Name & Section: ______Date: ______
Seashell Inquiry Lab: Activity Worksheet
Directions:
Follow the instructions to complete the lab activity with your group. Each group will receive a box full of different kinds of seashells. It is up to you and your group to put these seashells into different groups based on the characteristics that you identify and describe. SHELL BOX NUMBER: ______
1. Each of you needs to pick one seashell from the container. Look carefully at the shell you have chosen and make as many observations about it as you can. Use your senses (do not taste!) to describe how the shell feels and looks.
a. Use a ruler to make measurements in millimeters (mm) or centimeters (cm).
b. Use the space below to describe the shell you have selected as completely as you can (you must have at least 5 observations). BE SPECIFIC!
c. Then make a detailed sketch of the shell you selected.
2. Look in the container to see if there are any more shells like the one you have selected. If there are, place them all together on your table in one group.
3. Now, together with the other members of your lab group, organize all of the shells in your box based on the different characteristics that they have.
4. Once you have all of the shells in your container organized into groups that all of the people you are working with agree upon, explain your system of classification (How and why did you classify them in the way you did?).
5. Complete the chart with information from your observations. Use the books and ID papers to help you with the scientific and common names of the shells.
Once your team has all of your shells grouped and named, please answer Questions 1 & 2 ON YOUR OWN. THEN… as a TEAM, complete Question 3.
1. What were some of the characteristics that your classification system was based on? List at least 2-3 traits that you used to classify your shells. BE SPECIFIC.
2. Did you have any individual shells in your container that didn’t seem to fit into a group?
a. If so, why didn’t it fit in? What did you do with that particular shell?
b. If not, how did you decide that a shell that looked somewhat different still fit into one of your groups?
Using another piece of paper, create a dichotomous key for your group to identify five of your shells in your classification system. Remember, the dichotomous key should be organized as pairs of statements that have only two options for each step.