Thursday, September 10, 2009
What is a hypothesis?
So often our students are taught that a hypothesis is an "educated guess". I must admit that I have taught that (ugh!) In the ppt, I reflected upon Dr. P's comment that "guess" undermines the research and thought that goes into constructing a hypothesis. I really have to rethink how I explain "hypothesis"! I will retool my teaching so that I explain that a hypothesis is a testable possible explanation and not a guess at all! Today my students did a "thumb wrestling" lab but before they could formulate a hypothesis, we collected alot of data (29 students): thumb length, thums circumference, and wrist circumference. Armed with that data and discussion, each team had to come up with a hypothesis using variables that might affect the outcome of thumb wrestling competitions! This was good practice to show how much work/research is done BEFORE making a hypothesis.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Cindy,
ReplyDeleteIt's a switch we need to make. It’s hard because often times it was engrained in us that a hypothesis is an educated guess. As scientists, we realize that it is much more than that but to make things simpler we still often call it that. I am co-teaching with someone who has her doctorate and she even called it an "educated guess" in lecture today. We must break the chain!! It's not going to be easy though.
Exactly! As experienced as we are, we often "water it down" and have to simplify the language for our students. I love this class because it makes me reflect on what I do. Today in a lab I felt so good using the language "possible explanation" instead of educated guess!
ReplyDeleteI, too, have taught the educated guess definition, BUT this week with scientific method I will be sure to correct myself and my students. I'm glad we had to read this article to really see the meaning behind.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading everything, I feel aweful for teaching 'educated guess'. I shared the information with my collegues, so hopefully all of us begin to teach 'possible explanation'. Believe it or not, I have been sharing a lot of the information learned in this course with my collegues and they are amazed at the different statistics and ask me what I new things I have learned everytime we meet :)
ReplyDeleteI will be attending the VA Governor's Meeting in November and the science teacher who I invited to attend told me to continue to call it "an educated guess". I explained to her that this was not correctly aligned with the nature of science. Matters only got more heated when I told her that I would not teach the scientific method the way in which I was taught--she informed me that I will follow the outline for our school system because it has always been followed--and she questioned my efforts to "teach" science since I am merely a technology education teacher...ah, I have a long way to go! Any ideas on how I continue my discussions with her? I don't have all the answers, but I am willing to entertain any suggestions!
ReplyDeleteHi Gina...that sounded rough! Many teachers are so beholden to the "curriculum" and teaching to SOL's; obviously this person is unaware of STEM initiatives and doesn't even see technology as a science or a discipline that uses science/integrates science. To me, a teacher has an open mind and continues to challenge themselves to learn new strategies. Science teachers above all others should be flexible when SCIENCE or scientific thought yields new information. I would say that while it may be OK for her to teach "educated guess", in light of what you have learned, you will be using different language. Since my students have been taught educated guess, I can't tell them that's wrong, but I am telling them that I want them to think at a higher level and understand that guessing doesn't sound scientific; that scientists make many observations and even collect data BEFORE making a hypothesis. I imagine this teacher has been teaching awhile, and doesn't feel comfortable with anything new. She was probably on the defensive. Try to just bring up topics like, what do think about this idea...or I would like to try this because...good luck!
ReplyDelete