The way scientists gather and evaluate information; it involves observations, hypothesis formulation and testing.

Description of what scientists find happening in nature repeatedly in the same way without known exceptions. See scientific theories.

Well-tested and widely accepted explanations of data and laws.

A statistical procedure that when applied to a set of observations results in a probability value (p-value) relative to some hypothesis. Examples: Student’s t test, Wilcoxon’s test.

It considers that each member of the population has an equal and known chance of being selected by random sampling. This is mainly true for very large populations.

A representation of some real-world system that can also take on some aspects of reality for participants and users. Key features of simulations are that they represent real-world systems, contain rules and strategies that allow flexible and variable simulation activity to evolve, and the cost of error for participants is low, protecting them from the more severe consequences of mistakes.

A game in which participants are provided with a simulated environment in which to play.

Referring to an organism, means its dimensions. There are often expressed as length, but can be expressed in mass, volume or energy.

Group of individual organisms that are capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring in nature. It is the largest gene pool that exists under natural conditions.

The tendency of a community to return to its original state after a disturbance or to resist such disturbance. It includes the property of resilience (the speed with which a community returns to its former state after a perturbation) and resistance (the ability of a community to avoid displacement in the first place).