Environmental Science test February

How are statistics helpful for evaluating information about the environment?

Pick 2

• Help to quantify and analyze different kinds of information

• Make it so you can make all information equal

• Describe whether being in an environment feels good

• Takes information you can show with numbers and calculate stuff with it

Why do environmental scientists use mathematical models?

Pick 2

• Math is easy to use because it is easier to get numbers about something than descriptions

• It gives the most precise way to express relationships you can quantify

• Models look more clear especially on computers

• You can more carefully understand something if you use exact numbers and analyze them in an objective way

How does making a table help you evaluate the values and concerns you have when making a decision?

Pick 2

• Tables are the only way to keep numbers very organized

• Tables organize things the best to compare them

• Tables organize things so you can figure out decisions about them easier

• Tables make you put everything in numbers

What does a scientist mean by the statement:

"There is an 80 percent probability that a tornado will hit this area within the next 10 days."

• There is an 8 out of 10 chance a tornado will strike over the next 8 days.

• There is an 8 out of 10 chance a tornado will strike over the next 10 days.

• There is going to be a tornado in the next 10 days.

• It is 80 times more likely there will be a tornado in the next 10 days.

Are complicated models always more accurate?

Pick 2

• Yes, they are because they have more information. More detail always helps people understand better.

• No, they aren't because adding more detail only makes sense if it is telling us something relevant (that matters to what we are doing).

• No, having more detail is not always better because it can make it harder to see the relationship you are trying to test.

• Yes, making things more complicated means you see more important aspects of something.

What is serendipity?

• searching for something in a way you have all planned out

• luck in having things you need

• luck in finding something accidentally

• searching for something with a theory in mind

How would a scientist categorize a testable explanation for an observation?

• a correlation

• an experiment

• a hypothesis

• a prediction

What happens when an observation is submitted for peer review?

• The article is proofread before it is published

• A professor gives a lecture based on a published article

• The results are looked at closely by other scientific experts

• Information on the experimental design is included in published works

Which of the following is an example of a scientist's physical model?

• a crash-test dummy for a car company

• a diagram of the structure of an atom

• a map of Denver, Colorado

• a satellite image of South America

What attribute of a skeptic would contribute to a good scientific mind?

• willingness to travel

• empathetic nature

• desire to conduct experiments

• continual questioning of observations