Standards

• SC.912.L.16.10 Evaluate the impact of biotechnology on the individual, society and the environment, including medical and ethical issues. 

• SC.912.N.1.1 Define a problem based on a specific body of knowledge, for example: biology, chemistry, physics, and earth/space science, and do the following: 

  1. Pose questions about the natural world, 

  2. Articulate the purpose of the investigation and identify the relevant scientific concepts. 

  3. Examine books and other sources of information to see what is already known,  

  4. Review what is known in light of empirical evidence, (Examine whether available empirical evidence can be interpreted in terms of existing knowledge and models, and if not, modify or develop new models). 

  5. Plan investigations, (Design and evaluate a scientific investigation). 

  6. Use tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data (this includes the use of measurement in metric and other systems, and also the generation and interpretation of graphical representations of data, including data tables and graphs), (Collect data or evidence in an organized way. Properly use instruments, equipment, and materials (e.g., scales, probeware, meter sticks, microscopes, computers) including set-up, calibration, technique, maintenance, and storage). 

  7. Pose answers, explanations, or descriptions of events, 

  8. Generate explanations that explicate or describe natural phenomena (inferences), 

  9. Use appropriate evidence and reasoning to justify these explanations to others, 

  10. Communicate results of scientific investigations, and 

  11. Evaluate the merits of the explanations produced by others. 

• SC.912.N.1.3 Recognize that the strength or usefulness of a scientific claim is evaluated through scientific argumentation, which depends on critical and logical thinking, and the active consideration of alternative scientific explanations to explain the data presented. 

• SC.912.N.1.4 Identify sources of information and assess their reliability according to the strict standards of scientific investigation. 

• SC.912.N.1.6  Describe how scientific inferences are drawn from scientific observations and provide examples from the content being studied. 

• SC.912.N.2.1 Identify what is science, what clearly is not science, and what superficially resembles science (but fails to meet the criteria for science). 

• SC.912.N.2.2 Identify which questions can be answered through science and which questions are outside the boundaries of scientific investigation, such as questions addressed by other ways of knowing, such as art, philosophy, and religion. 

• SC.912.N.3.1 Explain that a scientific theory is the culmination of many scientific investigations drawing together all the current evidence concerning a substantial range of phenomena; thus, a scientific theory represents the most powerful explanation scientists have to offer. 

• SC.912.N.3.4  Recognize that theories do not become laws, nor do laws become theories; theories are well supported explanations and laws are well supported descriptions. 

Vocabulary

1. Bioethics - study of ethical, social, and legal issues in biology

2. Cloning - creating an exact replica of a living creature

3. Gel Electrophoresis - Uses an electrical field to separate pieces of protein, DNA or RNA based on size

4. Genetic Engineering - using laboratory technology to alter the genetic make up of an organism

5. Plasmid - Small, normally circular, piece of genetic material, normally found in Prokaryotes

6. Polymerase Chain Reaction - Using the enzyme polymerase this method isolates a specific gene and then multiplies it over and over again for study

7. Recombinant DNA - DNA that has been artificially completed or filled in using other species or DNA splicing  

8. Restriction Enzymes - Enzymes that can cut DNA at specific locations

9. Transformation - Process where prokaryotes take up free DNA and incorporate it into their own Genome

10. Bias - Prejudice in favor of a specific outcome or concept

11. Control - Used for comparison purposes, does not have the independent variable

12. Data - Facts and statistics collected during an experiment to analyze the effectiveness of an experiment 

13. Dependent Variable - The variable we measure to see if the independent variable caused a change

14. Evidence -  information, facts, or data that supports a premise

15. Hypothesis - If/Then statement. It is the proposed explanation for why a phenomenon is happening

16. Independent Variable - The variable being changed in the experience and being experimented on

17. Inference - Conclusion drawn from evidence obtained through experimentation

18. Law - Statement of an observable phenomenon that is predictable and ever occurring

19. Observation - Used to collect data in an experiment

20. Qualitative - Type of observation that relies on the five senses to gather

21. Quantitative - Type of observation that relies on numbers and data

22. Scientific Method - multiple methods that are used for performing scientific experimentation

23. Theory - Attempt to explain why or how a phenomenon occurs

24. Trend - Describes the general direction or change in variables in a data set.