Name: ______Date: ______HW#____

Classifying Animals Lab Mr. Jensen/Period: ___

The Challenge:

Fellow scientists, I have been presented with a challenge. I have been given all of these different model animals, but they are all in one big group. I would like to separate them into individual categories, but I need your help to organize them in a logical way! By using a tree diagram, you can help me classify the groups of plastic model animals by using their OBSERVABLE characteristics, asking questions about those characteristics and, based on the answers to the questions you asked, sorting the animals into their own categories.

Helpful Hints:

You will be making a tree diagram (see the back page for an example).

The goal of the tree diagram is to have each animal organized and separated into their own, unique category.

Tree diagrams usually startvery general and get more specific as you move down the tree.

Always try to split the animals into 2 categories that are OPPOSITE from each other (for example: Does the animal have fins?Does the animal not have fins?)

The number of objects in each group do not have to be equal to each other

Always look for OBSERVABLE characteristics. Do not pick categories such as “where it lives” or “what it eats” as those are NOT observable

Try NOT to observe features such as color or size, especially when working with model animals. These can sometimes change!

Materials:

Bag of model animals

Pencil, paper and ruler

Procedure:

Note: an example of the diagram is provided for you in this laboratory packet

  1. Open the bag and OBSERVE all 8 creatures carefully. NOTE: these creatures are models of real ones, so do NOT observe size, color, or the material that they are made of
  1. Start you tree diagram with one main box entitled “Characteristics of Animals”
  1. Create categories that will separate all of the animals into two smaller groups. There must be at least one animal in each box.
  1. The categories you just created will be the next level of your tree diagram. List the animals that fit this category in each box.
  1. Working only with the animals in ONE of the above categories, divide them again. Continue to divide the animals by choosing new characteristics until you only have one animal in each group.
  1. Repeat step 5 with the other side of your tree diagram.
  1. On the back of the lab, list the 8 animals that were in your bag, and what letter was on your bag.

Conclusion:

Directions: on a separate sheet of paper, answer the following questions IN COMPLETE SENTENCES. Your answers may require more than one sentence to answer completely.

  1. What might you classify in your own life? Give five examples of things in your life that you classify.
  1. How would our world be different if we did not classify things? Provide examples to support your answer.