Science and Scientific Method

1
Science and Scientific Method

• Students will get and introduction to science and
  biology.

2
Chapter One Objectives

• Define biology and science
• Define the characteristics of life (give
  examples)
• Define the following terms
• Homeostasis, metabolism, sexual reproduction,
  asexual reproduction, adaptation, evolution
• Describe the levels of organization of living
  things
• Describe the scientific method and the steps
  involved

3
Chapter One Objectives

• Define hypothesis, control, constant, and
  variable
• Define purpose of controlled experiment
• Design a controlled experiment
• Describe the characteristics of life

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Scientific Method

• Bio
• Pertaining to living things
• biochemistry
• -ology
• The study of
• Ecology, cardiology, geology, climatology

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Scientific Method

• Scientific method
• A method to gain information about the world by
  forming possible solutions to questions followed
  by rigorous testing to determine proposed
  solutions are valid
• Components of scientific method
• Observation
• Question and exploration
• Hypothesis
• Testing
• Communicate with others
• Revise, accept, refute hypothesis

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Scientific Method

• Observation
• Use of our sense or an extension of our senses to
  record an event
• Hypothesis
• A statement that provides a possible answer to a
  question or an explanation for an observation
  that can be tested
• Testing/Experimentation
• Attempt to recreate and event or occurrence in a
  way that enables scientists to support or
  disprove a hypothesis

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Scientific Method

• Variables
• Any one or a number of combination of conditions
  that alter the outcome of an event
• Controlled Experiment
• An experiment that is constructed to provide a
  situation where there is only one variable
  present
• Control Group
• A group in an experiment that has had no
  manipulation of a variable

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Scientific Method
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Definitions

• Valid
• Meaningful, convincing, sound
• Reliable
• When a result or conclusion of an experiment can
  be repeated over and over
• Scientific Theory
• Widely accepted plausible generalization about
  fundamental concepts in science that explains why
  things happen

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Definitions

• Scientific Law
• A uniform or constant fact of nature that
  describes what happens in nature
• Serendipity
• A discovery of some important fact, by accident,
  which was not the original objective of the quest
• Accuracy
• Degree which your measurements reflect the actual
  value
• Precision
• Ability to get the same result with repeated
  measurement of the same thing

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Structural Organization

• Atom
• Smallest unit of matter
• Molecules
• Two or more atoms combined together
• Cells
• Smallest unit of life
• Tissue
• Group of cells working together to perform a
  particular function

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Structural Organization

• Organ
• Group of tissues working together to perform a
  particular function
• Organ System
• Group of organs working together to provide a
  particular function
• Organism
• An independent living unit

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Structural Organization

• Population
• Group of individual organisms of a particular
  species
• Community
• Populations of different species that interact
  with one another in a particular place
• Ecosystem
• Communities that interact with the physical world
  in a particular place

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Characteristics of Life

• Metabolic Process
• Total of chemical reactions and associated energy
  changes
• Generative Process
• Activities that result in an increase in the size
  of an individual (growth) or an increase in the
  number of individuals in a population
  (reproduction)
• Responsive Process
• Ability to respond to changes within the internal
  environment and their surroundings in a
  meaningful way

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Characteristics of Life

• Irritability
• Ability to recognize a stimulus and respond
  rapidly to it
• Individual adaptation
• Individuals adaptation to a stimulus
• Population adaptation
• A process that occurs ov er a long period of time
  an enables a species to adapt and survive long
  term changes in the environment over many
  generations.
• This called evolution

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Characteristics of Life

• Control Process
• Mechanisms that ensure an organism that will
  carry out metabolic processes in the proper
  sequence (coordination) and at the proper rate
  (regulation)