Course: BIS 105 Environmental Biology

Unit 1 Learning Module

Review

Review Questions

1. What is the goal of science?

2. Distinguish between a hypothesis and a theory.

3. The makers of two types of plant fertilizers claim that their product grows plants the fastest and largest. Design an experiment that you could carry out to investigate the claims.

4. Identify how hypotheses and predictions are related.

5. What is the difference between the everyday term “theory” and the term “scientific theory?”

6. Identify two ways that scientists can test hypotheses.

7. Outline the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning.

8. What is the range of processes that scientists use to carry out a scientific investigation called?

9. To ensure that their results are not due to chance, scientists will usually carry out an experiment a number of times, a process called replication. A scientist has two types of plants and she wants to test which plant produces the most oxygen under sunny conditions outdoors. Devise a practical experimental approach, incorporating replication of the experiment.

10. In taking measurements, what is the difference between accuracy and precision?

11. Name two features that a hypothesis must have, to be called a scientific hypothesis.

12. Identify two features that a theory must have, to qualify as a scientific theory.

13. Why is it a good idea to try to reduce the chances of errors happening in an experiment?

14. What does it mean to say that global environmental problems such as climate change and ocean acidification represent a “tragedy of the commons?” How are global solutions to be tied to local transitions toward a sustainable society?

15. How does sustainability imply an “ethics of the future?” In what ways does sustainability ethics both borrow and diverge from the principles that drove the major progressive social movements of the 20th century?

Points to Consider

The Points to Consider section throughout this book is intended to have students think about material not yet presented. These points are intended to lead students into the next lesson or chapter.

- Scientists sometimes disagree among themselves about scientific findings, and communicate such disagreement at science conferences, through science articles in magazines, or science papers and in scientific journals. Can you think of other ways in which scientists could communicate so that the public can get a better idea of what the “hot topics” in science are?