Notes

Zoology is the study of animals. Zoologists study everything from animals' growth and development to their behavior.

Botany is the study of plants. It is easier to study plants than animals since they don’t move. Being a Botanist is an important job since most animals rely on plants as a food source.

Ecology is the study of living things in their environment. Ecologists focus on interactions between plants, animals, and the nonliving things in the environment.

Microbiology is the study of microscopic organisms. Microbiologists use new and advanced technology to help with their research.

Biochemistry is the study of the chemical reactions in living things, such as the way food is digested in the body.


Anatomy and Physiology is the study of the human body. This field of biology focuses on the parts of the body and their functions.

The interactions between living things are observable events, also known as phenomena. In this course, we will be examining different types of phenomena. We will explore "everyday" phenomena—like animal migration—and investigative phenomena such as "how do cells divide and replicate?" And we will make global connections with anchoring phenomena; these are large-scale events that connect smaller phenomena together. Consider the anchoring phenomenon for this module:

Science attempts to explain natural phenomena by analyzing and observing the world and testing ideas about it.

Science must be able to answer a testable question using observation and experimentation. Investigations must produce empirical evidence that can be observed or measured to be considered science.

Empirical evidence can be replicated, or reproduced, and verified by other scientists if they conduct the same tests under the same conditions.

The more an experiment is repeated, with the same outcomes, the more reliable the evidence becomes. Evidence without bias also increases its reliability.

Science is an ever-changing body of knowledge as new observations are made through experimentation. As new information is discovered, new evidence can add to current evidence, allowing scientists to improve their theories.

Fake science, Pseudoscience.

The independent variable is the one factor that a scientist chooses to change, or alter, in a scientific experiment. This allows the scientist to focus only on the results that occur because of the change in the independent variable. The farmer would change only the amount of nutrients in the soil. If he changed more than this variable, he would not know if the answer to his question was correct.

The dependent variable is the factor that changes in response to the independent variable, also called the outcome variable. By changing the amount of one nutrient in the soil, the farmer can see the results in the growth of his plants. The rate of plant growth is the dependent variable. The change in the dependent variable “depends” on what is done to the independent variable.

Controlled variables are the factors that a scientist chooses to keep constant throughout the experiment. This is to make sure that anything that happened to the dependent variable is caused by the independent variable. In the example experiment, factors like temperature, water, and exposure to sunlight must be kept constant (controlled variables) in the soil to make sure that any changes to the plant growth (dependent variable) are actually caused by the changes to the amount of nutrients in the soil (independent variable).