A nonliving factor or element (e.g., light, water, heat, rock, energy, mineral). Though important for photosynthesis, sunlight cannot reproduce therefore.

ABIOTIC: A nonliving factor or element (e.g.,

light, water, heat, rock, energy, mineral).

Though important for photosynthesis, sunlight cannot reproduce therefore it is abiotic.

ACID DEPOSITION:

Precipitation with a pH less than 5.6 that forms in the atmosphere when certain pollutants mix with water vapor.

Turn-of-the-century headstones are barely legible today due to acid deposition which weathers their chiseled writing.

ALLELE: Any of a set of possible forms of a

gene.

Brown eye-color is a dominant allele to blue eye-color.

BIOCHEMICAL CONVERSION: The changing of organic matter into

other chemical forms.

Burning wood in your fireplace is a simple example of biochemical conversion.

BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: The variety and complexity of

species present and interacting in an ecosystem and the relative abundance of each.

Every effort is necessary to preserve the Amazon due the number of species discovered every month; it’s the world’s most biologically diverse ecosystem.

BIOMASS CONVERSION: The changing of organic matter that

has been produced by photosynthesis into useful liquid, gas or fuel.

The production of ethanol from corn is an example of biomass conversion.

BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY: The application of health care

theories to develop methods, products and tools to maintain or improve homeostasis.

Stem cell research to help fight/cure disease is a controversial branch of biomedical technology.

BIOMES: A community of living organisms of

a single major ecological region.

Here in Pennsylvania we live in the deciduous forest (also sometimes called the humid continental) biome.

BIOTECHNOLOGY:

The ways that humans apply biological concepts to produce products and provide services.

Glofish© were developed through the use of biotechnology.

BIOTIC Biotic: An environmental factor

related to or produced by living organisms.

The amount of algae in a pond is a biotic factor that affects other organisms in both positive and negative ways.

CARBON CHEMISTRY: The science of the composition,

structure, properties and reactions of carbon based matter, especially of atomic and molecular systems; sometimes referred to as organic chemistry.

The difference between ethanol and methanol are explained in carbon chemistry.

CLOSING THE LOOP A link in the circular chain of

recycling events that promotes the use of products made with recycled materials.

At Linglestown we only use paper made of at least 90 % recycled material thereby closing the loop.

COMMODITIES: Economic goods or products before

they are processed and/or given a brand name, such as a product of agriculture.

One can make a great deal of money on the stock market by trading in commodities such as wheat and pork bellies.

COMPOSTING: The process of mixing decaying

leaves, manure and other nutritive matter to improve and fertilize soil.

We saved room in our kitchen trash by composting uneaten food.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY: The ways that humans build

structures on sites.

New buildings are designed to be more energy efficient because of advances in construction technology.

CONSUMER: 1) Those organisms that obtain

energy by feeding on other organisms and their remains.

2) A person buying goods or services for personal needs or to use in the production of other goods for resale.

A tiger is the top predator in India; a second-order consumer.

It is easier to save money when one is a conscientious consumer.

DECOMPOSER: An organism, often microscopic in

size, that obtains nutrients by consuming dead organic matter, thereby making nutrients accessible to other organisms; examples of decomposers include fungi, scavengers, rodents and other animals.

Thanks to decomposers, our highway is not littered with the carcasses of dead animals.

DELINEATE: To trace the outline; to draw; to

sketch; to depict or picture.

For life science, we delineated each cell in its stage of mitosis.

DESALINIZATION: To remove salts and other

chemicals from sea or saline water.

Thanks to desalinization, crops are grown in arid places like Ethiopia and Egypt.

DICHOTOMOUS: Divided or dividing into two parts

or classifications

We categorized leaves into different types using a dichotomous key.

ECOSYSTEM: A community of living organisms

and their interrelated physical and chemical environment.

Ponds are important aquatic ecosystems contained within a small space.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION: System for the transmission of

information using electronic technology (e.g., digital cameras, cellular telephones, Internet, television, fiber optics).

Most 8th graders utilize electronic communication to talk with one another after school hours.

EMBRYOLOGY: The branch of biology dealing with

the development of living things from fertilized egg to its developed state.

Advances in embryology allow doctors to detect birth defects earlier in a woman’s pregnancy.

ENDANGERED SPECIES: A species that is in danger of

extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Due to its small and decreasing population, the northern flying squirrel is an endangered species in Pennsylvania.

ENGINEERING: The application of scientific,

physical, mechanical and mathematical principles to design processes, products and structures that improve the quality of life.

In order to design a bridge, a person would have to be skilled in mechanical and civil engineering.

ENVIRONMENT: The total of the surroundings (air,

water, soil, vegetation, people, wildlife) influencing each living being’s existence, including physical, biological and all other factors; the surroundings of a plant or animals including other plants or animals, climate and location.

The interactions of humans with the environment and how they alter it is an important component of earth science.

ENZYME: A protein that increases the rate of

a chemical reaction without being changed by the reaction; an organic catalyst.

In order to obtain beneficial carbohydrates and proteins from food, our stomach has digestive enzymes.

EQUILIBRIUM: The ability of an ecosystem to

maintain stability among its biological resources (e.g., forest, fisheries, crops) so that there is a steady optimum yield.

If the prey animals disappear from an area the predators will surely follow, upsetting environmental equilibrium.

ERGONOMICAL: Of or relating to the design of

equipment or devices to fit the human body’s control, position, movement and environment.

Houses are designed more ergonomical with open spaces and more energy saving features than they were in the 1970s.

EVOLUTION: A process of change that explains why

what we see today is different from what existed in the past; it includes changes in the galaxies, stars, solar system, earth and life on earth. Biological evolution is a change in hereditary characteristics of groups of organisms over the course of generations.

Present day birds became smaller than their ancestors through the process of evolution.

EXTINCTION: The complete elimination of a

species from the earth.

Due to loss of habitat, Indiana bats are facing extinction.

FACT: Information that has been

objectively verified.

The process by which sex cells are formed through meiosis is a proven scientific fact.

GEOLOGIC HAZARD: A naturally occurring or man-made

condition or phenomenon that presents a risk or is a potential danger to life and property (e.g., landslides, floods, earthquakes, ground subsidence, coastal and beach erosion, faulting, dam leakage and failure, mining disasters, pollution and waste disposal, sinkholes).

Sinkholes in Palmyra have forced people from their homes and have became a serious geologic hazard to the area.

GEOLOGIC MAP: A representation of a region on which

is recorded earth information (e.g., the distribution, nature and age relationships of rock units and the occurrences of structural features, mineral deposits and fossil localities).

Dauphin County has numerous types of bedrock as indicated on a geologic map of Pennsylvania.

GROUNDWATER: Water that infiltrates the soil is

located in underground reservoirs called aquifers.

Penn’s Cave and Indian Echo Caverns were both formed by groundwater.

HAZARDOUS WASTE: A solid that, because of its quantity or

concentration or its physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, may cause or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported or disposed of, or otherwise managed.

Wetlands in the Delmarva peninsula are too often contaminated by hazardous waste.

HOMEOSTASIS: The tendency for a system to

remain in a state of equilibrium by resisting change.

Your body does its best through shivering and perspiring to maintain homeostasis by keeping your core temperature at 37°C.

HYDROLOGY: The scientific study of the

properties, distribution and effects of water on the earth’s surface, in the soil and underlying rocks and in the atmosphere.

How the Susquehanna water shed shapes central Pennsylvania is explained by the branch of earth science known as hydrology.

HYPOTHESIS: An assertion, subject to verification

or proof, as a premise from which a conclusion is drawn.

SpongeBob thought that the special laundry soap would work but he made the incorrect hypothesis.

INCINERATING: Burning to ashes; reducing to

ashes.

Mt. Etna often erupts incinerating the trees and grass on its slopes.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: The technical means that humans

create to store and transmit information.

Thanks to information technology, all files on my computer are organized.

INQUIRY: A systematic process for using

knowledge and skills to acquire and apply new knowledge.

We strive for the correct answers on labs by using our process of scientific inquiry.

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY: Any mechanical aid (including

computer technology) used to assist in or enhance the process of teaching and learning.

Our notes are displayed using the LCD projector, a vital component of instructional technology.

INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT: A variety of pest control methods

that include repairs, traps, bait, poison, etc. to eliminate pests.

So as not to harm indigenous species, emerald ash borers are eliminated through integrated pest management.

LAW: Summarizing statement of

observed experimental facts that has been tested many times and is generally accepted as true.

Gravity is a law.

LENTIC: Relating to or living in still water.

Mosquito larvae are mostly a lentic species.

LOTIC: Relating to or living in actively

moving water.

Salmon are a lotic species of fish.

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY: The ways that humans produce

goods and products.

Manufacturing technology has cut production time of iPhones in half.

MITIGATION: The policy of constructing or

creating man-made habitats, such as wetlands, to replace those lost to development.

Florida’s everglades are being reclaimed to stem suburban development through mitigation.

MITOSIS: The sequential differentiation and

segregation of replicated chromosomes in a cell’s nucleus that precedes complete cell division.

In order for an organism to stop growing youmust interrupt cell mitosis.

MODEL: A description, analogy or a

representation of something that helps us understand it better (e.g., a physical model, a conceptual model, a mathematical model).

It’s much easier to understand the structure of an atom when you can see a model of one.

NICHE (ECOLOGICAL): The role played by an organism in

an ecosystem; its food preferences, requirements for shelter, special behaviors and the timing of its activities (e.g., nocturnal, diurnal), interaction with other organisms and its habitat.

The platypus has no natural predators or competition for food since it occupies its own niche.

NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION: Contamination (pollution) that

originates from many locations that all discharge into a location (like a lake, stream, land area).

During spring, several area ponds are damaged due to snow melt and runoff crossing major roads by nonpoint source pollution.

POINT SOURCE POLLUTION: Pollutants discharged from a single

identifiable location (pipes, ditches, channels, sewers, tunnels, containers of various types).

A factory upriver is a point source for pollution of the Chesapeake Bay.

NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES: Substances (e.g., oil, gas, coal,

copper, gold) that, once used, cannot be replaced in this geological age.

Though northern Pennsylvania was once centers of mining, many people have since left and mines closed because coal is a non-renewable resource.

NOVA: A variable star that suddenly

increases in brightness to several times its normal magnitude and returns to its original appearance in a few weeks to several months or years.

Though undetectable at first glance, if you observe the sky with careful observation at the right place one can see Nova Centauri 2013.

PATTERNS: Repeated processes that are

exhibited in a wide variety of ways; identifiable recurrences of the element and/or the form.

The categorization of plant types is done by observing patterns within monocots and dicots.

PEST: A label applied to an organism

when it is in competition with humans for some resource.

Gypsy moth caterpillars (bagworms as they are sometimes called) are a widely distributed pest.

PHYSICAL TECHNOLOGY: The ways that humans construct,

manufacture and transport products.

Through physical technology and faster freight-carrying ships, goods from Asia that once took months to arrive now take only weeks.

RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPE: An atom that gives off nuclear

radiation and has the same number of protons (atomic number) as another atom but a different number of neutrons.

Carbon 14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon 12.

RECYCLING: Collecting and reprocessing a

resource or product to make into new products.

Most of our paper used in class comes from recycled material.

REGULATION: A rule or order issued by an

executive authority or regulatory agency of a government and having the force of law.

The production of electricity by nuclear power in under strict regulation by the government.

RENEWABLE: A naturally occurring raw material

or form of energy that will be replenished through natural ecological cycles or sound management practices (e.g., the sun, wind, water, trees).

With careful management our natural timber forests in Oregon are renewable.

RISK MANAGEMENT: A strategy developed to reduce or

control the chance of harm or loss to one’s health or life; the process of identifying, evaluating, selecting and implementing actions to reduce risk to human health and to ecosystems.

Thanks to careful risk management, pesticides and their application are not as harmful to the environment and to the human population as they once were.

SCALE: Relates concepts and ideas to one

another by some measurement (e.g., quantitative, numeral, abstract, ideological); provides a measure of size and/or incremental change.

By measuring the room and its size on the map, one can design a workable scale for a map of Linglestown Middle School.

SCIENCE: Search for understanding the

natural world using inquiry and experimentation.

We perform several laboratory investigations in science class.

SHREDDER: Through chewing and/or grinding,

microorganisms feed on non-woody coarse particulate matter, primarily leaves.

Carbon contained in leaf litter is eventually released for use in photosynthesis by shredders.

STREAM ORDER: Energy and nutrient flow that

increases as water moves toward the oceans (e.g., the smallest stream (primary) that ends when rivers flow into oceans).

Tracing the Swatara Creek, to the Susquehanna River, to the Chesapeake Bay to the Atlantic Ocean is an example of increasing stream order.

SUCCESSION: The series of changes that occur in

an ecosystem with the passing of time.

When an area starts out as a grassland and ends up a forest; that is an example of floral succession.

SUSTAINABILITY: The ability to keep in existence or

maintain. A sustainable ecosystem is one that can be maintained.

Those people that live alone in the forest and “live off the land” attempt to live a sustainable existence.

SYSTEM: A group of related objects that

work together to achieve a desired result.

The nitrogen cycle is a closed loop system.

CLOSED LOOP SYSTEM: A group of related objects that

have feedback and can modify themselves.

The human body’s ability to regulate it’s temperature is a closed loop system.

OPEN LOOP SYSTEM: A group of related objects that do

not have feedback and cannot modify themselves.

The life cycle of a star from medium sized yellow star, to giant red star, to white dwarf is an open loop system.

SUBSYSTEM: A group of related objects that

make up a larger system (e.g., automobiles have electrical systems, fuel systems).

The human body consists of several subsystems like the digestive and reproductive.

TECHNOLOGICAL DESIGN PROCESS: Recognizing the problem, proposing

a solution, implementing the solution, evaluating the solution and communicating the problem, design and solution.

The new iPhone 6 was no doubt developed by a technological design process as were the previous models.

TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION: The application of tools, materials,

processes and systems to solve problems and extend human capabilities.

Most students are first exposed to drafting and woodworking through technology education.

THEORY OF EVOLUTION: A theory that the various types of

animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modification in successive generations.

Darwin and Lamarck were 2 pioneers in advancing the theory of evolution.

THEORY: Systematically organized knowledge

applicable in a relatively wide variety of circumstances; especially, a system of assumptions, accepted principles and rules of procedure devised to analyze, predict or otherwise explain the nature or behavior of a specified set of phenomena.

Most paleontologists have a similar theory about the extinction of dinosaurs nearly 65 million years ago.

TOOL: Any device used to extend human

capability including computer-based tools.

A lever and wedge are often considered some of prehistory’s first tools.

TOPOGRAPHIC MAP: A representation of a region on a

sufficient scale to show detail, selected man-made and natural features of a portion of the land surface including its relief and certain physical and cultural features; the portrayal of the position, relation, size, shape and elevation of the area.

According to a topographic map we are 167 meters above sea level.

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS: A group of related parts that

function together to perform a major task in any form of transportation.

Disney World has a complex but efficient transportation system.

TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY: Transportation technology: The

physical ways humans move materials, goods and people.

UPS, FedEx and the United States Postal Service are at the forefront of transportation technology.

TROPHIC LEVELS: Trophic levels: The role of an

organism in nutrient and energy flow within an ecosystem (e.g., herbivore, carnivore, decomposer).

Trees, cyanobacteria and grasses are all producers; therefore at the first trophic level.

WASTE STREAM: The flow of (waste) materials from

generation, collection and separation to disposal.

One can follow the waste stream of recyclables from the classroom, tot the recycling bin tot the recycling center.

WATERSHED: The land area from which surface

runoff drains into a stream, channel, lake, reservoir or other body of water; also called a drainage basin.

We live in the Susquehanna River watershed.

WETLANDS: Lands where water saturation is the

dominant factor determining the nature of the soil development and the plant and animal communities (e.g., sloughs, estuaries, marshes)

The largest concentration of wetlands in the United States is located in southern Florida.