3. Observing and Asking Questions An observation is the act of noticing and describing events in a careful, orderly way. What observations can be made about the grasses shown below? Your observations should lead you to ask a question: Why did the grass in location B grow taller?

4. Forming a Hypothesis You may have heard that a hypothesis is an educated guess. But it is NOT “just” a guess. Hypothesis are predictions based on what you already know…that’s the “educated part!” A hypothesis is a scientific explanation for a set of observations that can be tested. Based on your question, what are some possible hypothesis for why the grass in location B is growing taller?

5. Forming a Hypothesis There are many possible hypothesis for this situation: amount of sun, amount of water, amount of nutrients/nitrogen. As long as you hypothesis is “testable” it is a good one! Let’s go with “If the grass in location B received more nitrogen, then it will grow taller.”

16. Introduction to Biology Biology is: the study of life! All living things are made of cells. All living thigs have a genetic code.

17. Characteristics of Living Things For something to be considered “living” it must have ALL of the following characteristics: We will cover each individually.

18.  Order  All living things have very organized internal & external parts  Adaptation  All living things have evolved to have adaptations that help them survive

19.  Response  All living things respond to a stimulus  Regulation  All living things maintain constant internal conditions this is called homeostasis.

20.  Reproduction  All living things pass genes to their offspring  Growth & Develop  All living things grow and develop

21.  Energy Processing  All living things obtain energy from the environment to do work.

28. Example: Looking bacteria cells to determine what kind of disease they may cause.

30. Determining what traits a baby get from his/her parents.

32. Deciding how to name new organisms when they are discovered.

35. Example: Study migration patterns of birds. Example: Study what kind of plants have the most nutrition.