BIOL 111 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE
Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5
Week of May 26-29th
Chapter 1: What is Biology
● “The study of life” and so far is restricted to planet Earth
○ Biology = Greek (bios = life, logos = study)
● What is Natural Science?
○ The field of science that is related to the physical world and its phenomena and
processes
○
● Scientific Reasoning --Why should we care?
○ All fields of science have an ulitmate goal: “to know”
○ Science is fueled by curiosity and inquiry
○ It is natural to want to understand the world and the way it operates
■ Basic or “pure” science
● Science done to simply gain knowledge, regardless of application
● No product or service going in
● Knowledge for the sake of knowledge
■ Applied science (technology)
● Science applied to real word problems
● Problem is defined by each researcher
■ What really happens?
● Serendipity: “Fortunate accidents” or “Lucky surprises”
● Alexander Flemming → contaminated plates and discovered
penisilin
○ Two methods of logical thinking include inductive and deductive reasoning
■ Inductive (aka Discovery or Descriptive science)
● Describes natural structures and processes as accurately as
possible through careful observation and analysis
● Scientists derive generalizations based on large numbers of
speciefic observations
● I.e. “all known living organisms are made of cells, therefore we
conclude that all living organisms are made of cells”
○ However, the cell theory cannot be proven to be true
■ Deductive (aka Hypothesis based science)
● Inquiry that asks apecific questions usually involves proposing and
testing of hypothetical explanations, or hypotheses
, ● A hypothesis is tentative answer to well-framed question or
observation; an explanation on trial
○ Must be testable and falsiable
○ Never can be proven, only supported or refuted
● In deductive reasoning the logic flows from the general to the
specific
● If a hypothesis can be supported then we can expect a particular
outcome
● We all use hypotheses in solving everyday problems
■
○ Science differs from other styles of inquiry because:
■ It depends on observations and measurements that others can repeat
and verify
■ It requires hypotheses and theories to be testable by observation and
experiements that can be repeated over and over
■ It requires hypotheses and theories to be falsifiable and impossible to
proven
■ Beliefs, opinions and the supernatural are not falsifiable and therefore fall
out of the realm of science
● Science is not the only way to understand or explain nature. Other
areas of “knowning” nature include: art, philosophy, social
laws/morals, religions
● Scientific Method:
○ An idealized process of inquiry, few scientific inquiries strictly adhere to the
“textbook” method
■ Make observations
■ Developed hypothesis
■ Design experiment
■ Collect data
■ Analyze data; do my results confirm my hypothesis?
■ Refine and repeat experiment
, ■ Communicate results
○ Flexibility of the scientific method
■ In your lab you should be abke to answer these questions regarding all
lab experiments
● What are you doing? Why? → Intro/background
● What do you expect? Why? → Intro/background
● How are you doing it? → Methods
● What happened? → Results
● Why or why not? → discussion
■
○ Designing an experiment
■ Must define:
● Independent variable (IV): what is changing?
○ Time density, temperature
● Dependent variable (DV): what are you measuring?
○ Weight, height, behavior
● Controlled variable: constant -- can be positive or negative
○ Hypothese in Scientific Inquiry
■ A scientific hypothesis must have two important qualities:
1. Must be testable:
- You cannot test if a piece or art is ugly or pretty
- It would be difficult to test for the existence of underpants
gnomes
2. It must be falsifiable
- You cannot falsify someone’s beliefs or ethical judgements
● Theories in Scientific Inquiry
○ A scientific theory is defined as an hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested
and not yet falsified
○ They are universally accepted among scientists however, they can still be
disproven
○ They are useful as long as they generate hypotheses that are testable, and are
not themselves falsified by new informations
, ■ “You can disprove a theory by finding even a single observation that
disagrees with the predictions of the theory” -- Stephen Hawking
● Theories we will focus on throughout the class:
○The Cell Theory: There is no universally accepted definition of life; however,
most people subscribe to the idea that cells are the smallest structural and
functional unit of life
■ Tenets of the cell theory:
● All living organisms are made of one or more cells*
● Chemical reactions necessary for life take place within cells
● All cells arise only from pre-existing cells
● Cells contain hereditary information in the form of DNA
■
○ The Gene Theory
■ Genes are the basic units of inheritance and are comprised of DNA
■ Provides the foundation for the fields of genetics
■
○ The Theory of Heredity
Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 5
Week of May 26-29th
Chapter 1: What is Biology
● “The study of life” and so far is restricted to planet Earth
○ Biology = Greek (bios = life, logos = study)
● What is Natural Science?
○ The field of science that is related to the physical world and its phenomena and
processes
○
● Scientific Reasoning --Why should we care?
○ All fields of science have an ulitmate goal: “to know”
○ Science is fueled by curiosity and inquiry
○ It is natural to want to understand the world and the way it operates
■ Basic or “pure” science
● Science done to simply gain knowledge, regardless of application
● No product or service going in
● Knowledge for the sake of knowledge
■ Applied science (technology)
● Science applied to real word problems
● Problem is defined by each researcher
■ What really happens?
● Serendipity: “Fortunate accidents” or “Lucky surprises”
● Alexander Flemming → contaminated plates and discovered
penisilin
○ Two methods of logical thinking include inductive and deductive reasoning
■ Inductive (aka Discovery or Descriptive science)
● Describes natural structures and processes as accurately as
possible through careful observation and analysis
● Scientists derive generalizations based on large numbers of
speciefic observations
● I.e. “all known living organisms are made of cells, therefore we
conclude that all living organisms are made of cells”
○ However, the cell theory cannot be proven to be true
■ Deductive (aka Hypothesis based science)
● Inquiry that asks apecific questions usually involves proposing and
testing of hypothetical explanations, or hypotheses
, ● A hypothesis is tentative answer to well-framed question or
observation; an explanation on trial
○ Must be testable and falsiable
○ Never can be proven, only supported or refuted
● In deductive reasoning the logic flows from the general to the
specific
● If a hypothesis can be supported then we can expect a particular
outcome
● We all use hypotheses in solving everyday problems
■
○ Science differs from other styles of inquiry because:
■ It depends on observations and measurements that others can repeat
and verify
■ It requires hypotheses and theories to be testable by observation and
experiements that can be repeated over and over
■ It requires hypotheses and theories to be falsifiable and impossible to
proven
■ Beliefs, opinions and the supernatural are not falsifiable and therefore fall
out of the realm of science
● Science is not the only way to understand or explain nature. Other
areas of “knowning” nature include: art, philosophy, social
laws/morals, religions
● Scientific Method:
○ An idealized process of inquiry, few scientific inquiries strictly adhere to the
“textbook” method
■ Make observations
■ Developed hypothesis
■ Design experiment
■ Collect data
■ Analyze data; do my results confirm my hypothesis?
■ Refine and repeat experiment
, ■ Communicate results
○ Flexibility of the scientific method
■ In your lab you should be abke to answer these questions regarding all
lab experiments
● What are you doing? Why? → Intro/background
● What do you expect? Why? → Intro/background
● How are you doing it? → Methods
● What happened? → Results
● Why or why not? → discussion
■
○ Designing an experiment
■ Must define:
● Independent variable (IV): what is changing?
○ Time density, temperature
● Dependent variable (DV): what are you measuring?
○ Weight, height, behavior
● Controlled variable: constant -- can be positive or negative
○ Hypothese in Scientific Inquiry
■ A scientific hypothesis must have two important qualities:
1. Must be testable:
- You cannot test if a piece or art is ugly or pretty
- It would be difficult to test for the existence of underpants
gnomes
2. It must be falsifiable
- You cannot falsify someone’s beliefs or ethical judgements
● Theories in Scientific Inquiry
○ A scientific theory is defined as an hypothesis that has been repeatedly tested
and not yet falsified
○ They are universally accepted among scientists however, they can still be
disproven
○ They are useful as long as they generate hypotheses that are testable, and are
not themselves falsified by new informations
, ■ “You can disprove a theory by finding even a single observation that
disagrees with the predictions of the theory” -- Stephen Hawking
● Theories we will focus on throughout the class:
○The Cell Theory: There is no universally accepted definition of life; however,
most people subscribe to the idea that cells are the smallest structural and
functional unit of life
■ Tenets of the cell theory:
● All living organisms are made of one or more cells*
● Chemical reactions necessary for life take place within cells
● All cells arise only from pre-existing cells
● Cells contain hereditary information in the form of DNA
■
○ The Gene Theory
■ Genes are the basic units of inheritance and are comprised of DNA
■ Provides the foundation for the fields of genetics
■
○ The Theory of Heredity
