1. AP Biology Exam May 11th Offered by College Board
Can earn credit for college courses and/or get to “skip” introductory biology
Cost $91, but students with financial need may qualify for $29 reduction
Tuition
MSU = $ per credit hour
LCC = $85 per billing hour (for residents in the greater Lansing area)
Save $340 to $1760, plus the time you save not having to take an introductory biology course.

2. Scientific Method Concept Map
What do we know about the scientific method?
Build a concept map together as a class

3. Scientific Theories Scientific Theories
The purpose of the scientific method is to establish scientific theories that can be used as predictive tools.
A scientific theory is not a suspicion or a belief, but is defined by the National Academy of Sciences as a “well substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that incorporates facts, laws, inferences and tested hypotheses”
Ex. theory of evolution
big bang theory

4. Other Explanations for Natural Processes
Beliefs inspired by philosophy and theology
Do not fit into the model and standards of the scientific method
That is not to say that they lack value, but rather that the science classroom is not a place for their development

5. How did life originate on Earth?

6. Timeline for the Origin of Life
4.6 Bya: The Earth formed
3.9 Bya: End of heavy bombardment of Earth with ice and rock
??: The origin of life
3.5 Bya: Earliest fossil evidence of life
Stromatolites

7. Earth’s Early Atmosphere
Mostly water vapor (H2O), nitrogen (N2), and carbon dioxide (CO2)
Small amounts of hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and carbon monoxide (CO)
Very little oxygen (O2)

8. In order for there to be life, you need…
Synthesis of simple organic (carbon-based molecules that make up living things) molecules from inorganic molecules
Assembly of these small molecules into larger macromolecules (ex. proteins and nucleic acids)
Packaging of these macromolecules into cell-like structures
The ability to self-replicate 1 3 2

9. The “Organic Soup” Model
The conditions of the early atmosphere allowed chemical reactions which formed simple organic molecules from atmospheric gases
An energy input was required
Lightning or UV radiation
Organic molecules then dissolved in the oceans

10. What would count as evidence of a model of the “Organic Soup” Model?
A scientific model = “The generation of a physical, conceptual, or mathmatical representation of a real phenomenon that is difficult to observe directly” Encyclopaedia Britannica