Introduction Themes in the Study of Life

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1 BellRinger What is Biology? Introduction Themes in the Study of Life Chapter 1 1

2 What is science? What is the goal of science? Investigate and understand the natural world Explain events in the natural world Use these explanations to make useful predictions What is Science? Science Only deals with the natural world Scientists collect and organize data in a careful, orderly way Look for patterns and connections Propose explanations that can be tested 2

3 Group Work Move into small groups of 3-4 students. Materials Needed: ½ sheet of paper Pencil or Pen Write team member s names on paper Create an explanation for why it rains. Rules: You may not include any scientific thinking into your explanation. Be creative. Select a spokesperson for your group. Be ready to present your explanation in 2 minutes! Go! 3

4 Discuss! For each explanation, could you supply evidence to support it? Why not? Think Like a Scientist 4

5 Think Like a Scientist Describe in detail what you see. What questions would you as a biologist ask after seeing this? Thinking Like a Scientist Observation: Process of gathering information about events or processes in a careful, orderly way Data: Information gathered from observations Quantitative: Primarily numbers (counting or measuring) Qualitative: Descriptive 5

6 Take Two In your group, create a list of examples of qualitative data. Select a spokesperson. Be ready to share in less than 2 minutes. Think Like a Scientist Inference: Logical explanation based on prior knowledge or experience 6

7 Explaining Evidence Hypothesis: Proposed scientific explanation for a set of observations Must be testable Experiments Observations Why Science? Science As a way of knowing Dynamic A Process Linked to technology Human Value 7

8 How Scientists Work In your small group, explain the difference between your manipulated variable, responding variable and control. Select a spokesperson Be ready to present in 2 minutes. Go! Experiments Control: The variables in an experiment that do not change Manipulated Variable: The one variable in the experiment that is deliberately changed Responding Variable: The one variable in the experiment that is observed and changes as a result of the manipulated variable 8

9 Take Two Classify the following as LIFE, ALIVE or ORGANISM Group 1: virus Group 2: prion Group 3: mitochondrion Group 4: an unfertilized egg on its way down the oviduct Group 5: zygote Group 6: A seed that has not been planted Group 7: human red blood cell (erythrocyte) which has no nucleus Group 8: a human bone Group 9: the shell of a snail Group 10 : a colony of termites Group 11: a computerized robot which takes over an automated factory and reprograms it to make more robots like itself. Group 12: computer virus or worm Life, Alive or Organism What characteristics to living organisms share? Made up of cells Reproduce Based on a universal genetic code Grow and develop Obtain and use materials and energy Respond to the environment Maintain a stable internal environment As a group, the group will change over time 9

10 (1) Made up of cells Cell: A collection of living matter enclosed by a barrier that separates the cell from its surroundings The smallest unit of an organism considered alive Complex Highly organized Unicellular and Multicellular (2) Reproduce Sexual Two cells from different parents unite to produce a unique organism Asexual From a single parent, who divides to form two organisms (Cell Division, Budding) 10

11 (3) Based on a Genetic Code DNA (4) Need for Materials and Energy Metabolism: Combination of all of the reactions that build up and break down materials Ex: Respiration, Photosynthesis (5) Response to the Environment Stimulus: Environmental signal which causes a response by the organism (6) Maintain an Internal Balance Homeostasis: the process by which most organisms maintain a consistent internal environment even when the external environment changes ph, temperature 11

12 (7) Evolution As a group, the population can change over time Ex. Color changes Take Two List as many branches of biology as possible. Select a spokesperson. Be ready to list in 2 minutes. Go! 12

13 Branches of Biology Zoologists Botanists Paleontologists Molecular Biologists Cell Biologists Population Biologists Ecologists Biochemists Geneticists Cytologists Microbiologists Biology: the study of life Enormous in scope Size scales: microscopic to macroscopic Over time: contemporary to ancestral Ongoing Process Technology Information explosion Technology Changing the way research is conducted and that which is accepted by researchers 13

14 Levels of Organization Atoms Molecules Macromolecules Organelles Cells Tissues Organs Organ Systems Organism Population Community Ecosystem Biomes Biosphere 14

Chapter 1. Scientific Process and Themes of Biology

Chapter 1. Scientific Process and Themes of Biology Chapter 1 Scientific Process and Themes of Biology What is Science? u Scientific knowledge is acquired using a rigorous process u Science is an organized way of gathering and analyzing evidence about the