the science of biology vocab.

Science

Fan

an organized way of using evidence to learn about the natural world

Observation

the process of gathering information about events or processes in a careful, orderly way.

Quantitative data

expressed as numbers by counting or measuring.

Qualitative data

descriptive and involve characteristics that can’t usually be counted.

Inference

a logical interpretation based on prior knowledge or experience

Hypothesis

A proposed scientific explanation for a set of observations.

Spontaneous Generation

the idea that cells can come from any matter, alive or dead.

Controlled Experiment

An experiment in which only one variable is changed at a time.  All other variables should be kept unchanged, or controlled.

Manipulated Variable

The variable that is deliberately changed (also called the independent variable)

Responding Variable

The variable that is observed and that changes in response to the manipulated variable (also called dependent variable)

Theory

a well tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations