New Vocabulary

New and revised vocabulary words with definitions:

biology: The study of life

classifying: The process of grouping together items that are alike in some way.

communicating: The process of sharing ideas with others through writing and speaking.

complementary: Any two colors that combine to form white light or black pigment.

control: The part of an experiment to which you compare the results of the other tests.

controlled experiment: An experiment in which only one variable is manipulated at a time.

data: Facts, figures, and other evidence gathered through observations.

development: The process of change that occurs during an organism's life to produce a more complex organism.

function: A process that enables an organism to survive.

hypothesis: A possible explanation for a set of observations or answer to a scientific question: must be testable.

inferring: The process of making an inference, an interpretation base on observations and prior knowledge.

life science: The study of living things.

making models: The process of creating representations of complex objects or processes.

manipulated variable: The one factor that a scientist changes during an experiment; also called the independent variable.

observing: The process of using one or more of your senses to gather information.

operational definition: A statement that describes how to measure a particular variable or how to define a particular term.

organism: A living thing.

predicting: The process of forecasting what will happen based on past experience or evidence.

qualitative observation: An observation that deals with characteristics that cannot be expressed in numbers.

quantitative observation: An observation that deals with number or amount.

responding variable: The factor that changes as a result of changes to the manipulated, or independent, variable in an experiment; also called dependent variable.

scale model: A model that accurately shows the proportions between its parts.

science: A way of learning about the natural world and the knowledge gained through the process.

scientific inquiry: The diverse way s in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on evidence they gather.

structure: The way an organism is put together as a whole.

variable: A factor in an experiment that can change.