Introduction to Biology & The Scientific Method Lecture Notes

A collection of vocabulary terms based on Dr. Robert Fournier's Gen Bio 1 lecture covering course logistics, characteristics of life, and the scientific method.

Biology

The study of living organisms and their interactions with one another and their non-living environments.

Organism

A term used to describe any form of life.

Eukaryotic cell

A type of cell that contains membrane-enclosed organelles, the largest of which is typically the nucleus.

Prokaryotic cell

A simpler type of cell that does not contain a nucleus or other membrane-enclosed organelles.

Unicellular organisms

Single-cell organisms.

Multicellular organisms

Organisms composed of many cells organized to form tissues, organs, and organ systems.

Adaptation

A living organism's ability to adjust or fit into their environment; it is only considered an adaptation if it enhances the organism's chance of survival for reproduction.

Homeostasis

The process by which organisms maintain internal conditions.

Metabolic activities

Activities for which all organisms use a source of energy, such as capturing energy from the sun or taking in chemical energy as food.

Stabilizing Selection

A type of natural selection that favors an average and selects against extreme variation (e.g., Robins laying exactly $4$ eggs).

Directional Selection

A type of natural selection that favors one end of the spectrum following an environmental change (e.g., moth color shifting from light to dark).

Diversifying Selection

A type of natural selection that favors the extremes over the average traits (e.g., gray and dabbled rabbits being better camouflaged than white rabbits).

Deductive reasoning

The use of general principles to make specific predictions, such as Eratosthenes estimating the circumference of the Earth.

Inductive reasoning

The use of specific observations to develop general conclusions.

Hypothesis

A possible explanation for an observation that is iterative, testable, and allows for predictions to be made.

Control group

The unmanipulated group in an experiment used as a standard for comparison.

Test group

The manipulated group in an experiment used to test a hypothesis.

Supplemental Instruction (SI)

A voluntary resource consisting of study sessions led by Coralis Montes Montes to help students review course material.

McGraw Hill Biology, Raven, Johnson, Mason, and Losos. 2025.

The required textbook for the course, accessed via MH Connect.

Grading Criteria for Gen Bio 1

Final grade combination of Exams ($50\%$), Quizzes ($\text{10\%}$), Attendance ($5\%$), Homework ($5\%$), and Lab section grade ($30\%$).

Passing Requirements

Students must achieve $\ge 70\%$ in the lecture portion and $\ge 60\%$ in the laboratory section in order to pass the class.