Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

60 minutes	Part B: Introducing MRS GREN
10 minutes	Part C: Living or Non-Living Check In
5 minutes	Reflection

Part A: What Are The Differences Between Living And Non-living Things?

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by posing the following questions to students and invite them to share their thoughts through a class discussion:

How do we know if something is alive?
How can we tell if something is living or non-living?

Record some ideas on the board using keywords.

Step 2.

Now invite students to take a look around the classroom and point to the things that are living. These could include things like a plant, flies buzzing at the window, a stick insect in a terrarium, and each other!

You can then invite students to point to some things that are non-living. These could include things like furniture, the walls, devices, school bags and lunchboxes.

Step 3.

Explain to students that it might be fairly obvious to them what is living and non-living in your classroom. However, this is not always the case. There are some things out in the world where just using your eyes won’t tell you if it’s living or non-living.

Ensure that each student has a copy of the Student Worksheet and direct them to the following images.

Working in pairs, students should discuss each image and think about whether they think it’s living or non-living. They should add their ideas to the table.

Explain to students that they will come back to these later in the lesson so they should keep a record of their ideas.

Part B: Introducing MRS GREN

Step 1.

Explain to students that because it’s not always so easy to tell what is living or nonliving, scientists have developed a checklist to help them. This list is called MRS GREN. Display the following image (also available here):

Work through each point to explain what they mean.

Step 2.

Use this worked example to explain how MRS GREN can be applied to a beetle. Project the image below onto your whiteboard or create your own image on the board.

Step 3.

Explain to students that they will now create their own poster or annotated 3D model (out of modelling clay or play-dough) of a spider to show how MRS GREN can be applied to prove the spider is living or non-living.

Before students begin, take a moment to share the following image of a spider and discuss how the features of a spider differ from that of a beetle (e.g. eight legs, no wings).

Notes:

Students may find the Spider Life-cycle on the Insect Life-cycles sheet useful
Where students are creating a drawing/poster, you could provide them with the Scientific Drawing Guidelines to show them what is expected.

Step 4.

Once complete, invite your students to share their completed drawings/3D models with a peer and talk about what they did.

Part C: Living or Non-Living Check In

Step 1.

Invite students to return to your six images they categorised as living or non-living at the start of this lesson. Working in the same pairs, they should discuss whether they want to make any changes to their original assessments and why they want to make these changes. Students can refer to the MRS GREN diagram to help them and should record any amendments to their initial ideas.

Note: Try to discourage students from erasing their original ideas. Explain that the point of this activity is to see if their thinking has changed and if it has, to demonstrate how it has changed. Explain to students that this is what scientists are doing all the time; getting a final result from the one you predicted doesn't make you wrong! Instead, it means you've explored the topic, done your research, and learnt something new.

Step 2.

Once complete, use the following answers to guide a class discussion around student work:

Reflection

Finally, invite students to work independently to complete the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

I used to think…
But now I think...

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Exploring Living and Non-living Things

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Summary

Lesson Guides and Printables

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