Those small sections are called Genes
What this student is doing is collecting data. So, he wants to check how many life forms there are in the waters nearby. In order to do so, he has to take a sample, and look at it through a microscope so as to determine the number. So, he collected a sample which is his data. He is not drawing conclusions yet, but rather counting these organisms. He is not making a peer review - his peers aren't even mentioned here. He is not forming a hypothesis because he is just counting at this point.
in the microbiology world, is used to determine O Capability of a microbe to perform a specific enzymatic activity. O Staining characteristics. O Nucleic acid-base composition of DNA sequences.
Mitosis, since it involves the process of splitting into two daughter cells.
