Learning Objectives BIOL 1001
A. Nature of Science
A1. Describe how: science is a process (how science builds knowledge), the scientific
method is flexible in nature, and how ‘choices’ are made among alternative
hypotheses in science. [Comprehension]
Process of building knowledge:
• Based off experimental design; scientific method
• Testable ideas
• Relives on evidence
• Involves scientific community
• Ongoing research
• Empirical – based on experience and observations that are rational,
testable and repeatable
• Tentative, durable and selfcorrecting
• Preferred over alternative hypothesis
Flexible:
• Never conclusive
• Nondogmatic, allows for criticism and peer review
• Selfcorrecting with changing perspectives, new technology and new
experiments
• Raise new questions • Dynamic and creative
Choices:
• Made in alternative hypothesis due to unexplainable/unsolvable
phenomena
• Science explain natural and physical world
• Science does not explain supernatural
A2. Use the process of scientific inquiry to make effective decisions/arguments about
issues that have a biological component.
a) Evaluate alternative hypotheses to a scientific issue, justifying your choice, and
identifying/formulate predictions based on each of the hypotheses.
[Application, Synthesis, Evaluation]
b) Formulate a hypothesis based on a set of observation. [Analysis, Synthesis]
c) Design an experiment, or evaluate an experimental design, to test
the hypothesis. [Analysis, Synthesis]
A3. Compare and use the terms ‘hypothesis’ and ‘theory’ appropriately in their
scientific context. [Knowledge, Comprehension, Application]
, Hypothesis – proposed explanation of a phenomenon
• Leads to testable predictions
• Tested empirically
• Mutually exclusive alternative explanations (alternative vs. null)
Theory – central to scientific thinking; attempts explain a class of phenomenon
• Broader than hypothesis
• Allow for valid predictions
• Tested multiple ways
• Based off a lot of evidence
• Additional observations and points can be added
A4. Distinguish and describe subject matter (and the criteria that make them so)
appropriate to scientific study.
[Comprehension, Analysis]
Subject matter of Science:
• Only explains natural and physical world
• Establishes facts based off evidence
• Nondogmatic
• Does not explain supernatural
A5. Describe and explain the limitations of science as a means to answer questions,
making reference to the scientific merits of Intelligent Design, Theistic Evolution, and
Evolution. [Comprehension]
Limitations of science:
• Cannot explain supernatural
• Only can explain physical and natural world
• Intelligent Design – dispute theory of evolution, believe world is too
complex; therefore, intelligent designer put creatures on Earth the
way they were *should never be used to explain limitation of science
Religious idea
Not a theory, hypothesis not testable
Lacks evidence, not specific design to carry out experiment
Cannot be observed
Does not attempt to explain natural world
No scientific journal supports it
Does not accept peer review
Focuses on criticizing theory of evolution
Generative research
Misunderstand nature of science
, • Theistic evolution – god created universe, where all animals appear
on Earth; biological evolution natural process done by God
*discredited because God does not play role in science
Evolution occurred after creation of universe and life
Shares religious basis with intelligent design
Universe can be billions of years old
Species can share common ancestry
• Evolution – organisms change over time, in response to the environment,
where advantageous traits are passed on to offspring.
Valid science, not scientifically controversial
Experiment with observations
Repeatable and empirical results
Does not have a goal
A6. Explain the concept of ‘irreducible complexity’ making reference to evidence
supporting/refuting its validity. [Comprehension]
Irreducible complexity – assumes necessary components have always been
necessary in order to function; if component missing, does not work
*Wrong!
• e.g. human eye, protein function, bacterial flagellum
• Related to intelligent design
A7. Evaluate statements/claims critically, identifying them as pseudoscience,
anecdotal, or valid scientific claims. [Analysis, Evaluation]
A8. Analyze and draw conclusions from numerical and graphical data. [Application,
Analysis]
, B. History of Evolutionary Thought
B1. Relate Lamarck’s major contributions to evolutionary thought to Darwin’s
evolution by natural selection, explaining which of Lamarck’s hypotheses were
integral to Darwin’s idea, and which were not, providing reasons. [Comprehension]
Lamarck’s major contributions to evolutionary thought:
• Species change over time
• Changes are passed from one generation to the next
• Organisms change in response to their environments
a) Explain why Lamarck’s hypotheses of use and disuse, and inheritance of
acquired characteristics leading to evolutionary change, are not
supported. [Comprehension]
Principle of use and disuse – body parts grow in proportion to how much
they are used
• Used structures passed onto offspring *Wrong!
• Unused structures shrink are lost or become vestigial
Inheritance of acquire characteristics – structural changes acquired
over time passed onto offspring *Wrong!
b) Identify statements/ideas as Lamarckian or Darwinian, justifying your choice.
[Application, Analysis]
B2. Explain the influence of gradualism and uniformitarianism, and Malthus’s ideas of
population growth and food supply on Darwin’s ideas of natural selection and
evolution. [Comprehension]
Darwin’s ideas of natural selection and evolution:
• Species change gradually with respect to its changing environment
• Process ongoing since beginning when species first appeared
• Competition/survival of the fittest
• Struggle of survival
• Limited resource of food
• Some animals do not reproduce in its lifetime
Influences:
• Gradualism (Hutton) – theory the Earth and living organisms change
slowly over time; accumulation of small changes over long periods of
time can add up to big changes
• Uniformitarianism (Lyell) – geological process that sculpted Earth’s
surface in the past are the same today e.g. volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes; current geological processes occurred in past at same
rate as today
A. Nature of Science
A1. Describe how: science is a process (how science builds knowledge), the scientific
method is flexible in nature, and how ‘choices’ are made among alternative
hypotheses in science. [Comprehension]
Process of building knowledge:
• Based off experimental design; scientific method
• Testable ideas
• Relives on evidence
• Involves scientific community
• Ongoing research
• Empirical – based on experience and observations that are rational,
testable and repeatable
• Tentative, durable and selfcorrecting
• Preferred over alternative hypothesis
Flexible:
• Never conclusive
• Nondogmatic, allows for criticism and peer review
• Selfcorrecting with changing perspectives, new technology and new
experiments
• Raise new questions • Dynamic and creative
Choices:
• Made in alternative hypothesis due to unexplainable/unsolvable
phenomena
• Science explain natural and physical world
• Science does not explain supernatural
A2. Use the process of scientific inquiry to make effective decisions/arguments about
issues that have a biological component.
a) Evaluate alternative hypotheses to a scientific issue, justifying your choice, and
identifying/formulate predictions based on each of the hypotheses.
[Application, Synthesis, Evaluation]
b) Formulate a hypothesis based on a set of observation. [Analysis, Synthesis]
c) Design an experiment, or evaluate an experimental design, to test
the hypothesis. [Analysis, Synthesis]
A3. Compare and use the terms ‘hypothesis’ and ‘theory’ appropriately in their
scientific context. [Knowledge, Comprehension, Application]
, Hypothesis – proposed explanation of a phenomenon
• Leads to testable predictions
• Tested empirically
• Mutually exclusive alternative explanations (alternative vs. null)
Theory – central to scientific thinking; attempts explain a class of phenomenon
• Broader than hypothesis
• Allow for valid predictions
• Tested multiple ways
• Based off a lot of evidence
• Additional observations and points can be added
A4. Distinguish and describe subject matter (and the criteria that make them so)
appropriate to scientific study.
[Comprehension, Analysis]
Subject matter of Science:
• Only explains natural and physical world
• Establishes facts based off evidence
• Nondogmatic
• Does not explain supernatural
A5. Describe and explain the limitations of science as a means to answer questions,
making reference to the scientific merits of Intelligent Design, Theistic Evolution, and
Evolution. [Comprehension]
Limitations of science:
• Cannot explain supernatural
• Only can explain physical and natural world
• Intelligent Design – dispute theory of evolution, believe world is too
complex; therefore, intelligent designer put creatures on Earth the
way they were *should never be used to explain limitation of science
Religious idea
Not a theory, hypothesis not testable
Lacks evidence, not specific design to carry out experiment
Cannot be observed
Does not attempt to explain natural world
No scientific journal supports it
Does not accept peer review
Focuses on criticizing theory of evolution
Generative research
Misunderstand nature of science
, • Theistic evolution – god created universe, where all animals appear
on Earth; biological evolution natural process done by God
*discredited because God does not play role in science
Evolution occurred after creation of universe and life
Shares religious basis with intelligent design
Universe can be billions of years old
Species can share common ancestry
• Evolution – organisms change over time, in response to the environment,
where advantageous traits are passed on to offspring.
Valid science, not scientifically controversial
Experiment with observations
Repeatable and empirical results
Does not have a goal
A6. Explain the concept of ‘irreducible complexity’ making reference to evidence
supporting/refuting its validity. [Comprehension]
Irreducible complexity – assumes necessary components have always been
necessary in order to function; if component missing, does not work
*Wrong!
• e.g. human eye, protein function, bacterial flagellum
• Related to intelligent design
A7. Evaluate statements/claims critically, identifying them as pseudoscience,
anecdotal, or valid scientific claims. [Analysis, Evaluation]
A8. Analyze and draw conclusions from numerical and graphical data. [Application,
Analysis]
, B. History of Evolutionary Thought
B1. Relate Lamarck’s major contributions to evolutionary thought to Darwin’s
evolution by natural selection, explaining which of Lamarck’s hypotheses were
integral to Darwin’s idea, and which were not, providing reasons. [Comprehension]
Lamarck’s major contributions to evolutionary thought:
• Species change over time
• Changes are passed from one generation to the next
• Organisms change in response to their environments
a) Explain why Lamarck’s hypotheses of use and disuse, and inheritance of
acquired characteristics leading to evolutionary change, are not
supported. [Comprehension]
Principle of use and disuse – body parts grow in proportion to how much
they are used
• Used structures passed onto offspring *Wrong!
• Unused structures shrink are lost or become vestigial
Inheritance of acquire characteristics – structural changes acquired
over time passed onto offspring *Wrong!
b) Identify statements/ideas as Lamarckian or Darwinian, justifying your choice.
[Application, Analysis]
B2. Explain the influence of gradualism and uniformitarianism, and Malthus’s ideas of
population growth and food supply on Darwin’s ideas of natural selection and
evolution. [Comprehension]
Darwin’s ideas of natural selection and evolution:
• Species change gradually with respect to its changing environment
• Process ongoing since beginning when species first appeared
• Competition/survival of the fittest
• Struggle of survival
• Limited resource of food
• Some animals do not reproduce in its lifetime
Influences:
• Gradualism (Hutton) – theory the Earth and living organisms change
slowly over time; accumulation of small changes over long periods of
time can add up to big changes
• Uniformitarianism (Lyell) – geological process that sculpted Earth’s
surface in the past are the same today e.g. volcanic eruptions,
earthquakes; current geological processes occurred in past at same
rate as today
