The Study of Life

Science
• Scientia (Latin) means knowledge

• Science is a system of knowledge based on facts and principles

Biology
• The word biology comes from Greek words, bios and logos.

• Bios means life

• Logos means study

• Biology means the study of life and living things

Scientific Research Observation

Gather information

• A systematic
Ask questions
way of
gaining
Make hypothesis
information
Experiment Rejecting hypothesis
Additional hypothesis
and revision

Conclusion

Publication
Research and opinion
from other scientists
Make theory
Observation
• An observation is a thoughtful and careful recognition of an event or
a fact.

• The careful observation of a phenomenon leads to a question.

• How does this happen?
• What causes it to occur?
Hypotesis
• Hypothesizing
• question an observation
• propose possible solutions to questions based on what is already understood
about the phenomenon
• Hypotheses must:
• be logical
• account for all current information
• make the least possible assumptions
• be testable
Testing hypothesis
• Hypotheses need to be tested to see if they are supported or
disproved.
• Disproved hypotheses are rejected
• Hypotheses can be supported but not proven

• Ways to test a hypothesis:

• Gathering relevant historical information
• Retrospective Studies
• Make additional observations from the natural world
• Experimentation
Experiment
• Experiments
• rigorous tests to determine if the solutions are supported

• Experiments attempt to recreation an occurrence

• tests whether or not the hypothesis can be supported or rejected

• There are many types of experiments

• laboratory, clinical trials, surveys, statistical analyses
Processing Data
• Recorded observations are called data

• quantitative data – numbers (How many)

• qualitative data- descriptions (color)

• Data must be clearly recorded and reliable

Conclusion
• A conclusion must answer the purpose of the research
Publication
• Verbal : presentation

• Non-verbal : poster, scientific paper

Scientific Theory
• Data is shared with the scientific community through research articles published in scientific journals.
• peer review

• Scientists present preliminary data at conferences.

• Scientists collaborate directly by phone and

e-mail.
Example of scientific research
Observation

Gather information

Ask questions

Make hypothesis

Experiment Rejecting hypothesis

Additional hypothesis
and revision

Conclusion

Publication
Research and opinion
from other scientists
Make theory
Scientific Report
• Purpose
• Methods
• Result
• Conclusion
Data Presentation
• Table
• Line graph
• Bar graph
• Pie chart