| A | B |
| Fact | Information that has been objectively verified |
| Geologic hazard | naturally occurring or man-made condition or phenomenon that presents a risk or is a potential danger to life and property |
| Geologic map | representation of a region on which is recorded earth information |
| Groundwater | Water that infiltrates the soil and is located in underground reservoirs called aquifers |
| Hazardous waste | 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 |
| Homeostasis | tendency for a system to remain in a state of equilibrium by resisting change |
| Hydrology | 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 |
| Hypothesis | An assertion subject to verification or proof as a premise from which a conclusion is drawn |
| Incinerating | Burning to ashes; reducing to ashes |
| Information technology | technical means that humans create to store and transmit information |
| Inquiry | systematic process for using knowledge and skills to acquire and apply new knowledge |
| Instructional technology | Any mechanical aid used to assist in or enhance the process of teaching and learning |
| Integrated pest management | variety of pest control methods that include repairs, traps, bait, poison, etc. to eliminate pests |
| Law | Summarizing statement of observed experimental facts that has been tested many times and is generally accepted as true |
| Lentic | Relating to or living in still water |
| Lotic | Relating to or living in actively moving water |
| Manufacturing technology | The ways that humans produce goods and products |
| Mitigation | policy of constructing or creating man-made habitats, such as wetlands, to replace those lost to development |
| Mitosis | sequential differentiation and segregation of replicated chromosomes in a cell’s nucleus that precedes complete cell division |
| Model | description, analogy or a representation of something that helps us understand it better |
| Niche (ecological) | role played by an organism in an ecosystem |
| Nonpoint source pollution | Contamination that originates from many locations that all discharge into a location |
| Nonrenewable resources | Substances (e.g., oil, gas, coal, copper, gold) that, once used, cannot be replaced in this geological age |
| 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 |
| Patterns | Repeated processes that are exhibited in a wide variety of ways; identifiable recurrences of the element and/or the form |
| Pest | A label applied to an organism when it is in competition with humans for some resource |
| Physical technology | ways that humans construct, manufacture and transport products |
| Point source pollution | Pollutants discharged from a single identifiable location |
| Radioactive isotope | atom that gives off nuclear radiation and has the same # of protons as another atom but a different # of neutrons |
| Recycling | Collecting and reprocessing a resource or product to make into new products |
| Regulation | rule or order issued by an executive authority or regulatory agency of a government and having the force of law |
| Renewable | naturally occurring raw material or form of energy that will be replenished through natural ecological cycles or sound management practices |
| Risk management | strategy developed to reduce or control the chance of harm or loss to one’s health or life |