Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
Skills Worksheet
CH1.1Active Reading
Section: The Nature of Science
Read the passage below. Notice that certain sentences are numbered. Answer the
questions that follow.
1
Scientists study the natural world by observing. 2 That means
they use their senses to notice characteristics of objects and living
things and to learn information about natural events. Scientists use
their observations to formulate questions. Questioning is a key
feature of scientific thought. 3 Scientific thought is also based on
skepticisma doubting attitude. Scientists look carefully and
questioningly at evidence used to support ideas. They do not
simply accept opinions. 4 For example, according to conventional
wisdom, stress is the cause of stomach ulcers. 5 However, some
scientists studying this problem could not find any evidence to
support the cause-and-effect relationship. 6 So they examined
microorganisms in the stomachs of people with and without
stomach ulcers. 7 They found people with ulcers had higher levels
of bacteria called Helicobacter pylori in their stomachs than other
people did. 8 Extensive research has shown that these bacteria
cause stomach ulcers.
SKILL: READING EFFECTIVELY
Read each question, and write your answer in the space provided.
1. Based on Sentence 2, how would you define the word observe?
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2. Based on Sentence 3, how would you define the word skepticism?
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3. Use context clues to explain what conventional wisdom is.
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4. A possible cause-and-effect relationship is presented in Sentence 4. What is it?
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Active Reading continued
SKILL: RECOGNIZING CAUSE AND EFFECT
Read each question, and write your answer in the space provided.
5. Based on Sentence 5, how did some scientists assess this cause-and-effect
relationship and why?
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6. How did these scientists find evidence of a different cause-and-effect
relationship? Which sentence supports your answer?
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7. What have scientists found to be a cause of stomach ulcers?
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8. Based on this paragraph, what would scientists do if they found that the cause
for stomach ulcers you gave in Question 8 did not seem to explain why some
people had stomach ulcers?
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In the space provided, write the letter of the term or phrase that best answers the
question.
_____ 9. To learn more about stomach ulcers, what did the scientists described
in the paragraph do?
a. They recorded what people with stomach ulcers ate.
b. They gauged the stress levels of people with and without stomach
ulcers.
c. They observed the microscopic organisms in the stomachs of people
with and without ulcers.
d. They accepted the conventional wisdom about the cause for stomach
ulcers.
Skills Worksheet
1.2 Active Reading
Section: Scientific Methods
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Read the passage below. Then answer the questions that follow.
Scientists make progress the same way a sculptor makes a marble
statue—by chipping away at unwanted bits. If a hypothesis does not
provide a reasonable explanation for what has been observed, the
hypothesis is rejected. Scientists come up with new hypotheses,
which they test with new experiments. If a new hypothesis is
supported with one study or experiment, scientists may rerun their
study and experiment several times. This helps them verify the
conditions under which their hypothesis is supported. They also
confer with other scientists. They read many scientific publications.
They want to see if the results of their experiments are supported by
the work of other scientists.
If a group of related hypotheses are very well supported and
explain a great amount of data, scientists may put the hypotheses
together in their formulation of a theory. A theory is a general
explanation for a broad range of data. A theory differs from a
hypothesis in scope. A hypothesis is a specific testable prediction for
a limited set of conditions. A theory is a generally accepted principle
that has been highly tested and that helps explain many observations.
SKILL: READING EFFECTIVELY
Read each question, and write your answer in the space provided.
1. What causes a hypothesis to be rejected?
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2. What do scientists do after they reject a hypothesis?
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3. What is the main difference between a hypothesis and a theory?
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Active Reading continued
SKILL: ORGANIZING INFORMATION
In the spaces provided, write the term or phrase from the Word Box that best
completes each statement.
4. The graphic organizer below illustrates the making of a theory.
In the space provided, write the letter of the term or phrase that best answers the
question.
_____ 5. Why might a scientist rerun an experiment if the experiment is shown
to support a hypothesis?
a. to support a related hypothesis
b. to check to see if the experiment continues to support the hypothesis
c. to see if the results of his/her experiments are supported by the work
of other scientists
d. to prove a theory to other scientists
Skills Worksheet
1.3 Active Reading
Section: Tools and Techniques
Read the passage below. Then answer the questions that follow.
Measurements taken by scientists are expressed in metric units.
The official name of the metric system is the International System
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of Measurements, abbreviated as SI. SI is a decimal system, so all
relationships between SI units are based on powers of 10. For
example, scientists measure the dimensions of objects using the SI
unit for length, which is the meter. One meter (1 m), which is
about 3.28 ft (a little more than a yard), equals 100 centimeters
(cm), or 1,000 millimeters (mm). A meter also equals 0.001
kilometer (km). Note that the units have a prefix that indicates the
relationship of that unit to the base unit. For example, a
micrometer is a unit of linear measurement equal to one-millionth
(0.000001) of a meter, or one-thousandth of a millimeter.
SKILL: READING EFFECTIVELY
Read each question, and write your answer in the space provided.
1. How are the metric system and SI related?
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2. Why are all relationships between SI units based on powers of 10?
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3. Which SI unit is used to measure the length of objects?
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4. Based on the passage, what do you infer a base unit is?
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5. Why do many SI units contain a prefix?
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Active Reading continued
SKILL: ORGANIZING INFORMATION
Use information contained in the passage to complete the table.
Unit
Prefix
1 meter equals
kilometer (km)
6.
7.
centimeter (cm)
8.
9.
millimeter (mm)
10.
11.
micrometer (µm)
12.
13.
In the space provided, write the letter of the term or phrase that best completes the
statement.
_____ 14. A person who is 2 m tall is
a. a little more than 3 ft tall.
b. less than 5 ft tall.
c. exactly 6 ft tall.
d. a little more than 6 ft tall.
Skills Worksheet
1.4 Active Reading
Section: What Is Biology?
Read the passage below. Then answer the questions that follow.
All organisms show the seven properties of living things at one or
more stages of their lives. The seven properties of living things are
cellular organization, homeostasis, metabolism, responsiveness,
reproduction, heredity, and growth. Nonliving things sometimes
seem to show some of these properties. For example, some
chemical substances change color when exposed to heat or light.
They seem to be responsive. But these substances do not show all
seven properties of living things. The seven properties give a clear
method for determining what is living and what is nonliving.
Living things can reproduce. Reproduction is the process living
organisms use to produce offspring. All living things are able to
pass on their characteristics to their offspring. The process of
passing of traits from parents to offspring is called heredity.
Children tend to resemble their parents because of heredity.
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SKILL: READING EFFECTIVELY
Read each question, and write your answer in the space provided.
1. List the seven properties of living things.
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2. Does every living thing always show each one of these properties? Explain
your answer.
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Active Reading continued
3. Do nonliving things ever show properties of living things? Explain your
answer.
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4. What is reproduction?
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5. What is heredity?
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6. How are reproduction and heredity similar? How are they different?
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In the space provided, write the letter of the term or phrase that best answers the
question.
_____ 7. Which of these is an example of reproduction?
a. A bacterium splits into two bacteria.
b. A cell in your cheek makes a copy of the genetic information in its
nucleus.
c. The bud on a tree branch swells in the spring.
d. A salamander has its tail cut off and grows a new tail.
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