The Characteristics of Living Things

1
The Characteristics ofLiving Things

• Biologists use six characteristics to classify
  something as a living thing.
• 1. Made of Cells
• 2. Use and Need Energy
• 3. Adapted to Their Surroundings
• 4. React to Changes
• 5. Reproduce
• 6. Grow and Develop

2
The Characteristics ofLiving Things

• All living things have these six characteristics.
• Anything without one of these six characteristics
  is nonliving.
• Living things are called organisms.

3
1. Made of Cells

• Organisms are made up of one or more cells.
• A cell is the basic unit of structure and
  function in living things.
• Cells the

Building Blocks"
of life.
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2. Use and Need Energy

• All organisms need and use energy to live.
• Energy is the ability to do work.

• Sunlight is the source of energy for most living
  things.
• Plants use the energy in sunlight to make food,
  and animals get energy by eating plants or other
  animals that have eaten plants.

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3. Adapted to Their Surroundings

• Organisms are adapted, or suited, to their
  surroundings.
• All organisms have features that help them
  survive in their surroundings.
• For example fish have gills

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4. React to Changes

• Organisms react to change in their surroundings.
• Any reaction to change is called a response.
• For example A bright light may cause you to
  blink.

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5. Reproduce

• Organisms produce more organisms of their own
  kind.
• Reproduction allows organisms to continue living
  on the earth.

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6. Grow and Develop

• Living things change, or develop, during their
  lifetimes.
• One way organisms change is by growing.
• Living things may also change in appearance.
• For example tadpoles and frogs

• All organisms grow and develop.

9
Summary

• Biologists use six characteristics to classify
  something as a living thing.
• 1. Made of Cells
• 2. Use and Need Energy
• 3. Adapted to Their Surroundings
• 4. React to Changes
• 5. Reproduce
• 6. Grow and Develop
• All living things display all of the above
  characteristics.

10
Discussion

• As a teacher, one of the techniques for
  presenting information to your students is
  through lecture. However, traditionally lectures
  have been thought of as dull, boring, and utterly
  uninteresting. Often students dont pay
  attention, and even those who do dont get much
  actual learning out of it. That was until now.
  With the help of Power Point almost any lecture
  can be spiced up to captivate its intended
  audience and at the same time convey the
  information that needs to be conveyed. Using
  Power Point a teacher can add sounds, pictures,
  movies, and even Flash programs to any lesson.
  Trying to incorporate these types of valuable
  multimedia to the chalkboard is virtually
  impossible.
• Thus, in my classroom I can foresee myself using
  Power Point as a tool to lecture with. I could
  set up my lectures over the summer or whenever I
  had the free time and could then present them to
  my students when that chapter was being covered.
  I think that Power Point would add some value to
  my lectures in that the students would be more
  interested and numerous sources of multimedia
  could be included. The only drawback I see to
  using Power Point is that its somewhat involved
  and can take a while to produce. However, the
  extra time that is spent making a Power Point
  lecture is not wasted time because the lectures
  can be used again and again.
• For my students I can foresee Power Point as a
  project that they might have to complete. I
  could apply this idea in a number of ways. For
  example, when learning about the periodic table
  each student could be assigned a specific group
  from the table or a specific element and could
  then produce a Power Point slide show to describe
  the properties of that specific group or element.
  Students could also use Power Point as a way of
  writing-up one lab that they do during the year.
  The students could develop a slide show to
  explain the purpose of the lab, the procedure of
  the lab, and then their results from the lab.
  They could then present their slide show to the
  class. I think both of these ideas provide a
  good break from the normal monotonous homework,
  lab write-ups, and tests that a chemistry class
  entails.