Science: Conflicting Viewpoints Flashcards

Two students debate whether a river formed by erosion or by a tectonic crack. A question asks for a point of DISAGREEMENT. You should find where:

Answer: Their explanations of the cause differ

Disagreement appears in the differing causal explanations, not in shared descriptive facts.

A Conflicting Viewpoints passage gives Hypothesis A and Hypothesis B. A question says 'According to Hypothesis A...' You should:

Answer: Use only the information from Hypothesis A

When a question specifies one hypothesis, answer strictly from that viewpoint's stated information.

Which finding would most strongly SUPPORT a hypothesis that a fossil belonged to a warm-climate animal?

Answer: Tropical plant fossils found in the same rock layer

Tropical plants in the same layer indicate a warm environment, supporting the warm-climate hypothesis.

Scientist 1's model requires that light travels as a wave. Discovering light behaves only as particles would:

Answer: Undermine Scientist 1's model

Removing the wave behavior the model depends on directly undermines that scientist's position.

A reliable strategy for Conflicting Viewpoints passages is to:

Answer: Read the introduction carefully since it gives shared background

The intro usually states the shared phenomenon and context that both viewpoints attempt to explain.

If a question asks which viewpoint a particular piece of new data favors, you should:

Answer: Match the data to whichever viewpoint's prediction it confirms

Data favors the viewpoint whose predictions or claims it is consistent with.

Two researchers agree the ocean is warming but disagree on the cause. A question about the CAUSE should be answered by:

Answer: Comparing each researcher's proposed mechanism

Cause questions hinge on the differing mechanisms each researcher proposes, not the shared observation.