Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today?

I hope you're feeling really good.

My name is Ms. Afzal, and I'll be a teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling really good about that because we have such an interesting topic today.

We're going to be finding out about someone called Carl Linnaeus.

Have you heard of him, I wonder?

Our lesson is called Carl Linnaeus and Classification.

It comes from the unit of work Why We Group and Classify Living Things.

So if you're ready to get into this topic to find out who is Carl Linnaeus, what is he famous for, and what does classification mean, and if you have some focus, energy, and enthusiasm, we'll begin our lesson now.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can describe the work of Carl Linnaeus and his contribution to how we classify living things.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

Let's go through them one at a time, saying them out loud.

My turn, your turn.

Scientist.

Organism.

Taxonomy.

Classify.

Carl Linnaeus Good to hear those keywords.

Pause here and share with someone, have you heard of any of these keywords before or do you have an idea of what they mean?

Thanks for sharing.

Let's find out what these keywords mean.

A scientist is a person who learns about science and carries out inquiries.

An organism is a living thing.

Taxonomy is the science of naming, describing, and grouping all living things.

To classify things is to sort them into groups.

Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist and taxonomist who created a scientific naming system for living things.

These are our keywords: scientist, organism, taxonomy, classify, and Carl Linnaeus.

Let's look out and listen out for them.

They'll be coming up in today's lesson.

Our lesson today is called Carl Linnaeus and Classification, and it has three learning cycles: taxonomy, early classification, and Carl Linnaeus.

Let's begin by exploring taxonomy.

Scientists estimate there are around 14 million different types of living things on Earth today.

Oh my, what an incredible planet we live on.

So many amazing living things.

Imagine you've been given a job of sorting these organisms into groups.

Where would you start?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

Taxonomy is the name for the area of science that focuses on naming, describing, and grouping living things.

Scientists who work on taxonomy are called taxonomists.

And there we can see a taxonomist observing a plant.

Sorting organisms into groups helps us to understand and learn more about newly discovered living things.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What does a taxonomist do?

Choose from the following.

A, describes, classifies, and names things, b, invents, builds, and engineers things, c, counts, measures, and calculates things.

Pause here while you decide what a taxonomist does.

Well done if you selected answer a.

Indeed, a taxonomist describes, classifies, and names things.

Taxonomists look carefully at organisms and think about their observable characteristics when classifying them.

What are the observable characteristics of the organism below in these photographs?

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We can see that this organism has two legs, two wings, and a short tail, has feathers that are blue, black, yellow, and white, has a beak, is a predator, reproduces by laying eggs, has more than one offspring at once, can fly.

Well done if you spotted some of these observable characteristics.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of the following are observable characteristics?

Choose from the selection.

A, how many legs an organism has, b, how old an organism is, c, whether an organism lays eggs, d, what an organism is called.

Pause here while you decide which of these are observable characteristics.

Well done if you selected a, how many legs an organism has, and c, whether an organism lays eggs.

When they're classifying an organism, taxonomists don't just use photos, they make many observations of the living thing in its environment.

What questions do you have about this organism that could help us classify it?

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Let's hear some of these questions.

Is it warm-blooded?

Does it have a skeleton inside its body?

What is this organism's lifecycle?

Is it a carnivore or an omnivore?

Perhaps you had questions like these.

This organism is called a blue tit.

Some children are talking about how to classify it.

"I think it's a vertebrate animal because I know it has a backbone.

" "I disagree.

It can't be a vertebrate because it's a bird.

It has feathers, wings, and a beak.

" What do you think?

Pause here and share with someone.

Do you agree with Aisha share or Izzy?

Thanks for sharing.

Organisms can belong in more than one group.

Taxonomists organize groups for living things so that larger groups have smaller groups within them.

The smaller the groups get, the more in common each organism has with others in the group.

This helps us to see similarities and differences between living things.

The blue tit is an animal, a vertebrate, and a bird.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false.

When we classify organisms, they can belong in more than one group.

Pause here and decide, is this true or false?

Well done if you selected true.

And now I'd like you to justify your answer by choosing from one of these statements.

A, organisms can only belong in one group as they can't be an animal and a plant at the same time, b, organisms can belong in more than one group.

A pigeon is an animal and a bird.

Pause here while you choose which of these statements justifies your answer.

Well done if you selected statement b.

The blue tit is part of the animals group, which is very large and includes many organisms.

So we have living things, which can be divided up into animals, plants, or micro-organisms.

Within that animals group, it is part of the smaller group, vertebrates, because it has a backbone.

Within the vertebrates group, it is part of the smaller group, birds.

It has lots in common with other organisms in this group.

Sam wants to create a branching key showing all the groups of living things she knows about.

She'll start by dividing living things into large groups, then dividing each of these groups into smaller ones until she has included all the different groups she knows.

Which groups should she start with?

Pause here and share with someone, what do you think?

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of these groups is it possible for an organism to belong to?

A, micro-organisms and fungi, b, insects and micro-organisms, c, animals and mollusks, d, plants and ferns, e, vertebrates and insects.

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected answers a, c, and d.

And now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to create a branching key showing all the groups of organisms you know about.

Your key might look like this or have different branches.

Pause here while you have a go at creating your branching key showing all the groups of organisms you know about.

I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with that task of creating a branching key showing all the groups of organisms you know about?

Here's Sam's work.

And Sam's asking is this similar to yours.

So we've got organisms divided up into animals, plants, and micro-organisms.

Then animals are divided further into vertebrates and invertebrates.

Each of those are subdivided.

Plants are divided into flowering and non-flowering.

And non-flowering is divided again.

And micro-organisms are divided into bacteria, viruses, and fungi, which are divided again.

Well done for creating your branching key.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle, early classification.

The natural world is very diverse.

Taxonomists have been working on the best ways to classify living things for a very long time.

Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who was born in 384 BC, was one of the first people to write down his ideas about classifying organisms.

Aristotle started with two large groups, plants and animals.

How is this different from the large groups we have been using?

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And why do you think it's different?

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Thanks for sharing.

We have groups for plants, animals, and micro-organisms.

Aristotle did not include micro-organisms because no one knew they existed yet.

Microscopes would not be invented for around another 1,900 years, so no one was able to make observations of microbes then.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Why didn't Aristotle have a group for micro-organisms?

Select from these options.

A, he didn't think micro-organisms were living things, b, he had no evidence that micro-organisms existed, c, he was not a very good taxonomist.

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected answer b, he had no evidence that micro-organisms existed.

Within his group of animals and plants, Aristotle suggested some further groupings.

Land, animals that walked on the land, air, animals that can fly, and water, animals that lived in water.

Can you think of some living things that would belong in each of these groups?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What were the three groups that Aristotle split animals into?

A, land, b, underground, c, air, d, water.

Pause here while you choose.

Well done if you selected land, air, and water.

These were the three groups that Aristotle split animals into.

This was a good start, but there were some issues with Aristotle's taxonomy.

For example, using his system, ostriches, snails, and guinea pigs would all belong in the same group.

What similarities are there between these animals?

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There is very little in common between these three animals.

They have different body coverings, they do not all have a backbone, they do not reproduce in the same way, they are not all warm blooded.

If a new land animal was discovered, we could not use similarities between these other land animals to learn more about it.

These animals have much more in common with the groups we classify them in now.

The ostrich is a bird, the snail is a mollusk, and the guinea pig is a mammal.

What similarities are there between these animals and the other animals in their groups?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

Aristotle knew his classification system wasn't perfect, but it was the best that they had at the time.

Now we have much better systems for classifying organisms because we have better equipment and can make more accurate observations of living things.

Now we can see a statue of Aristotle perhaps sitting there making some of his observations.

There's also better communication between scientists now thanks to modern inventions.

In Aristotle's time, if he wanted to share or discuss his ideas with other scientists that lived far away, he would have to travel or write a letter that would be taken across the land in a chariot, taking many days.

Now, scientists can use phones or the internet to instantly communicate with others across the globe.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Why was Aristotle's classification system not as useful as the one we use today?

Choose from the following selection.

A, it was not written down for other scientists to reference, b, there are not enough similarities between the animals in each group, c, it didn't include micro-organisms, d, it did not include plants.

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected answers b and c.

Indeed, there are not enough similarities between the animals in each group and it didn't include micro-organisms.

And now it's time for your next task.

Lucas has grouped some organisms according to Aristotle's classification system.

So in Group 1, he has a bee, pigeon, and bat, and in Group 2, salmon, orca, and octopus.

Explain why these living things have been grouped together using Aristotle's ideas about classification.

Pause here while you have a go at this first part of your task.

Good to be back with you.

So how did you explain why these living things have been grouped together using Aristotle's ideas about classification?

She said something like this.

Bee, pigeon, bat: these organisms have been grouped together because they can fly.

Aristotle would've classed them as air animals.

Salmon, orca, octopus: these organisms have been grouped together because they're all animals that live in the water.

Aristotle would've classified them as water animals.

Well done for having go at this first part of your task.

And now I would like you to list which groups the animals belong to using our current system of classification.

So we have the bee, pigeon, and bat, and then salmon, orca, and octopus.

Pause here while you list them according to our current system of classification.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with listing which groups they belong to using our current system of classification?

The bee is an animal, invertebrate, and insect.

The bird is an animal, vertebrate, bird.

Bat, animal, vertebrate, mammal.

The salmon is an animal, vertebrate, fish.

The orca is an animal, vertebrate, mammal.

And the octopus is an animal, invertebrate, mollusk.

Well done if you came up with these classifications.

And now we're onto our final learning cycle, Carl Linnaeus.

Scientists continued trying to find better ways to group and classify organisms for centuries after Aristotle began.

In the 18th century, a Swedish scientist called Carl Linnaeus revolutionized the way we classify living things with his new ideas, influencing generations of taxonomists after him and providing a system that is much more like the one we use today.

And there we see a portrait of Carl Linnaeus looking proudly out.

Carl Linnaeus was born in Sweden in 1707.

He was interested in living things from a very young age and was nicknamed the little botanist when he was just eight years old.

In 1732, Linnaeus embarked on a 3,000-mile long research expedition to Lapland.

While there, he spent time making careful and detailed observations of plants and animals.

This helped him to come up with a system of classification that was based more on shared characteristics of living things than Aristotle's was.

His new classification system included six groups for animals: mammals, birds, amphibians, fish, insects, and worms.

This new system was much more effective as it allowed scientists to see which organisms were related to others.

Over time, as more discoveries were made and better equipment enabled scientists to make more accurate observations of living things, this system has been developed into the groups we use now to classify animals.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish scientist who, a, invented classification, b, discovered micro-organisms, or c, created a better system for classifying organisms.

Pause here while you choose how to complete this sentence.

Well done if you selected answer c.

Let's read the whole sentence.

Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish scientist who created a better system for classifying organisms.

Linnaeus also came up with a system for naming living things that was so effective that it's still in use today over 250 years later.

Until Linnaeus's system, the same living things were called by different names in different places.

For example, this small crustacean can be called a roly-poly, a doodle bug, a pillbug, or a woodlouse depending on where you live.

There were also some different animals that were referred to by the same name.

Which of these is a daddy long legs, animal A or animal B?

Depending on where you come from, it could be either.

Even when an attempt was made to standardize names using Latin, the language most often used by scientists at the time, there were still lots of confusing names.

This plant was called, wait for it, Viola floribus radicalibus corollatis apetalis semineferis abortientibus caulinius, which means short stemmed, free petaled, fruiting violet.

Bit of a mouthful.

I think you'll agree.

Linnaeus's system also used Latin but was much less complicated.

It's called the binomial system, which means two names.

Bi means two and nomial means names.

Let's have a check for understanding.

What is the name for Linnaeus's system for naming organisms?

A, uninomial system, b, binomial system, c, trinomial system.

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected answer B, binomial system.

The binomial system gives all organisms a two-part name, where the first part is the smallest group the organism belongs to, known as the genus, and the second part is the unique name for the species itself.

Here we have an Armadilidilium vulgare.

Armadilidilium is the genus and vulgare is the species.

Names used in the binomial system are always written in italics with the genus capitalized.

So here we have a Tipula lunata and a Phalangium opilio.

Organisms with lots in common and belonging to the same genus will have the same word for the first part of their binomial name, but every species has a unique second part.

So here we have Bellis perennis and Bellis caerulscens, and Ursus maritimus and Ursus americanus.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of the following is a binomial name for the organism below.

A, monarch butterfly, b, orange butterfly, or c, Danaus plexippus.

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected answer c, Danaus plexippus.

And now it's time for your final task.

I would like you to choose a genus of organisms from the options below and carry out research using secondary sources to find three living things that belong to that group.

So you could choose Panthera or Canis.

List their binomial name and their common name.

For example, Ursus maritimus, polar bear, Ursus americanus, black bear, Ursus arctos, brown bear.

Pause here while you have a go at this first part of your task.

I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

How did he get on with that?

Alex says that this is what he's found out, and he's asking if your findings are similar.

So he has Panthera tigris, tiger, Panthera leo, lion, and Panthera onca, jaguar.

And then he has Canis familiaris, dog, Canis lupus, wolf, and Canis latrans, coyote.

And now for the next part of your task, I'd like you to use the internet and books to find pictures of each of the organisms you have researched.

Carefully observe and identify as many similarities between the organisms as you can.

Pause here while you have a go at this part of your task.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with that?

Here's Alex's research.

Tiger, lion, jaguar.

All of these animals look well adapted for hunting, with sharp claws and teeth and strong legs for chasing prey.

They're all mammals with fur.

They have a similar shape to their face and features.

And then dog, wolf, coyote.

All of these animals have pointed ears and a long nose.

They all have fur.

They have four jointed legs with paws at the end.

Their paws have claws.

Well done for having a go at this task, everyone.

In our lesson, Carl Linnaeus and Classification, we've covered the following.

The science of naming, describing, and grouping living things is called taxonomy.

Over time, scientists have been able to classify organisms more accurately.

Carl Linnaeus was a famous taxonomist who lived in the 18th century.

He improved the classification system for living things, and his system is still used today.

Well done, everyone, for joining in with this lesson.

It was great to explore Carl Linnaeus, taxonomy, classification.

And I really hope you enjoyed this lesson.

I look forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Until then, stay curious.