Snackification Student Lab Sheet Essential Questions: What is the process of classification? How are living organisms classified? Background: Systems of classification are used daily in many different ways. When you walk into a grocery store, you know exactly how to find the foods you want because they are organized in a specific way. The manager has decided how they should be classified. For example, most stores have a meat section and a dairy section. The food is classified in each section by the type of meat (beef, chicken, pork, etc.) and type of dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese, etc.) and then further organized by brand. The more characteristics items share, the more likely they are to be classified together. Scientists also use classification to organize living organisms. They start with the three largest groups, called domains. The three domains are Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. Organisms in Archaea and Bacteria have no distinct nucleus, while eukaryotes (in Eukarya) have a nuclear membrane. Archaea is different from Bacteria because of its RNA. In this lab, you will be classifying some tasty crunchy snacks to understand what scientists look for when they classify living organisms. Materials per Group: • • paper towel 10 different crunchy snacks Procedure: 1. List the 10 different snacks you will be working with and collect one of each kind. Taki _____________________________ Classic Lays Chip Ritz cracker _____________________________ _____________________________ Gummy _____________________________ Dorito _____________________________ Cookie _____________________________ _____________________________ Pretzel _____________________________ m&m _____________________________ Oreo _____________________________ Cheez-it Snackification Student Lab Sheet 2. Observe the physical characteristics of each snack you have in front of you. List at least 5 characteristics that make the chips different from one another. Shape, color, texture, size, and ﬂavour 3. Divide the snacks into two separate groups using one of the physical characteristics you have identified. Try to keep the groups of similar size. 4. On the Snackification Tree diagram, label the two groups you have created in the two empty boxes (example: salted/unsalted, round/ irregular, etc.). Check for Understanding You have now classified your snacks into two large “domains.” Scientists have classified living organisms into three domains: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. What are some of the characteristics scientists use to classify organisms into these three domains? Both Bacteria and Archaea are prokaryotes, single-celled microorganisms with no nuclei, and Eukarya includes us and all other animals, plants, fungi, and single-celled protists. All organisms whose cells have nuclei to enclose their DNA apart from the rest of the cell. 5. Keep the two groups of snacks completely separate. Now divide each group into two smaller groups using a different characteristic. Think about the ingredients, flavors, textures, etc. of the snacks – not just shape or size! 6. Draw new boxes branching from the first two boxes and record the groups you just made. Your diagram should look something like the diagram at the top of the next page. Snackification Student Lab Sheet GROUP 2A GROUP 1A GROUP 1 ALL SNACKS GROUP 2 GROUP 2B GROUP 1B 7. Continue to divide each group into two more groups. Do not use the same characteristic more than once! Each time you divide a group, add two branches to your diagram. 8. Repeat until each snack has been separated into its own group. Once a snack is in a group by itself, you do not need to classify it any further! 9. Be sure you have 10 boxes at the ends of your diagram that only contain one snack. Check for Understanding Compare your Snackification Tree with one or more groups. Did you classify them in the same way? What were some of the differences? The first classification system of living organisms was developed in the 1800s and has been redesigned several times since then. Why might scientists need to keep adjusting these systems? 10. Clean up your station according to your teacher’s instructions. Snackification Student Lab Sheet cracker and cookie Taki, m&m, and oreo ﬂavoured bland Taki, m&m, cracker, cookie, oreo Snackification Tree Diagram Round/ circular/ tube-like ALL SNACKS Irregular Lays, dorito, pretzel, gummy, cheez-it unsalted lays, dorito, and gummy salted pretzel and cheez-it Snackification Student Lab Sheet Conclusion: What is the process of classification? How is this process used Biological classiﬁcation is the process by which scientists group living organisms. Organisms are classiﬁed based with living organisms? on how similar they are.All living organisms are classiﬁed into groups based on very basic, shared characteristics. Organisms within each group are then further divided into smaller groups. The classiﬁcation of living things includes 7 levels: kingdom, phylum, classes, order, families, genus, and species. Claim: The claim of this lab is that the different chips might have something in common with eachother while others dont. Evidence: The evidence is the tree above showing that some chips or circular or tube-like, while others or an irregular shape. Reasoning: All in all, different chips may have things in common with eachother while others dont lile some may be a circular shape while others are irregular. Reflections: Use the information you have learned and the following chart to answer the questions on the next page. Earthworm Wolf Eukarya Dog Eukarya Human E. coli Eukarya Bacteria Domain Eukarya Kingdom Animalia Animalia Phylum Annelida Chordata Chordata Chordata Proteobacteria Gammaproteobacteria Animalia Animalia Eubacteria Class Oligochaeta Mammalia Mammalia Mammalia Order Megadrill Carnivora Carnivora Primates Enterobacteriales Family Lumbricidae Canidae Canidae Hominidae Enterobacteriaceae Genus Lumbricus Homo Escherichia Species terrestris Canis lupus Canis familiaris Eukarya/domain, Animalia/kingdom, sapiens coli Snackification Student Lab Sheet 1. To which group(s) do all four animals (earthworm, wolf, dog, and human) belong? Domain/eukarya and kingdom/animalia 2. Which two organisms are most similar? The wolf and dog 3. Which four classification groups do the wolf, dog, and human have in common? Domain, kingdom, phylum, and class 4. Which classification levels, if any, does E. coli share with the other organisms? None 5. Which of these organisms is least like the others? How do you know? Earthworm, because you can tell by looking at the chart.