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Lesson 1.1: Introduction to the Scale of Living Things

Microbiome

Lesson purpose: to engage students by prompting them to begin to think like life scientists as they explore the crosscutting concept of Scale�

Please refer to this lesson’s Materials & Preparation section in the digital Teacher’s Guide or the print Teacher’s Guide for information about preparing to teach this lesson, including any applicable safety notes. Below are links to resources used in this lesson.

Scale Tool

Microbiome Investigation Notebook, pages 5–9

Printable Microbiome Glossary

Printable Microbiome Multi-Language Glossary

Microbiome Glossary�Microbiome Multi-Language Glossary

Note: These materials are made available exclusively for use by students and teachers for whom the corresponding materials have been purchased or licensed from Amplify. Any alterations you make should only be shared within your own school or district. Any other distribution or reproduction of these materials is forbidden without written permission from Amplify.

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Activity 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

We are starting a new unit about life science. Life science is the study of living things.

Like all kinds of science, life science is not just knowledge you can read about. It is also the process used to figure out that knowledge. In this unit, you will learn how to see and investigate the world like life scientists.

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Activity 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

In this unit, you will take on the role of student researchers for the Microbiome Research Institute. Let’s watch a video message from the head scientist there.

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Activity 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

What are your reactions to the video?

Do you have any questions about it?

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Unit Question

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Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

How can having 100 trillion microorganisms on and in the human body keep us healthy?

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Activity 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

It may seem weird and unbelievable that we have tiny living things on and in our bodies!

We are going to look at some images of these tiny organisms and discuss them in pairs. As you look at each image, think about what questions you have. Asking questions is very important in science.

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Activity 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

This is an enlarged image showing a very tiny organism, or living thing, that is so small it can live inside the human body.

The red discs are red blood cells!

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Vocabulary

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Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

living things, such as plants, animals, and bacteria

organisms

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Vocabulary

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Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

the relative size of things

scale

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Activity 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

Let’s look at some more images.

On top we see a close-up image of a human eye.

The image below zooms in to show the eyelashes 50 times closer.

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Activity 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

This image is 180 times closer. It shows eyelash mites.

What questions do you have about this image of the mites that live in our eyelashes?

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Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

The image on the bottom shows a fingerprint 150 times closer.

What questions do you have about this image of a fingerprint?

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Activity 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

This image shows the fingerprint 2,000 times closer. Now we can see microorganisms.

Microorganisms are tiny organisms, so small we need tools to see them.

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Activity 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

The bottom image shows a human hair about 150 times closer.

What questions do you have about this image of a hair?

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Activity 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

This image shows a louse living on a hair.

What questions do you have about this image of a louse?

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Activity 2 - Screen 1

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

To understand the role microorganisms play in health, let’s consider how it’s possible that there are living things on and in the human body that we can’t see without special equipment.

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Vocabulary

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

Activity 2 - Screen 1

an organism that is too small to be seen with the naked eye

microorganism

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Activity 3

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

You will sort these cards from smallest to largest.

It’s okay not to get the order exactly right. The point is to start thinking about the sizes of tiny microorganisms.

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Activity 4

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

We will now use a digital app called the Scale Tool.

Remember, scientists use the word scale when they are comparing the sizes of things that are very different.

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Open Scale Tool on Amplify

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Activity 4

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

The images on the cards are not all at the same scale, so we can’t tell the size of an object just by looking at the card.

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Activity 4

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

Let’s discuss what you noticed as you sorted the Scale Cards.

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Key Concept

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Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

1.

Many organisms are microscopic—so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye.

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Activity 7

Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

For this activity, you will respond to two questions using the vocabulary terms you learned so far.

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Microbiome: Lesson 1.1

End of Lesson

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