Flashcards for Water and Scientific Design Quiz

In what three ways does science differ from other ways of explaining how the world works?

1. Science deals only with the natural world.

2. Scientists collect and organize information in an orderly way, looking at events for patterns and connections of cause and effect

3. Scientists propose explanations based on evidence and understanding, not belief

What is always a part of the scientific process?

Uncertainty

What is scientific methodology?

The way science works

What is an observation?

The act of noticing and describing events or processes in a careful, orderly way.

What is an inference?

A logical interpretation based on what scientists already know.

What is a hypothesis?

A tentative scientific explanation that can be tested by further observation or by experimentation.

What is a controlled experiment?

An experiment where only one variable is changed, and all other variables remain unchanged.

What is the independent variable in an experiment?

The variable that is deliberately changed in an experiment.

What is the dependent variable in an experiment?

The variable that is observed or measured, ; changes in response to the independent variable.

What is a control group?

The group that is exposed to the same conditions as the experimental group except for the change of the independent variable.

What is the experimental group?

The group that has the change in the independent variable.

What is quantitative data?

Numbers that are obtained by counting or measuring.

What is qualitative data?

Data that is descriptive and involves characteristics that cannot usually be measured with numbers.

What does the term theory mean in science?

It is not just a hunch like in regular context. Instead, it is a tested, highly reliable scientific explanation.

What are the four scientific attitudes/habits of mind that can lead to explorations and scientific discoveries?

Curiosity, skepticism, open-mindedness, and creativity.

What is bias?

A personal, rather than scientific point of view, for, or against something.

Biology defintion

The study of life.

Why is it so complicated to state whether or not something is alive?

Because no single characteristic is enough to describe a living thing.

How many characteristics are there of living things? List all of them.

8 characteristics: made up of cells, reproduce, are based on a genetic code, grow and develop, obtain and use material and energy, respond to their environment, maintain internal balance (homeostasis), and evolve.

What is the smallest unit of an organism that can be considered alive?

A cell.

Definition of growth?

An increase in size.

Definition of development?

A single fertilized egg cell divides again and again to produce the many cells of mature organisms. As these cells divide, they change in shape and structure which is the process called differentiation .

What is one of the greatest achievement in biology?

Explaining how organisms inherit traits through DNA.

Metabolism

The combination of chemical reactions as it carries our life processes.

Homeostasis

The relatively constant set of conditions we must keep to survive.