living things

living things move or grow; for example, the sun, wind, clouds and lightning are considered living because they change and move. Others think plants and certain animals are non-living. An everyday example is that students think various lifecycle stages of a butterfly are not alive (the eggs and immobile pupae), whereas a caterpillar and butterfly can move and are therefore considered to be alive.

There are some difficulties due to the way words such as ‘living’, ‘plants’ and ‘animals’ are used in everyday speech. Students understand ‘living’ in relation to where and how people ‘live’, for example ‘ living in my house’, ‘a dog lives in a kennel’. The students focus on the activity that takes place within a location. Students often do not recognise that trees, vegetables and grass are plants because one everyday use of the word ‘plant,’ refers to small, decorative plants in gardens and nurseries.