SCIENCE: Process of inquiry by which we come to discover and better understand the natural world
It comes from the Latin verb "to know"
It involves asking questions and making observations or measurements
Provides explanations of the natural world
The natural world can be measured and observed
Does not involve the supernatural
Explanations are testable and falsifiable
FLASIFIABLE: Able to be proved to be false
Conclusions are tentative
BIOLOGY: Scientific study of life.
What is life? It is not a simple, one-sentence definition
We recognize life mainly by what living things do
Ordered Organization
Regulate internal environment
Growth and development
Enegery processing (metabolism)
Response to the environment
Reproduction
Bacteria
Archaea
Eukarya
Protists
Fungi
Plants
Animals
DISCOVERY SCIENCE: describes nature
HYPOTHESIS-DRIVEN SCIENCE: explains nature
SCIENTIFIC METHOD: a formal process of inquiry
HYPOTHESIS: A proposed explanation for a phenomenon or a set of observations
It must be specific, testable, and falsifiable
Leads to prediction
Example:
1. Observation: The remote doesn't work
2. Question: What's wrong?
3. Hypothesis: The batteries are dead
4. Prediction: with new batteries, it will work.
5. Experiment: Replace the batteries
The experiment does not support the hypothesis > Revise
The experiment does support the hypothesis > Make more predictions and test
TREATMENT: Any experimental condition applied to individuals
EXPERIMENTAL GROUP: A group of individuals who are exposed to a particular treatment
CONTROL GROUP: A group not exposed to the treatment
VARIABLES: Characteristics of your experimental system that are subject to change
REPLICATION: Repeating the experiment to determine the accuracy of the data
CONTROLLING VARIABLES: Minimizes differences between a control group and an experimental group other than the treatment itself.
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: Variable in an experiment that is changed or manipulated as the cause or reason for an outcome
Changed and manipulated
Presumed cause
DEPENDENT VARIABLE: Variable is an experiment that is changed or manipulated with the independent variable.
Is dependent on the independent variable
What we measure
Accumulating facts is not the goal of science
THEORY: A comprehensive explanation supported by abundant evidence
Needs to be repeatedly tested
Board in scope
It is general enough to spin off new hypotheses
Examples: Atomic theory, Gravitational theory, Cell theory, Evolutionary theory