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
information hypothesis
Rejecting
Additional
Experiment hypothesis and
hypothesis
revision
Conclusion

Publication
Research and
opinion from other
Make theory scientists
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

Rejecting
Additional
hypothesis and
hypothesis
revision

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