Starter quiz
- Scientists sort living things into groups based on similarities and ______ between their observable characteristics.
- 'differences' ✓
- What do we do when we classify things?
- put them into enclosures in zoos
- sort them into groups ✓
- provide them with a food source
- move them from one habitat to another
-
- What is an organism?
- a living thing ✓
- a non-living thing
- a body part within a living thing
- a group of living things
-
- Match the living things to the correct group.
- penguins, ostriches, blue tits⇔birds ✓
- guinea pigs, whales, bats⇔mammals ✓
- bees, butterflies, ants⇔insects ✓
- snails, octopuses, slugs⇔molluscs ✓
- sharks, clownfish, salmon⇔fish ✓
- Animals that do not have a backbone or interior skeleton are called ______.
- 'invertebrates' ✓
What do these living things all have in common?- they are all mammals
- they are all vertebrates ✓
- they are all herbivores
- they all lay eggs
-
Exit quiz
- Why didn’t scientists working centuries ago, like Aristotle, identify micro-organisms as living things?
- they didn’t think they had the characteristics of living things
- they didn’t know they existed because there was no way to see them ✓
- they didn’t understand what a living thing was and what it did
-
- The science of naming, describing and grouping all living things is called ______.
- 'taxonomy' ✓
What is Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus famous for?- developing systems for classifying and naming organisms ✓
- developing systems for looking after living things
- inventing classification
- discovering micro-organisms
-
- Carl Linnaeus created the binomial system for living things that we still use today. What is the binomial system used for?
- discovering organisms
- finding organisms
- growing organisms
- naming organisms ✓
-
Which of these names for this organism uses the binomial system?- crane fly
- daddy long legs
- Tipula lunata ✓
- Alis volatilia multa longa crura
-
- The language usually used to give organisms names according to Linnaeus’ binomial system is called ______.
- 'Latin' ✓
Worksheet
Presentation
Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Taxonomy is the science of naming, describing and grouping all living things.
- Scientists have improved classification of organisms over time as they've been able to make more accurate observations.
- Carl Linnaeus is most famous for creating a system of naming living things.
- His ideas on classification have influenced generations of biologists during, and after, his own lifetime.
- His system for naming and classifying living things is still used today.
Common misconception
Pupils may think that animals are classified according to their habitat, for example aquatic animals, or by their method of movement, for example creeping animals.
Explain that Aristotle classified animals into water, air and land groups, but there are problems with this method, e.g. this would put birds, bees and bats in the same group. Use the examples in the lesson to make clear the correct groupings.
Keywords
Scientist - A scientist is a person who learns about science and carries out enquiries.
Organism - An organism is a living thing.
Taxonomy - Taxonomy is the science of naming, describing and grouping all living things.
Classify - To classify things is to sort them into groups.
Carl linnaeus - Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist and taxonomist who created a scientific naming system for living things.