NAME _________________________________________________ DATE _____________________ PER ______________
Read the questions below each passage and then read the passage. Highlight the answers to the questions as you read. Answer the questions in your own words in the space provided.
NO STAMP IF NOT HIGHLIGHTED.
Scientists make progress the same way a sculptor makes a marble statue – by chipping away at unwanted bits. If a hypothesis does not provide a reasonable explanation for what has been observed, the hypothesis is rejected. Scientists routinely make predictions and attempt to confirm them by testing one or more alternative hypothesis. A theory is a set of related hypothesis that have been tested and confirmed many times by many scientists. A theory unites and explains a broad range of observations.
Don ’t forget to highlight your answers in the passage above.
17. What causes a hypothesis to be rejected?
18. How do scientists confirm predictions?
In the space provided, write the term or phrase from the Word Box that best completes each statement.
____________________
____________________& hypothesis
WORD BOX
Experimentation
Predictions
Questions
Related
Rejected
____________________
Supported
Theory
____________________ ____________________
____________________ hypotheses are verified by many.
____________________

Read the questions below each passage and then read the passage. Highlight the answers to the questions as you read. Answer the questions in your own words in the space provided.
NO STAMP IF NOT HIGHLIGHTED.
1 All Living things are able to pass on their characteristics (traits) to their offspring because the genes that determine their characteristics are passed on from parent to offspring each generation. 2 Genes are sets of inherited instructions for making proteins that are coded in a molecule called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). 3 The passing of traits from parents to offspring is called heredity . 4 Heredity is the reason children tend to resemble their parents. 5 Sometimes damage causes genes to change. 6 A change in the DNA of a gene is called a mutation . 7 Mutations in sex cells (egg & sperm) are passed on to other generations. 8 Mutations in body cells are not, but they may disrupt the control of cell reproduction, producing cancer.
Don’t forget to highlight your answers in the passage above.
1. Why does the word traits appear in parentheses in sentence 1?
2. The word genes appears in bold face type in sentence 2. What does the use of bold face type indicate?
3. Based on sentence 3, how would you define heredity ?
Use your own words!
4. A cause and effect relationship is identified in sentence 4. What is the effect of heredity ?
5. Another cause and effect relationship is identified in sentence 5. What causes genes to change?
6. A change in the DNS of a gene is called a a. Cancer b. Trait c. Mutation d. Sex cell
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