UCLA EPS SCI
Ucla eps sci final exam with
detailed answers.
Define science - ✔✔✔ - the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation,
and theoretical explanation of phenomena. Or a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes
knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Define geology - ✔✔✔ - the scientific study of the origin, history, and structure of the earth.
Give examples of how science can be useful - ✔✔✔ - they can prevent harmful false
explanations ie when george washington died from blood-letting when he just had a cold. They
can have useful applications ie filtered water, smart phones, aviation.
Distinguishbetween"basic"and"applied"science,and explain how the former can lead to the
latter. - ✔✔✔ - basic science, such as understanding how cells work, is research aimed at
understanding fundamental problems. Applied science, such as the medical field, is the
application of basic scientific knowledge to solve practical problems. So there are applications in
the medical field based on the understanding of how cells work.
State different ways in which geology can be useful, and give examples. - ✔✔✔ - geology gives
us an understanding of the earth (and other planets) so it can help mitigate natural hazards (ie
reinforced concrete in earthquake-prone areas) and unnatural hazards (ie solving the effects of a
sewage leak into groundwater), it is key to finding and extracting useful resources (ie oil and
important minerals for day-to-day use), and to dealing with the resulting environmental
consequences (ie over-mining and pollution)
Distinguish between a science, the thing being studied scientifically, and the people doing it. -
✔✔✔ - science is an enterprise (or pursuit, endeavor, etc.), which can investigate different
UCLA EPS SCI Page 1
,UCLA EPS SCI
things and the different things could be like earth (geology), life (biology), behavior/mind
(psychology), etc. It's conducted by "scientists," but if it's a matter of the thing being studied
then they're classified as like geologists, biologists, psychologists, etc
Give examples of scientists doing good. - ✔✔✔ - edward jenner coming up with the idea for
vaccines, jonas salk creating the polio vaccine, rachel carson writing silent spring--a conservation
science book about the effects of ddt on egg shells of birds of prey
Discuss how science considered morally bad can beprevented. - ✔✔✔ - can be prevented
through government regulation ie the fda and by funding "good" science programs ie nasa and
nsf. Also, scientists can join associations like the world medical association (wma) which declares
ethical principles regrading human experimentation.
Describe how human flaws can negatively impact the quality of the science that they do. -
✔✔✔ - scientists can be biased or dishonest with their findings which can affect the data and
make their findings untrustworthy.
List the steps/components of the scientific method. - ✔✔✔ - it's a cycle of making
observations, then thinking of questions, then forming a hypothesis and developing testable
predictions. From there, you can gather data to test predictions which will either lead to
developing general theories or altering the initial hypothesis leading back to developing
testable predictions. Once you're at the stage of developing general theories, though, you can
make more observations and the cycle continues.
Describe how adherence to the scientific method ensures evidence-based explanations for
phenomena. - ✔✔✔ - it ensures evidence-based explanations because part of the scientific
method is literally gathering data to test the predictions and from that developing general
theories.
Discuss factors in good experimental design. - ✔✔✔ - a control group (used to challenge
previous scientific method; does not receive treatment), sufficient sample size (to get more
UCLA EPS SCI Page 2
, UCLA EPS SCI
reliable results), a representative sample(must represent the population of what's being studied),
and it should be a reproducible experiment(so that it can be redone and more data can be
gathered).
Explain how the scientific method is applicable to historical sciences, using the cretaceous-
paleogene extinction event as an example. - ✔✔✔ - scientists observed a high amount of
iridium in the creataceous-paleogene boundary which is rare in earth's crust. This led to
questions of why it's there, so it was hypothesized that an asteroid impact caused this. To test
this, they needed more evidence and it was later found that there was shocked quartz at the
boundary, suggesting an impact of some sort, and that the crater in the yucatan peninsula was
likely the site of impact. This supporting data helps develop the theory that the extinction event
was caused by an asteroid impact.
Define data, and distinguish between different types (quantitative vs. Qualitative, and
continuous vs. Discrete vs. Categorical). - ✔✔✔ - data (singular datum) are individual units of
information. Quantitative applies to numerical data, and qualitative applies to more descriptive
data. Continuous data is like how if you're measuring something, there's an infinite amount of
measurements between 1 and 2 cm. Discrete is like if you roll a dice, there will only be 6 possible
outcomes, not an infinite amount. Categorical is like data that can be divided into groups ie
race, sex, age, education level.
Convert between different units of measure. - ✔✔✔ - use dimensional analysis i guess. I don't
know how i should define this
Explain how data can be analyzed, visualized, andinterpreted. - ✔✔✔ - can be analyzed
through statistics. Can be visualized through graphs and plots. Can be interpreted to attempt to
understand its implications.
Give an example of how a graph/chart can be misleading, even if not technically inaccurate. -
✔✔✔ - can be misleading if the graph doesn't start at zero, it has a weirdly large or small scale,
or there just isn't a connection between the two variables (ie drowning deaths and ice cream
production)
UCLA EPS SCI Page 3
Ucla eps sci final exam with
detailed answers.
Define science - ✔✔✔ - the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation,
and theoretical explanation of phenomena. Or a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes
knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Define geology - ✔✔✔ - the scientific study of the origin, history, and structure of the earth.
Give examples of how science can be useful - ✔✔✔ - they can prevent harmful false
explanations ie when george washington died from blood-letting when he just had a cold. They
can have useful applications ie filtered water, smart phones, aviation.
Distinguishbetween"basic"and"applied"science,and explain how the former can lead to the
latter. - ✔✔✔ - basic science, such as understanding how cells work, is research aimed at
understanding fundamental problems. Applied science, such as the medical field, is the
application of basic scientific knowledge to solve practical problems. So there are applications in
the medical field based on the understanding of how cells work.
State different ways in which geology can be useful, and give examples. - ✔✔✔ - geology gives
us an understanding of the earth (and other planets) so it can help mitigate natural hazards (ie
reinforced concrete in earthquake-prone areas) and unnatural hazards (ie solving the effects of a
sewage leak into groundwater), it is key to finding and extracting useful resources (ie oil and
important minerals for day-to-day use), and to dealing with the resulting environmental
consequences (ie over-mining and pollution)
Distinguish between a science, the thing being studied scientifically, and the people doing it. -
✔✔✔ - science is an enterprise (or pursuit, endeavor, etc.), which can investigate different
UCLA EPS SCI Page 1
,UCLA EPS SCI
things and the different things could be like earth (geology), life (biology), behavior/mind
(psychology), etc. It's conducted by "scientists," but if it's a matter of the thing being studied
then they're classified as like geologists, biologists, psychologists, etc
Give examples of scientists doing good. - ✔✔✔ - edward jenner coming up with the idea for
vaccines, jonas salk creating the polio vaccine, rachel carson writing silent spring--a conservation
science book about the effects of ddt on egg shells of birds of prey
Discuss how science considered morally bad can beprevented. - ✔✔✔ - can be prevented
through government regulation ie the fda and by funding "good" science programs ie nasa and
nsf. Also, scientists can join associations like the world medical association (wma) which declares
ethical principles regrading human experimentation.
Describe how human flaws can negatively impact the quality of the science that they do. -
✔✔✔ - scientists can be biased or dishonest with their findings which can affect the data and
make their findings untrustworthy.
List the steps/components of the scientific method. - ✔✔✔ - it's a cycle of making
observations, then thinking of questions, then forming a hypothesis and developing testable
predictions. From there, you can gather data to test predictions which will either lead to
developing general theories or altering the initial hypothesis leading back to developing
testable predictions. Once you're at the stage of developing general theories, though, you can
make more observations and the cycle continues.
Describe how adherence to the scientific method ensures evidence-based explanations for
phenomena. - ✔✔✔ - it ensures evidence-based explanations because part of the scientific
method is literally gathering data to test the predictions and from that developing general
theories.
Discuss factors in good experimental design. - ✔✔✔ - a control group (used to challenge
previous scientific method; does not receive treatment), sufficient sample size (to get more
UCLA EPS SCI Page 2
, UCLA EPS SCI
reliable results), a representative sample(must represent the population of what's being studied),
and it should be a reproducible experiment(so that it can be redone and more data can be
gathered).
Explain how the scientific method is applicable to historical sciences, using the cretaceous-
paleogene extinction event as an example. - ✔✔✔ - scientists observed a high amount of
iridium in the creataceous-paleogene boundary which is rare in earth's crust. This led to
questions of why it's there, so it was hypothesized that an asteroid impact caused this. To test
this, they needed more evidence and it was later found that there was shocked quartz at the
boundary, suggesting an impact of some sort, and that the crater in the yucatan peninsula was
likely the site of impact. This supporting data helps develop the theory that the extinction event
was caused by an asteroid impact.
Define data, and distinguish between different types (quantitative vs. Qualitative, and
continuous vs. Discrete vs. Categorical). - ✔✔✔ - data (singular datum) are individual units of
information. Quantitative applies to numerical data, and qualitative applies to more descriptive
data. Continuous data is like how if you're measuring something, there's an infinite amount of
measurements between 1 and 2 cm. Discrete is like if you roll a dice, there will only be 6 possible
outcomes, not an infinite amount. Categorical is like data that can be divided into groups ie
race, sex, age, education level.
Convert between different units of measure. - ✔✔✔ - use dimensional analysis i guess. I don't
know how i should define this
Explain how data can be analyzed, visualized, andinterpreted. - ✔✔✔ - can be analyzed
through statistics. Can be visualized through graphs and plots. Can be interpreted to attempt to
understand its implications.
Give an example of how a graph/chart can be misleading, even if not technically inaccurate. -
✔✔✔ - can be misleading if the graph doesn't start at zero, it has a weirdly large or small scale,
or there just isn't a connection between the two variables (ie drowning deaths and ice cream
production)
UCLA EPS SCI Page 3
