Biology Units 1.1-1.3 Quiz

What are three characteristics of science that help define it?

Testable evidence, ideas/hypotheses/experiments, and no bias

What is something (as topic of study) that lies outside of the realm of science? Why is it not science?

Morals/ethics, it varies for every situation and cannot ever be fully determined

What are the four major components of a controlled experiment? -

The dependent variable, the independent variable, the controlled variable, and the control group.

Which variable can you only have one of in a controlled experiment? Why?

The independent variable because of the cause & effect and reliability/truth in the experiment

How many factors can you collect data on in a controlled experiment? What types of variables are these

You can collect data from one responsive factor. The types of variables include the independent, dependent, and controlled.

What word can we use to label a scientific description of a natural phenomenon that is very well documented?

A scientific law

What word can we use to label a very well supported explanation of a series of principles that occur in the natural world?

A scientific theory

What is bias? How does it relate to doing science?

Bias is when an opinion is leaned towards one side rather than the other. This is related to science because bias can be dangerous when reporting important scientific discoveries and/or theories. Scientists must have zero bias or not express it.

How can the word biology be broken down to tell us its meaning from its word parts?

The root bio- means life. -Ology means study of. So, biology means study of life/livings things.

How many of the characteristics of life are necessary to consider something living? If something does not meet this criteria, what else might it be? How are these categories differentiated?

All of the characteristics of life need to be met for something to be living. (Having cells, metabolism, homeostasis, growth/development, reproduction, response to stimuli, heredity, and evolution). If it isn’t alive then it’s either inanimate or dead. Inanimate is something that was never alive and dead is when something used to be a living thing but then doesn’t anymore.

Living things have DNA. What important role does DNA play for the organism? How is this role important to another characteristic of life, reproduction?

It becomes a map of how the organism is supposed to be. It’s able to replicate the mother organism if it’s through asexual reproduction or make a new organism based on two DNAs through sexual reproduction. It can inherit traits and evolve

Differentiate between growth and development. Which does a living thing need to be able to do?

Growth is physically/quantitative such as size, cell growth, etc. and development is inner/qualitative and involves the biological workings of an organism.

Why must organisms respond to stimuli? Give one example of a stimulus and response that might be displayed by an animal. Give an example that a plant might display.

Organisms need to respond to stimuli in order to keep themselves safe and maintain homeostasis. An example of an animal would be when it sweats and/or pants. A plant like a tree might display this by wilting its leaves in the fall.

Choose three factors for which the human body must maintain homeostasis. For each, describe a response by the body to prevent that factor from getting outside of the necessary range.

Hydration, when the body is dehydrated, we may get dizzy. Body temperature, when the body is too hot/(cold) we will sweat. Blood/glucose, when blood has too much/(doesn’t have enough) glucose our pancreas releases insulin.

What is the smallest part of a living thing that is considered alive in its own right? At least how many of these does an organism need to have? What are some other, more complex, levels of organization that some organisms might display?

A cell. An organism needs at least one cell to be alive. More complex levels of organization include: tissue, organs, etc.

Differentiate between adaptation and evolution. How are they related? Use the words “individual” and “species” or “population” in your answer.

Evolution is a change in inheritable traits from a species to an individual and an adaptation is a change that a population do something may do in order to survive

Based on the readings we have done in class (“What are Describe three different things that can get in the way of accurately portraying scientific findings to the general public

Three things that can affect findings include: Overexaggeration, false balance, and oversimplification