1. Chapter 1 The Science of Biology
Unit 1 The Nature of Life
Chapter 1
The Science of Biology

2. Chapter 1 You should be able to …
Describe the steps used in the scientific method
Explain what a scientific theory is
Create bar and line graphs
List and describe the characteristics of living things

3. What is Science? Not just a bunch of facts
Organized way of learning about the natural world
Refer to early work questions:
How is the scientist learning about this species of dinosaur? observing
What other methods do scientists use to learn about the natural world? Experimentation, use technology to gather information
Scientists’ curiosity leads them to ask questions that others have not asked before
Once scientists ask questions, they use an organized process or way of learning to try to answer the questions they have about the world
This process is called the scientific method

4. Scientific Method
A systematic process by which scientists try to explain _______________about the world
Mythbusters use the scientific method
-Ask students the following questions:
How many have seen the show Mythbusters?
Can you explain what they do on the show – what steps do they take to try to bust a myth?

5. Steps of the Scientific Method
1) ______________and Ask ___________
2) Infer and Form a ________________
3) Design a Controlled _______________
4) Collect and Analyze ____________
5) Draw ____________________
6) _________________________Results
Mythbusters clip
Basic steps of the scientific method:
Observations- what do you notice? and
Questions- what questions arise from those observations?
Hypothesis- develop a “guess” as to what has occurred, and why?
Experiment- set up a step-by-step procedure to test your hypothesis.
Collect and Analyze data- collect data and record (in a table/graph) the information that you collected, and interpret it.
Conclusion- does the evidence you collected support your hypothesis? How so?
Communicate-let others know the results you obtained
Watch this clip of the show “Mythbusters” to see the scientific method in action (5 minutes). While watching it, try to figure out how the “myth” busting fits the scientific method.
Good myth – Mythbusters: Animals  Seeing Red
Question: Do sharks prefer one color over another?
Hypothesis: If we give the sharks several colored bait bags, then the sharks will bite the yellow bait bag more frequently than the other
colors.
Experiment: 1 – several colored bait bags in vertical line off back of boat; observe and count number of bites
2 – several colored bait bags in horizontal line off back of boat; observe and count number of bites
Data: Collected data  put into table
Conclusions: hypothesis is plausible
Communicate: via TV

6. Step 1: OBSERVE and Ask QUESTIONS
Observations lead scientists to ________ no one has asked before.
____________: act of noticing or describing events in a careful, orderly way; involves using your five senses
What did Mythbusters observe and what question did they ask?
observation: did not really make observations - some people have said that sharks prefer yellow
question: do sharks prefer one color over another?

7. Step 2: Infer and Form a HYPOTHESIS
Questions lead to __________, which can then lead to a hypothesis.
_____________: logical interpretation of an observation; explains the observation
Observations:
-Ask students for observations about this object using their sense of sight.
-List many on the board.
-Observation that “tree has no leaves” leads to question “why does the tree have no leaves”
-Ask students to interpret or explain their observations (that is, infer)
Inferences:

8. Step 2: Infer and Form a HYPOTHESIS
____________: scientific explanation for a set of observations; must be ___________
Usually in an IF-THEN format…
IF (I do what), THEN (what do I predict will happen)
For example:
IF ______________________________________,
THEN __________________________________ _________________________________.
Have students work with partner to come up with a hypothesis for the Mythbusters episode

9. Step 3: Design Controlled EXPERIMENT
Controlled ___________: a planned procedure to test a hypothesis in which only __________________is changed
____________: factor that can change
Experiments have different variables:
__________ variable: factor that does not change
____________ variable: factor that is deliberately changed
_____________ variable: factor that is measured

10. Step 3: Design Controlled EXPERIMENT
Mythbusters Example:
Independent variable: __________________
Dependent variable: ___________________
Control variables: _____________________ ____________________________________
What experiment did Mythbusters come up with?
Experiment: 1 – several colored bait bags in vertical line off back of boat; observe and count number of bites
2 – several colored bait bags in horizontal line off back of boat; observe and count number of bites

11. Step 4: Collect and Analyze DATA
________: information gathered by making observations during an experiment
____________________data:
Descriptive characteristics
(see, hear, feel, smell, taste?)
_____________________data:
Measurements or amounts
(height, weight, numbers?)
-Have students collect data about an object
-Break the observations into groups (quantitative/qualitative) to show the difference.

12. Step 4: Collect and Analyze DATA
Create a visual (if possible) to display data:
-___________
Use this information to notice trends
Many times to analyze our data, we put it into a visual (table, graph, etc.).

13. Number of shark interactions by color of bait bag
Mythbusters Data
Number of shark interactions by color of bait bag
Color
Bites
Investigation
Total
Blue 7
Red 2 9
Silver 11 5 16
White 8 6 14
Yellow 20 27
Black 17
TOTAL 64 26 90
Many times to analyze our data, we put it into a visual (table, graph, etc.).

14. Rules of Graphing Use ______________paper or computer
Descriptive __________________
Use _____________to make axes
Label ______ (indep) and _____ (depend)
Equal _____________on each axis
__________graph (at least ½ of full page)
Accurately plotted data
Add ___________if necessary
Descriptive title: should tell us what the graph is showing (include the dependent and independent variables in the title)
Label X-axis: X is horizontal, label with the independent variable (the variable you are changing to see what happens)
Label Y-axis: Y is vertical, label it with the dependent variable (the variable that changes as a result of the independent variable)
Equal intervals: when setting up graph be sure to set numbers equal distances apart (if you go up by 5, always go up by 5…equally spaced)
Use whole page: don’t cram your information into the corner of your graphing paper. Space the intervals so the data is spread over the entire page.
Add a key: used if you are doing a comparison within the graph

15. Mythbusters graph
Number of shark interactions with several colors of bait bags
Number of shark interactions
Here is an example of a bar graph. Just from seeing the graph, can you tell what it’s displaying? Do you need more information?
Labeling the axes is very important. The X-axis is where the independent variable is located- in this case, the color of the bait bag is the independent variable. The Y-axis (the dependent variable) shows numbers, but what do those numbers represent? In this case the number of times the sharks interacted with the bait bag.
From the labels we have at this point, what would you expect the title of the graph to be? We need it to include each variable so it can describe exactly what the graph is showing.
The key located on the right of the graph depicts the region of the U.S. the people interviewed were from. This allows you to compare information by putting it all in one graph.
Color of Bait Bag

16. Step 5: Draw CONCLUSIONS
Decide if the data collected ___________ your hypothesis
-Yes/No?
-Why/Why Not?
Develop a ___________________.
After the graph is complete, you can analyze the data and determine if the data you collected supports your hypothesis. If the data does support the hypothesis, explain how it was supported (using your data as evidence). If the data does not support the hypothesis, explain how is was not supported (again using your data as evidence).

17. Mythbusters conclusion
Data __________________the hypothesis
Myth is ____________________
Mythbusters: First experiment – was flawed so they corrected based on their data
Second experiment - Data supported the hypothesis  conclusion is myth is plausible
Why did they not Confirm the myth? Need to collect additional data – does it apply to all sharks? Could they repeat this?

18. Step 6: COMMUNICATE
Researchers _____________experiments and observations to scientific community
___________: scientific papers are reviewed by anonymous, independent experts
______: personal preference or point of view
Published articles are like high-powered versions of high school lab reports
They are reviewed by experts who look for mistakes in technique or reasoning, fraud, unfair influences, etc. – helps ensure that paper meets standards of scientific community
The way that science is applied or used in society can be affected by bias. Examples of bias include personal taste, preferences for someone or something, societal standards of beauty.
Scientific data can be misinterpreted or misapplied by scientists who want to prove a particular point
(e.g. global warming)

19. Develop a Theory
___________: well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations and hypotheses; allows predictions about new situations
Yes, that hypothesis is true!
That hypothesis is definitely correct!
The hypothesis is right on the mark!
If a hypothesis is tested over and over, in many different ways, and the result is always the same, a theory is developed.

20. Characteristics of Living Things
In order to be considered living, an organism must display ALL characteristics of life

21. Characteristics of Living Things
Made of ____________
Smallest unit considered fully alive
Unicellular or multicellular
Maintain stable internal environment
__________________
Ex. Body temperature

22. _________and ____________
Universal genetic code called ____
Cell __________________
__________________
Life comes from _____
New similar organism

23. Respond to ________________
Detect _________and respond to it
Obtain and use _______and ______
_________: sum total of all chemical
reactions that occur in organism
_____________
As a group, organisms change over time
Why is a rock NOT considered living? EXPLAIN!