Biology unit 0
🧬 Unit 0 Flashcards
1. Q: What is biology?
A: The study of life.
2. Q: What does “bio” mean?
A: Life.
3. Q: What does “logos” mean?
A: Study.
4. Q: What are the 8 characteristics of living things?
A:
Made of cells
Reproduce
Use DNA
Grow and develop
Use energy
Respond to the environment
Maintain homeostasis
Evolve
5. Q: What is a cell?
A: The basic unit of life. All living things contain one or more cells.
6. Q: What is DNA?
A: DNA stores biological instructions for growth, development, and reproduction.
7. Q: What is growth?
A: An increase in size.
8. Q: What is development?
A: A change in form or function.
9. Q: What is metabolism?
A: All chemical reactions occurring within an organism.
10. Q: What is a stimulus?
A: Something that causes a reaction in an organism.
11. Q: What is a response?
A: An action taken by an organism.
12. Q: What is homeostasis?
A: Maintaining a stable internal environment.
13. Q: What does evolution mean?
A: Populations change over time across generations.
UNIT 0 – THINKING LIKE A BIOLOGIST (2).pdf
🔬 Observation & Inference
14. Q: What is an observation?
A: Information collected using your senses or measuring tools.
15. Q: What is an inference?
A: A conclusion based on observations and prior knowledge.
16. Q: Observation or inference: “The leaves are brown.”
A: Observation.
17. Q: Observation or inference: “The plant is unhealthy.”
A: Inference.
18. Q: Why are both observations and inferences important?
A: Scientists collect accurate observations and use them to form testable inferences.
UNIT 0 – THINKING LIKE A BIOLOGIST (2).pdf
🧪 Hypotheses & Scientific Thinking
19. Q: What usually comes before a scientific question?
A: An observation.
20. Q: What is a hypothesis?
A: A testable prediction.
21. Q: What is the basic format of a good hypothesis?
A: “If ___, then ___.”
22. Q: What makes a hypothesis strong?
A: It is specific and testable.
23. Q: Why does evidence matter?
A: Evidence supports scientific claims and is stronger than unsupported opinions.
UNIT 0 – THINKING LIKE A BIOLOGIST (2).pdf
📝 CER
24. Q: What does CER stand for?
A: Claim, Evidence, Reasoning.
25. Q: What is a claim?
A: A statement that answers a question.
26. Q: What is evidence?
A: Scientific data that supports a claim.
27. Q: What is reasoning?
A: An explanation of why the evidence supports the claim.
28. Q: What should evidence include?
A: Relevant scientific data, such as measurements, observations, graphs, or experimental results.
29. Q: What are 3 common CER mistakes?
A: Giving an opinion instead of evidence, leaving out data, and simply repeating the evidence as reasoning.
🧫 Experiments & Variables
30. Q: What is an experiment?
A: A procedure used to test a hypothesis and collect evidence.
31. Q: What is a variable?
A: Any factor that can change in an experiment.
32. Q: What is the independent variable?
A: The factor intentionally changed by the scientist—the cause.
33. Q: What is the dependent variable?
A: The factor measured by the scientist—the effect.
34. Q: If you’re testing whether fertilizer affects plant growth, what is the independent variable?
A: Fertilizer.
35. Q: What is the dependent variable?
A: Plant growth.
36. Q: What are constants?
A: Factors kept the same throughout an experiment.
37. Q: What is a control group?
A: The group that does not receive the treatment and provides a comparison/baseline.
38. Q: What is an experimental group?
A: The group receiving the treatment.
39. Q: Why are larger sample sizes useful?
A: They increase reliability, reduce random error, and increase confidence.
40. Q: What is reliability?
A: The ability to obtain consistent results.
41. Q: What is validity?
A: Whether an experiment actually tests the question being asked.
📊 Graphs & Data
42. Q: Why do scientists use graphs?
A: To visualize patterns, compare data, identify trends, make predictions, and communicate results.
43. Q: What usually goes on the x-axis?
A: The independent variable.
44. Q: What usually goes on the y-axis?
A: The dependent variable.
45. Q: What is a positive trend?
A: As one variable increases, the other also increases.
46. Q: What is a negative trend?
A: As one variable increases, the other decreases.
47. Q: What is correlation?
A: A relationship between variables.
48. Q: Does correlation automatically mean causation?
A: No.
49. Q: What is causation?
A: A relationship where one event directly causes another.
50. Q: What is interpolation?
A: Estimating between data points.
51. Q: What is extrapolation?
A: Estimating beyond collected data.
52. Q: What is an outlier?
A: A data point that does not fit the overall trend.
UNIT 0 – THINKING LIKE A BIOLOGIST (2).pdf
🧬 Levels of Biological Organization
53. Q: What is the order from smallest to largest?
A: Cell → Tissue → Organ → Organ System → Organism → Population → Community → Ecosystem → Biome → Biosphere
54. Q: What is a tissue?
A: A group of similar cells working together.
55. Q: What is an organ?
A: A structure made of multiple tissues working together.
56. Q: What is an organ system?
A: A group of organs working together.
57. Q: What is an organism?
A: An individual living thing.
58. Q: What is a population?
A: A group of the same species living in the same area.
59. Q: What is a community?
A: All populations living together in an area.
60. Q: What is an ecosystem?
A: A community plus its nonliving environment.
61. Q: What is a biome?
A: A large geographic region with a characteristic climate and organisms.
62. Q: What is the biosphere?
A: All ecosystems on Earth; the largest level of biological organization.
🔭 Science & Scientific Knowledge
63. Q: What is science?
A: A way of understanding the natural world through evidence and investigation.
64. Q: Is science just a collection of facts?
A: No. Science is a process.
65. Q: Why can scientific knowledge change?
A: New evidence becomes available.
66. Q: What does it mean that science is self-correcting?
A: Scientific ideas are revised when new evidence appears.
67. Q: What is a scientific theory?
A: A well-supported explanation based on extensive evidence.
68. Q: Is a scientific theory a guess?
A: No.
69. Q: What is the difference between a scientific law and theory?
A: Laws describe patterns; theories explain why/how things happen.
70. Q: What is peer review?
A: Scientists evaluate each other’s work before publication.
71. Q: What is reproducibility?
A: Results should be repeatable and other scientists should be able to obtain similar results.
72. Q: Science vs. technology?
A: Science generates knowledge; technology applies knowledge.
🔬 Microscope Flashcards
73. Q: What is a microscope?
A: A tool used to magnify objects too small to see clearly with the naked eye.
74. Q: What are two types of microscopes listed?
A: Compound light microscope and electron microscope.
75. Q: What does a compound light microscope use?
A: Light and lenses to magnify specimens.
76. Q: What is the eyepiece?
A: The lens you look through; typically 10×.
77. Q: What are common objective lens magnifications?
A: 4×, 10×, and 40×.
78. Q: How do you calculate total magnification?
A: Eyepiece × Objective lens.
79. Q: What is 10× eyepiece × 40× objective?
A: 400× total magnification.
80. Q: What is field of view?
A: The area visible through the microscope.
81. Q: What happens to field of view as magnification increases?
A: Field of view decreases.
82. Q: What adjustment should be used at high power?
A: Fine adjustment.
83. Q: What is the proper focusing procedure?
A: Start on lowest power → center specimen → focus → increase magnification.
UNIT 0 – THINKING LIKE A BIOLOGIST (2).pdf
📏 Measurements
84. Q: What is a qualitative observation?
A: An observation describing characteristics, such as color, shape, or texture.
85. Q: What is a quantitative observation?
A: An observation involving numbers, counts, or measurements.
86. Q: Give an example of qualitative data.
A: “The plant is green.”
87. Q: Give an example of quantitative data.
A: “The plant is 24 cm tall.”
88. Q: What units are commonly used for length?
A: mm, cm, and m.
89. Q: What units are used for volume?
A: mL and L.
90. Q: What units are used for mass?
A: g and kg.
91. Q: What unit is used for temperature?
A: °C.
92. Q: What is volume?
A: The amount of space occupied by matter.
93. Q: What is mass?
A: The amount of matter.
94. Q: Why do scientists use the metric system?
A: For consistency and as a universal scientific language.
UNIT 0 – THINKING LIKE A BIOLOGIST (2).pdf
⭐ Most important things to memorize
If you have a test on this unit, I’d make sure you can instantly answer these:
8 characteristics of life
Observation vs. inference
Hypothesis
CER
Independent vs. dependent variable
Constants/control group/experimental group
Reliability vs. validity
X-axis vs. Y-axis
Positive vs. negative trend
Correlation vs. causation
Levels of organization
Scientific theory vs. law
Microscope magnification
Qualitative vs. quantitative
Metric units