M&L Chapter 1 – THE SCIENCE OF BIOLOGY
Pages 3-25
Name_____________________________ Pr___
Chapter Mystery: Height by Prescription
If David isn’t sick, why does the doctor prescribe HGH?
Where does the medicinal HGH come from?
Is it safe?
What does this case say about science and society?
1.1
WHAT IS SCIENCE
What Science Is and Is Not
A. Science as a Way of Knowing
1. What three features make science different from other ways of knowing? (deals only with the
natural world, collect and organize information in an orderly way, look for patterns and
connections among events, propose explanation that are based on evidence, then test them.
B. The Goals of Science
2. What is the goal of science? (to provide natural explanations for events in the natural world)
C. Science, Change, and Uncertainty
3. What do major scientific discoveries do? (raise more questions).
4. True or False: Science is constantly changing. (true)
5. If science never “proves” anything, what does it aim for? (the best understanding that the
current methods can reveal)
Scientific Methodology: The Heart of Science
6. True or false: There is one and only one cut-and-dried scientific method. (False)
Fill in the blanks in the following lettered headings
A. Observing and _______________________ (asking questions)
7. “Thinking about something that nobody has thought yet, while looking at the same thing that
everybody sees”…lead to ______________________________________________________.
(questions that no one has asked before).
B. Inferring and ___________________________________________________
8. An inference is a _______________________________ based on what we already know.
9. A hypothesis is a _______________________ for a set of ________________ that can be
_______________________________________________________.
C. Designing _______________________________________________
10. A factor that can changed is called a _______________________.
11. How many variables should be changed in an experiment? (one) Why? (so you can tell if it is
responsible for any change that occurs)
12. The variable that is deliberately changed is called the _________________ or _______________
variable (independent or manipulated).
13. The variable that is observed and that may change in response to the independent variable is the
___________________ or ________________________ variable. (dependent or responding)
14. How is a control group different from the experimental group? (it’s not exposed to the
independent or manipulated variable).
15. Why do scientists set up several sets of control and experimental groups? (book doesn’t really
answer; “to reproduce or replicate their own observations.”)
D. Collecting and Analyzing Data
16. Give an example of qualitative data.
17. Give an example of quantitative data.
18. Why should experimental and control groups be large in size (especially in medicine)? (because
there is always variation among individuals; to be more reliable).
E. Drawing Conclusions
19. After data from experiments is analyzed, the hypothesis that is being tested may be
__________________, _________________, or _____________________. (supported, refuted,
or revised).
F. When Experiments Are Not Possible
20. Hypotheses about animal behavior are often tested using what kind of data? (observational or
qualitative).
21. Why aren’t human subjects used for many tests? (it isn’t ethical)
1.2
SCIENCE IN CONTEXT
Exploration and Discovery: Where ideas Come From
A. Scientific Attitudes
22. What are the four habits of mind of a good scientist? (curiosity, skepticism, open-mindedness,
and creativity)
23. Describe a situation where you were skeptical of a “fact” you had seen or heard.
B. Practical Problems
24. Do all ideas for scientific investigations come from practical problems? (no) Where else do they
come from? (curiosity)
C. The Role of Technology
25. Technology, science, and _______________ are closely linked (society)
Communicating Results: Reviewing and Sharing Ideas
A. Peer Review
26. What do reviewers of scientific articles look for? (oversights, unfair influences, fraud, mistakes in
techniques or reasoning).
27. Does peer review guarantee that a piece of work is correct? (no)
B. Sharing Knowledge and New Ideas
Scientific Theories
28. A scientific theory ties many ________________ together (hypotheses)
29. In daily life, a “theory” is a _________ (hunch). A scientist would not call it a theory but a
_______________ (hypothesis).
30. Copy the definition of a theory here. “In science, the word theory applies to
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
(a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations and hypotheses and that
enables scientists to make accurate predictions about new situations.”
31. True or false: Theories are considered to be absolute truths by scientists. ___________ (False)
Science and Society
32. Any question that involves the word “should” must be answered using a _______________
context, even if science can help inform the answer. (social, or moral)
A. Science, Ethics, and Morality
33. True or False: Pure science does not involve ethical or moral viewpoints. ___________ (true)
B. Avoiding Bias
34. A bias is a particular preference or _______________________ that is personal, rather than
____________________. (point of view; scientific).
35. Give an example of a bias that might influence a scientist.
C. Understanding and Using Science
36. Who makes policy decisions in our society? (citizens). What do scientists do? (make
recommendations).
1.3
STUDYING LIFE
37. What two Greek terms combine to form the word “biology,” and what does each mean?
_________________________ and ________________________ (bios means “life” and –ology
means “study of”)
Characteristics of Living Things
38. True or False: Some non-living things share one or more traits of living organisms. ______(true)
39. True or False: There is one single trait that is enough to describe what makes something alive.
________ (false)
Using the “Visual Summary,” fill in the following blanks which summarize the characteristics of all
living things.
40. Living things are based on a ________________________________ (universal genetic code).
a. The genetic code is written in the molecule called _________. (DNA)
41. Living things _________ and _________________. (grow and develop).
42. Living things respond to _____________________________ (their environment)
43. Living things are made up of ________ (cells)
44. Living things ____________________________. Most plants and animals use _______________
reproduction, reproducing organsims with new combinations of DNA. Other organisms use
____________________ reproduction, making identical copies of themselves.
45. Living things maintain a _______________________________________________ (stable
internal environment). Maintaining this is called ____________________ (homeostasis)
46. Living things maintain and use ____________________________________ (material and
energy). The chemical reactions through which organisms build up and break down materials is
called _____________________ (metabolism).
47. Taken as a group, living things ________________ (evolve).
Big Ideas in Biology
The study of biology revolves around several interlocking big ideas. Fill in the following blanks which
summarize these.
48. The _________________ basis of life (cellular). Living things are made of cells. If they are made
of one cell they are __________________; if they are made of two or more cells they are
_______________________________. (multicellular). Cells in multicellular organisms perform
different tasks, so they differ in _______, _______________, and _________________. (size,
shape, function)
49. Information and ________________, coded in the ___________. (heredity; DNA)
50. Matter and _______________, the need for which link all living organisms in a
______________________________________________ (energy; web of interdependent
relationships)
51. Growth, ____________________, and _________________________. (reproduction and
development)
52. ____________________, meaning that organisms maintain a relatively stable internal
environment. (homeostasis)
53. ____________________, or change in populations over time, linking all organisms to a common
ancestor some 3.5 billion years ago. (evolution)
54. Structure and _______________________, meaning that how something is built will determine
what it can do. (function)
55. Unity and __________________ of life. All organisms are composed of a common set of
_____________________________, store information in a common
_________________________, and use ____________ to build their structures and carry out
their functions. (diversity; carbon-based molecules; genetic code; proteins)
56. _________________________in Nature, meaning all forms of life are connected in the
_______________________ due to the _______________ of matter and the ________________
of energy. (Interdependence; biosphere; cycling; flow)
57. Science as a _______________________, using ___________________, questions, and
______________________ to explain the natural world in terms of ______________ forces and
events. (way of knowing, observations, experiments, natural)
Fields of Biology
58. Using on line resources, name ten different fields of biology and what each studies. I’ve done the
first one for you.
a. Entomologists study insects
Performing Biological Investigations
A. Scientific Measurement
59. What measurement system do scientists use? ______________________ (metric). It is based on
multiples of ___________ (ten).
B. Safety
60. Name two important safety rules.
a. ______________________________________________________________________
b. ______________________________________________________________________
Review
Section
1.1
Title
What is
Science?
1.2
Science
in
Context
1.3
Key Questions
What are the goals of science?
What procedures are at the core of scientific
methodology?
What scientific attitudes help generate new
ideas?
Why is peer review important?
What is a scientific theory?
What is the relationship between science and
society?
Studying What characteristics do all living things share?
Life
What are the central themes of biology?
How do different fields of biology differ in their
approach to studying life?
How is the metric system important in science?
Vocabulary
Science,
Observation, inference, hypothesis,
controlled experiment,
independent variable, dependent
variable, control group, data.
Theory, bias
Biology, DNA, stimulus, sexual
reproduction, asexual
reproduction, homeostasis,
metabolism, biosphere