Teachers sometimes use plants to teach about life cycles.
Cornell University defines a life cycle as a succession of changes that happen during an organism's life. The number of changes and amount of time in the life cycle may differ for each species, but every living thing on the Earth, including every person, has a life cycle. To determine the reasons why students should learn about life cycles, you first have to identify if and how life cycles impact people.
Life Cycle Types
Cornell's definition of a life cycle applies to living organisms. Teachers find these life cycles useful for younger kids who need to learn basics about their environment. However, teachers may use the idea of a life cycle to develop more advanced concepts in their students. For example, students may learn about cognitive and psychological development throughout human life, or they may learn how electronics go through their "life cycle" of creation, use and recycling. The life cycle concept thus is useful in multiple fields.
Interconnectedness
Life cycles are interconnected to each other. For example, we may interrupt the life cycle of chickens by eating their eggs so we can survive. Teaching life cycles thus gives students information about how they fit into their environment and what impact we have on the ecosystems of the world.
Skills
Study of the life cycle provides specific skill sets that are applicable to all fields. For instance, charting the growth of a plant may teach a student measure accurately.
Normalcy
Students may be embarrassed by the changes that they go through, especially during puberty. Teachers sometimes use teaching life cycles as a way to transition into discussions about these changes. Life cycles show that a person's experiences not only are normal, but that every species has periods of transition.
Controversy
Not everyone favors teaching life cycles. Protests occur when the material explained in the life cycle lesson is contradictory to what the students or the general public believes. For instance, parents sometimes are resistant to schools teaching about sexual reproduction because they feel that those issues are best taught in the home or that such courses advocate teen sex or pregnancy. According to Religious Tolerance, another example is extended life cycle study that involves concepts of evolution--this area is extremely controversial because it contradicts popular religious beliefs on creation.
Life Cycle Methods
Teachers formulate life cycle lesson plans using methods that accommodate the different learning styles. They not only lecture, but they also provide hands-on activities such as planting seeds. They also give diagrams and show videos that demonstrate the cycle of whatever the students are studying.
Time Frame
Life cycle lessons take very little time to complete. A teacher may go through an entire life cycle in half an hour, although entire life cycle units may extend over a week or more. Because there are so many applications of the life cycle, this basic information provides a high emotional, cognitive, and physical return for the students in relation to the amount of classroom time devoted to the lessons.
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