Classified Information

Students separated by grade

Who classifies things? We all do. It helps us tell things apart from all others. Humans need to put a name on things.

At school, we separate students into different grades.

In our jobs, everyone knows who is the big boss and those that work for him or her.

Sports teams In sports, we separate players into different teams and the positions each player occupies.

We classify foods into major groups such as vegetables, fruits, meats and junk food.

Scientists There are endless ways to classify. Scientists use classification to help in understanding the world – living organisms such as plants and animals, and non-living things such as rocks and stars.

Scientists place items groups that make sense together. First, they separate them into really large groups. And, then, little by little, they sort them into consecutively smaller groups until there is only one thing that matches a description.

Try your hand at sorting some unusual animals and creating an identification key in Creature Feature.

When you get the idea of how to do classification, then try identifying fish in Fishin' for a Name.

Click here to continue