Term | Definition |
Science | a way of learning about the natural world and knowledge gained through the process |
Predicting | the process of forecasting what will happen based on the past experience or evidence |
Model | creating representations of complex objects or processes |
Observing | the process of using one or more of your senses to gather information |
Life Science | the study of living things |
Quantitative Observation | an observation that deals with a number or an amount |
Qualitative Observation | an observation that deals with characteristics that cannot be expressed in number |
Inferring | the process of making an interpretation based on observations and prior knowledge |
Classification | the process of grouping things based on their similarities |
Data | facts, figures, and other evidence gathered through observations |
Responding Variable | the factor that changes as a result of changes to the manipulated variable in an experiment |
Variable | a factor in an experiment that can change |
Communication | the process of sharing ideas with others through writing and speaking |
Manipulated Variable | the one factor that a scientist changes during an experiment; also know as the independant variable |
Hypothesis | a possible explanation for a set of observations or answer to a specific question; must be testable |
Scientific Inquiry | the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on the evidence they gather |
Controlled Experiment | an experiment in which only one variable is manipulated at a time |
Operational definition | a statement that describes how to measure a particular variable or how to define a particular term |