Intro to Biology

Chapter 1

What makes something ALIVE?

• Brainstorm ideas.• Read about it.

Which of these are alive? Based on which characteristics?

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The Seven Traits of Life

1. Cellular Organization – • all living things are made of 1 or more cells

Cell - the smallest unit that can perform all the functions of life

2. Homeostasis – the ability to maintain stable internal conditions despite external conditions

(home stable)

Ex: shivering, sweating BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

3. Metabolism – the sum of all the chemical processes in an organism (how they obtain energy)

4. Responsiveness – an organism’s ability to react to the environment

5. Reproduction – the process of producing offspring

6. Heredity – the passing of traits (genetics) on to offspring (DNA)

7. Grow and Develop – to grow is to get bigger and to develop is to change over time

Day 2

4 Parts to Scientific Thought

• - making observations• - using evidence to draw conclusions• - being skeptical about ideas• - being open to change

What Animal is it? LAB

Universal Laws

• Truths that are valid everywhere in the universe (constant across the sciences)• Ex: • the law of gravity, • the law of the conservation of mass• the law of conservation of energy

Scientific Theory

• Ideas supported by a large body of evidence – tested many times over. May change as new evidence becomes available.

• Ex: The Theory of Relativity

Steps of Scientific Method

There are 7 Steps to follow

Observation

• Noting objects or events through the senses

State the problem

• The problem comes from observations that are made. (Needs to be specific)• Incorrect: Will a fertilizer make a plant grow?

• Correct: Will Miracle Grow Fast Grow Fertilizer make a sunflower plant grow taller?

Form a hypothesis • A possible explanation for the problem – an educated

guess

• Incorrect: I think it will make the plant grow taller.

• Correct: Miracle Grow Fast Grow Fertilizer will make a sunflower plant grow taller.

Design an Experiment

• An experiment is a procedure that is carried out under controlled conditions to test a hypothesis.

• A controlled experiment tests one factor at a time and uses a control factor for comparison.• The experimental group is identical to the control group except for 1

factor know as a variable.

Variable – something that changes• Independent variable – the single factor that is

changed to create the experiment

• Dependent variables – the factor or factors that change in response to the independent variable, it is the variable that is measured.

• Ex: Fertilizer and the height of the plant

Independent variable dependent variable

Ethics

• Sometimes it is not ethical or possible to run a controlled experiment – in these cases scientists collect data over time and make connections. • They attempt to control the data based on one factor.• Data is collected on charts and graphs as part of the experiment.

Analyze Data

• Review data collected from the experiment. Data analysis does not draw a conclusion.

Ex: Based on the graph Plant A with the miracle grow fertilizer grew 3 more inches than plant B the plant with no fertilizer.

Draw Conclusions • Was the hypothesis correct or not and why?

• Ex: Miracle grow fast grow fertilizer does make a sunflower plant grow taller. Plant A which had this fertilizer added grew 3 more inches than did Plant B.

• The experiment is then repeated to validate the conclusion.

Sites for Help

• http://teacherweb.com/MA/BPSMA/DrNarod/index.aspx• http://My.hrw.com