St.

Therese Montessori School of San Pablo

Brgy. San Nicolas, San Pablo City 4000

Earth and Life Science

First Semester, SY 2020-2021

UNIT 3: INTRODUCTION TO LIFE SCIENCE

LESSON 8: Characteristics of life

I. Objectives:
1. Identify the minerals important to characteristics of life ;
2. describe how organisms adapt and evolve;
3. cite ways to prevent or lessen the environmental impact that result from
the extinction.

II. Motivation (5 mins.): The teacher will ask the students:

1. What are the characteristics of living things?

III. Lesson Proper: Energy Resources

Introduction to Biology
 What is Biology?
o The study of life
o The science of living things
o Origins of word “biology”
o Biology (Greek or Latin origin)
  Bios = life
 Logos = study of

 Characteristics of Life
o Cellular composition
o Growth
o Reproduction
o Movement
o Adaptation
o Metabolism
o Specific organization
o Homeostasis
o Responsiveness

 Cellular Composition
o Made up of at least one cell
o Unicellular - made of one cell (bacteria, amoeba, paramecium)
o Multicellular - made up of two or more cells (plants, fungi, animals)

 Growth
o Increase in cell size (unicellular) and/or an increase in cell number
(multicellular)

 Reproduction
o Asexual- cell division (mitosis)—one cell becomes two Ex: bacteria
o Sexual- union of sex cells (sperm and egg) Ex: plants and animals

 Movement
3 types:
1. Place to Place- (ex: bear running, bird flying, etc)
2. External Part- (ex: + phototropism, plants orient leaves toward sun)
3. Internal- (ex: cytoplasmic streaming)

 Adaptation
o Changing to meet the needs of the environment
 o Examples:
 Bird migration- behavioral adaptation
 Hibernation- physiological adaptation
 Hare ear length (desert vs. arctic hares)- structural adaptation

 Metabolism
o Set of chemical reactions that convert “food” into energy

 Adaptation (continued)
o Human body temperature- Physiological adaptation

 Specific Organization
o Certain parts do specific jobs (ex: heart, nucleus, chloroplasts, etc)

 Homeostasis
o Maintaining the same state
o Homeo = same, steady
o Stasis = stat
o Examples:
 Water balance inside and outside of cell
 Human body temperature
 Cells function best when these are in balance
 Responsiveness
o Reaction(s) to various stimuli
o Examples of stimuli: light, heat, pH, vibration, smell, etc.– earthworms respond
to all of these

IV. Evaluation:
A. Test yourself:
Read each question and answer carefully. Try to answer all questions.
MULTIPLE CHOICE: Write your answers on the space provided.
a) Cellular composition
b) Growth
c) Reproduction
 d) Movement
e) Adaptation
f) Metabolism
g) Specific organization
h) Homeostasis
i) Responsiveness

_____1. It talks about the increase in cell sizes and cell number.
_____2. It indicates the number of cells in an individual organism.
_____3. Ability of an organism to produced their offsprings.
_____4. Ability to transport.
_____5. Changing to meet the needs of the environment
_____6. Reaction(s) to various stimuli
_____7. Set of chemical reactions that convert “food” into energy
_____8. Maintaining the same state
_____9. One cell becomes two
_____10. Place to Place- (ex: bear running, bird flying, etc)

B. Performance Task:
Concept Mapping. Each students will make a graphic organizer regarding the topic. See
the sample below.

A. 1 Question A Day
Answer the 1QAD (1 Question a Day) given by the teacher.
 1. Why do arctic hares turn white in winter?

Cheating is a choice. Cheating is a crime. Therefore, when you choose to cheat, you choose to commit a crime.
Teacher Marj and Teacher Marvz (2019)