Am I a System?

Students will analyze a system to determine its components and functions and how they interact.
Students will use evidence to identify other systems.

Questions to Ponder

Materials

Procedures

Dissect your pen by taking out each part and putting it on the table. Do not force any part.
Create a 3 column data table in your science notebook. Title each column with Part, Function, and Group.
Identify each part of the pen, and list it in the first column of the table. If you do not know the name of the part, make a describing name for it.
In column 2, describe the function of each pen part you listed in column 1.
Examine the parts (structures) and the functions they perform.
- Which part or parts hold the inside of the pen together? Place a #1 after each of those parts in the third column in the previous table.
- Which part or parts of the pen make marks on the paper? Place a #2 after those parts.
- Which part or parts keep your hands from getting messy? Place a #3 after those parts.
- Which part or parts make the ballpoint tip go in and out? Place a #4 after those parts.
Use the diagram below to help you understand how the parts of a system and its subsystems are connected. Follow the directions and use the table you created in Part 1 to complete the diagram.

Look at the definition that your class developed for the word system. Based on this definition, is the pen a system? Explain your answer.

Click on the following link to show your understanding of Systems.

You may use your notes to answer the question.

What does a system have to do with cells?
What do you know about cells so far?
How does the body fit our working definition of a system?
Does the body have subsystems?
- identify as many of the subsystems as you can
If the body is a system, what are the parts that interact? How can you use your definition of a system to figure out what questions we should ask about cells as parts?

Building toward Performance Expectation MS-LS1-3

Use argument supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.

Disciplinary Core Idea LS1.A: Structure and Function

In multicellular organisms, the body is a system of multiple interacting subsystems. These subsystems are groups of cells that work together to form tissues and organs that are specialized for particular body functions.

Reading Addresses Performance Expectation MS-LS2-3

Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

Disciplinary Core Idea LS2.B: Cycle of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems

Food webs are models that demonstrate how matter and energy is transferred between producers, consumers, and decomposers as the three groups interact within an ecosystem. Transfers of matter into and out of the physical environment occur at every level. Decomposers recycle nutrients from dead plant or animal matter back to the soil in terrestrial environments or to the water in aquatic environments. The atoms that make up the organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly between the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem.

Reading Addresses Performance Expectation MS-ESS1-3

Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.

Disciplinary Core Idea ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System

The solar system consists of the sun and a collection of objects, including planets, their moons, and asteroids that are held in orbit around the sun by its gravitational pull on them.

Science and Engineering Practices: Developing and Using Models;

Planning and Carrying Out Investigations; Analyzing and Interpreting Data; Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Crosscutting Concept: Systems and System Models

From Molecules to Organisms

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