Compare the life cycles of an insect, an amphibian, and a plant, and identify the shared stages, being born, growing, reproducing, and dying, that every life cycle has in common.
Every living thing has a life cycle: a repeating pattern of being born or starting out, growing, making more of its own kind (reproducing), and eventually dying. Life cycles look very different from species to species in their details, but they all share these same big stages underneath.
A butterfly starts as an egg, hatches into a caterpillar, forms a chrysalis, and emerges as an adult butterfly that lays new eggs. A frog starts as an egg, hatches into a swimming tadpole, grows legs, and becomes an adult frog that lays new eggs. A bean plant starts as a seed, sprouts into a seedling, grows into a mature plant, flowers, and produces new seeds.
Mastery looks like: They can name the stages of at least two life cycles in order and identify the shared underlying pattern all life cycles follow.
Common stumbles: Assuming life cycles are identical across species, rather than understanding they share a pattern with very different specific stages.