What Is Biology?

Pretend that you have been asked to be part of a debate about whether or not a tree in your local park can be considered "life." Several of your coursemates will be taking the position that the tree is not alive, while you will take the position that the tree is indeed "life." Using your knowledge from this topic, you will need to prepare five to seven notecards addressing the issue. Use the questions below to assist you in your note card creation:

  • How do trees fit in the field of biology? Which type of biologist would study them?
  • What characteristics do scientists use to classify something as living?
  • How does a tree meet those characteristics?

Each note card should include the following parts:

  • A short heading showing the overall topic of the note card
  • One to two bullets pertaining to the topic of the note card
  • Any citations or footnotes about the bullets

The details provided on your notecards should be well-organized and clearly-written. You can design your own note cards, or you can use the Life Debate Preparation Note Card Template to produce copies of your cards. Before you begin, access the Life Debate Preparation Note Card Checklist to make sure that you include all of the items required for full credit. You may need to use resources outside of this course to complete this assignment. If so, please submit a Works Cited document. If you need assistance, visit the Developmental Module for information on citing any resources that you used.

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Once you have completed your note cards, please submit your work to the dropbox.