CH 1 Reading Guide: Biological themes and scientific inquiry

Because this reading guide will be given to you on the first day of class, please complete the first part before the second day. At the bottom, you will see part that should be done in or after class.

Objective: Utilize The Properties of Life to distinguish between living organisms and non-living things.

Give a brief explanation of each property of life listed below. Use your own words – don’t copy from the textbook.
- Cells
- Replication
- Information
- Processing energy
- Evolution
Objective: List and understand 5 unifying themes in biology: Emergent Properties, Information processing, transfer of energy and matter, interactions, and Evolution.
Information in cells is contained in a molecule called ___________
By themselves, genes aren’t useful. Use Fig 1.8 to describe how the information in genes gets used to create something useful for the cell.
What do you think would happen if an organism stopped processing energy?
Give an example of interactions between organisms in a garden.
Which theme(s) is (are) exemplified by your growth from a single, fertilized egg?

Objective: Understand that evolution accounts for both the unity and diversity of life and the ideas can be helpful in understanding much of biology.
Give a definition of Evolution (see chap 1.3).
Why do you think people say that evolution explains the ‘unity’ (similarity) of life?
What evidence do you think a biologist might use to claim that humans and mice are related? Explain.
Explain what is shown in Fig 1.7 (1.6 in 6th ed.)?
Use Fig 1.7 (1.6 in 6th ed.) to explain why biologists say that evolution accounts for the diversity of life.
List the 3 domains of life. Which are prokaryotic (don’t have a nucleus) and which are eukaryotic (have a nucleus)?
What is an ‘adaptation?’
Watch the 10 minute video about natural selection. What is the adaptation being discussed? Why do the animals vary between the 2 habitats?

Objective: Understand the scientific method
In your own words, what is the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning? (Make sure to read Chap 9 of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for this)
Briefly summarize the two hypotheses regarding why giraffes have long necks.
What evidence was used to support each of the above hypotheses?
Imagine you reach for a flashlight, flip the switch and nothing happens (ie. it doesn’t work). Think of 3 hypotheses that might explain why the flashlight doesn’t work
List 3 differences between a theory and a hypothesis.
What do you think of the idea that “Evolutionary theory can’t be trusted because it’s just a theory”?

To be completed in or after class…

Give 2 examples (not from your book) where new properties emerge at a higher level of organization.

Example 1:
Example 2:

Explain how the structure of a leaf gives clues to what the leaf does.

Objective: Be able to form a testable hypothesis in the form of a Research hypothesis

A research hypothesis takes the form of “If (hypothesis) … and (test) … then (prediction)”. Although it forms a cumbersome sentence, it is useful for organizing your thoughts and making sure that an experiment you design will actually test what you want to test.
Use a properly formed research hypothesis to try to understand why your flashlight doesn’t work.
Use a research hypothesis to understand why people sweat when the weather is hot. Remember that the hypothesis part is an explanation.
What kinds of hypotheses are not testable?

Objective: Understand the difference between dependent and independent variables
Sketch out a graph (include axes and labels) that shows the relationship between air temperature and time of day at your house.
Mark on your graph which axis is the dependent variable? Which is independent?
Explain your reasoning in how you knew the graph should be shaped this way.
Does your answer to the question above show deductive or inductive reasoning?
Use the other kind of reasoning to give an explanation of how you knew the graph would look like that.