteria.Protista - mostly single-celled organisms that usually live in water such as algae and kelp.Fungi - usually motionless organisms that absorb nutrients for survival. They include mushrooms, moulds, and yeasts.Animalia - multi-celled organisms, eat food for survival, and have nervous systems. They are divided into vertebrates and invertebrates and include mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and fish.Plantae - contain chlorophyll, a green pigment necessary for photosynthesis, a process in which plants convert energy from sunlight into food. Plants are divided into two groups: flower- and fruit-producing plants and those that don’t produce flowers or fruits. They include garden flowers, agricultural crops, grasses, shrubs, ferns, mosses, and conifers.

HOMEWORK

Complete the ‘Five Kingdoms of Life’ homework sheet – due next lesson.