1. Lab safety video (embedded into the assignment rich text editor)
2. Pick 10 household items (e.g. spoon, book, paper clip, etc.) and design a taxonomic classification system to categorize them, similar to the one in Figure 5.
3. Did you find that the items grouped together as you worked down the flow chart had similar characteristics in terms of their appearance? What about function?
4. Do you feel that the questions asked were appropriate? What questions would you have asked? What objects would be grouped together with your system?
5. Devise a different classification system for the objects used in this experiment similar to the one in Figure 5 that would distinguish each in as many, or fewer steps?
Experiment: Classification of Organisms
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Table 2: Key Characteristics of Some Organisms
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Organism
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Kingdom
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Defined Nucleus
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Mobile
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Cell Wall
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Photosynthesis
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Unicellular
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E. Coli
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Yes
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Yes
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Protozoa
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Yes
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Yes
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No
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Yes
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Mushroom
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Yes
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Yes
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Sunflower
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Bear
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Yes
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Yes
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List 2 additional questions would you ask to further categorize the items within the kingdoms (hint: think about other organisms in the kingdom and what makes them different than the examples used here)?