introduction to Biology Study Guide

Bio book https://d3bxy9euw4e147.cloudfront.net/oscms-prodcm…

“One of the greatest commandments of science is, “Mistrust arguments from authority.”(Scientists, being primates, and thus given to dominance hierarchies, of course do not always follow this commandment.)Too many such arguments have proved too painfully wrong.Authorities must prove their contentions like everyone else”

Carl Sagan,

Demon Haunted World, 1995

Read pp. 5-12, 14-20 in Concepts of Biology and as you read, work on explaining the following terms and questions. Some of the questions will come from your class notes.

Term	Definition
Biology
Control
Variable
Falsifiable

Answer the Following Questions:

• List and briefly describe 5 sub-disciplines of biology. (text pp. 14-15, class notes)
• List & describe the various characteristics that distinguish living things from non-living things. (text pp 6-8)
• Name and describe the various levels of complexity at which living organisms are organized from the simplest to the most complex (text pp. 9-12).
• Compare the contrast the terms hypothesis and theory. How are they different from each other? How is the scientific use of the word theory different from its common daily use? Give an example of a hypothesis and an example of a theory. (class notes)
• What is discovery science? What is experimental science? How are they different from each other? Give an example of how each can be used in scientific investigation. (class notes)
• List and briefly describe the four components of the process of scientific inquiry that are used to investigate the natural world. How are these different methods integrated with each other to solve scientific problems? (Class notes)

Sub-Discipline	Description

Property	Description

LEVEL	DESCRIPTION

	HYPOTHESIS	THEORY
SIMILARITIES
DIFFERENCES

What is the common usage of the term “theory”?Give an example of how the term is typically used.Is this daily usage that is often heard really the correct way to use the work?