Learning Outcomes:
i. Students will understand the first steps of the biological method.
ii. They will learn how to recognize a biological problem and use observation to identify key aspects of that problem.
iii. Students will be capable of forming a hypothesis based on observations, using malaria as an example.
Summary of Lesson:
In this lesson, we’ll discover how biologists, like detectives, begin to understand and solve problems in nature. We’ll use malaria, a disease caused by tiny parasites, as our case study to learn these steps.
i. Recognizing a Biological Problem: Start with understanding what malaria is and how it affects people, which presents our biological problem: "Why does malaria cause illness?"
ii. Observations: Observe how malaria is spread by mosquitoes and the symptoms it causes, like fever and chills.
iii. Identification: Identify the parasite that causes malaria, where it lives, and how it gets from mosquitoes into people.
iv. Forming a Hypothesis: Based on our observations, we can make an educated guess, or hypothesis, like "The malaria parasite in the mosquito’s saliva causes malaria when it enters a person’s bloodstream."
List of Important Questions for Self Study:
i. What are the initial steps in the biological method?
ii. How do biologists recognize and define a biological problem?
iii. Why is observation crucial in understanding a problem like malaria?
iv. What does it mean to identify key aspects of a biological problem?
v. How do you form a hypothesis from observations?
vi. Why is the hypothesis about malaria focused on the parasite and the mosquito?
vii. What other observations could you make about how malaria is transmitted?
viii. Can you think of a different hypothesis for how malaria spreads?
ix. Why is it important to be precise when identifying a problem in biology?
x. How would you test the hypothesis that you have formed about malaria?
Important Terminologies Used in Lesson:
i. Biological Method: A series of steps biologists use to gather information about the natural world and solve problems.
ii. Malaria: A disease caused by a parasite, transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes.
iii. Observation: The action of watching and noticing something as it occurs in nature.
iv. Identification: The process of recognizing and naming the factors involved in a biological problem.
v. Hypothesis: An educated guess based on observations that can be tested through further investigation.
vi. Parasite: An organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host’s expense.
vii. Symptoms: Signs or notices of disease or illness, like fever or chills in malaria.
