Alive, dead or never alive ks1 science

[Sofasurfer23]

KS1 science question. Something alive must meet 7 criteria (uses oxygen, reproduce etc)

Trees are alive while a garden fork has never been alive.

Where do wooden objects stand, having a domestic with DH. I said he’s over thinking it, a wooden table isn’t classed as dead as the tree has been smushed together, varnish added etc while he’s saying all wooden objects are classed as dead.

help???

The table is dead wood surely?

Books made from paper. Also dead wood.

He is right.

Wooden objects are dead in my view. A solid wood table hasn’t been smushed (love this word!) anyway. And as for the varnish, a person is still alive while wearing clothes and makeup?

Yes all made from dead wood but would you say a book is dead? Or a table is dead when fitting it in the Alive, dead, never alive category

Yup! Wooden/paper objects were once living. Therefore dead.
a metal part of the garden fork is an inanimate object, never breathed. Never alive.

I'd say wood was dead. You can't argue it was never alive, surely, and it's not alive now.

Hmm… a book is somewhere between dead and never alive. I like this game!

He's right. Metals, synthetic materials etc are the 'never been alive' items. Things that are made from something that was once living are 'dead'.

Yes. Otherwise there would only be 2 categories: alive and never alive. What would you have on the dead category. (Apart from dead granny)

He’s right, a wooden table is dead because the wood was once living, and now isn’t. A metal table would be never alive.

I’ve not explained myself well. Wood is most definitely dead and was once alive.

My question is more if we use that for something and combine it then when do we move from dead to never alive category. If something only has 1% wood but 99% metal is that object described as dead?

Yes. I would say the table is dead. Book pages are also dead, the ink or cover may have never been alive.

I think you are just really over complicating a KS1 question.

I don’t think the table is dead! Surely it was never alive. The tree was alive, yes, but the table is human-made, therefore neither alive nor dead.

I would say never alive in feb scenario you describe, in the same way that I am alive, even though I may have a false leg / metal fillings etc that have never been alive

If it's leather bound then the cover is definitely dead. Cloth based or paperback, also dead. Ink - never alive certainly and paper is dead

Suspect it is meant to be a discussion topic in class rather than right/wrong answers

I will never look at my wooden spoon in the kitchen the same way again. I might start referring to it as the dead spoon as the others are plastic or metal 😂

Do other people not have these debates late at night in bed 🤣😂

I teach this on KS1 and you are overcomplicating it! Many objects are made from mixed materials so if it had a wooden part and a metal part we would classify the wooden part as "dead" and the metal part as "never alive". I would be pleased if they managed to identify the two different materials 😁.

I think the wood making it is dead, but the table itself was never alive.

Dead spoon 100%

This!

Because the wood was alive, yes, but the table was never alive...

Where do you put plastics. Dead?