Life Science: About the Workshop

Track Your Understanding

One way to assess your own learning at the end of this course is to start by documenting what you know at the beginning. Below are questions related to the life science topics being addressed during this course. Answer them as best you can – this is not a test! At the final session, you’ll be able to track how your understandings have changed.

1. What distinguishes living things from dead and nonliving things?

2. How do scientists classify living things?

3. A new type of life form has been discovered. How could you tell whether it should be classified as an animal, plant, or something else?

4. There is a saying that like begets like. In the living world, we observe this as offspring that resemble parents and types of organisms that produce the same types. What ensures this continuity of life?

5. Describe the life cycle of a typical animal.

6. Describe the life cycle of a typical plant.

7. Distinguish between DNA, chromosomes, and genes.

8. What causes individuals of a species to vary from one another?

9. Explain the process of natural selection.

10. Describe the ideas underlying the theory of evolution.

11. What defines a species?

12. How does evolution result in new species?

13. Distinguish between producers, consumers, and decomposers.

14. How does energy travel through the living world?

15. How does matter travel though an ecosystem?