Name_______________________________________________ Period ____ Date ______________________________

The Characteristics of Living Things – ZOMBIES: MR RAGU

Big Question: How do you know whether something is LIVING or NON-LIVING?

Have you ever walked around your neighborhood, or school and wondered what was living and what
was not living? How could you tell the difference between a zombie and a regular person?

THERE ARE 6 EASILY OBSERVABLE CHARACTERISTICS THAT ALL LIVING THINGS DO!

Made of Cells: All living things are made of cells. Without cells, a living thing could not function. Do zombies have or
need cells?

React to Changes: All living things react to changes in their environment. Do zombies react to their environment?

Reproduce: All living things produce more organisms of their own kind. Reproduction allows organisms to continue
living on the earth. Humans produce offspring (children) and plants produce seeds that grow into new plants.

Adapt to their surroundings: All organisms have features that help them survive in their surroundings. Fish have gills
that help them survive in their environment. Do zombies have features that help them survive?

Grow and develop: All 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. Do zombies change or develop or grow
over time?

Use and Need Energy: All living things need and use energy such as moving to get food. Plants use the sunlight to make
their own food or energy. Do zombies use and need energy?

M ade of cells
R react to changes

R eproduce
Hi, My name is
A dapt to surroundings MR RAGU
G row and develop
U se and need energy

Next time there is a Zombie Apocalypse and you are wondering whether something is living or not, think about
MR RAGU, this is a great mnemonic device to remember the characteristics of living things.

PROJECT: ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

SCENARIO: You wake up on Monday morning to find people in the street walking funny and not responding to you, they
seem disoriented. The news and media are saying that it is a Zombie Apocalypse.

You are unsure and think that maybe some of the people walking around are not zombies, but just tired people, who
had a busy weekend.
You go to your friend’s house, he is acting strange, you try talking to him but he does not respond, could he be a
zombie? Or is he suffering the effects of a busy, tiring weekend? Or perhaps it could be his allergies acting up again?
Before you rule him out as being a Zombie, you need to investigate.

PROBLEM: How can you determine whether your friend is a Zombie; or in fact just suffering from the effects of a long
weekend, accompanied by his allergies.

1. Explain using evidence whether your friend is living or non-living. Demonstrate your knowledge of MR RAGU,
and the 6 characteristics of Living things. Include evidence to support your argument. USE THE PLANNING SHEET
PROVIDED.

2. Present your findings. Produce visual and information product.

Questions to answer: INVESTIGATING THE 6 CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE IN YOUR FRIEND

1. Does your friend have cells? 4. Does your friend react to

What do they look like? changes such as going
Would they be animal cells, through homeostasis such as
plant cells, bacteria cells or sweating, increased heart
fungus cells? rate or breathing rate,
increased temperature?

2. Living things reproduce. You 5. Does your friend have

can’t determine whether he adaptations to help adapt to
has this characteristic. his surroundings?

3. Does your friend grow and 6. Does your friend use and
develop or even get older? need energy? If so, where
does he get his energy from?

Directions for the assignment: Your assignment is to create a poster comparing your friend to the 6 characteristics of
living things. Then you are to write a summary of your investigative findings in paragraph form explaining your results.
Answer the above 6 questions to create your paragraph.

Your poster should look something like this:

Your Friend the Zombie? Write in
6 Characteristics of Living things Picture Example whether he/she shares this
characteristic or not. Explain.

Made of Cells

React to changes in environment

Example: Show a picture of a human This is difficult to determine so leave
Reproduce with a child or a dog with puppies etc. this blank.

Adapt to surroundings

Grow and Develop

Use and need energy