Chapter 1: The Nature of Science

Science

A body of knowledge about the natural world, and an evidence-based process for acquiring that knowledge.

Scientific Method

Also called process of science. The practices that produce scientific knowledge.

Observation

Also called process of science. The practices that produce scientific knowledge.

Hypothesis

An informed, logical, and plausible explanation for observations of the natural world.

Descriptive Study

An observational study that reports information about what is found in nature.

Analytical Study

An observational study that looks for patterns in the information collected and addresses how or why those patterns came to exist.

Experiment

A repeatable manipulation of one or more aspects of the natural world.

Variable

A characteristic of any object or individual organism that can change.

Dependent Variable

Any variable that responds, or could potentially respond, to changes in an independent variable.

Independent Variable

The variable that is manipulated by the researcher in a scientific experiment.

Control Group

The group of subjects in an experiment that is maintained under a standard set of conditions with no change in the independent variable.

Treatment Group

The group of subjects in an experiment that is maintained under the same standard set of conditions as the control group but is subjected to manipulation of the independent variable.

Biological Hierarchy

A way to visualize the breadth and scope of life, from the smallest structures to the broadest interactions between living and nonliving systems that we can comprehend.