Reminder...all coursework is due 3/12!!!
Assignment #9: Complete the 4 part assignment format as you read, reflect, and respond to Chapter 9: Generating and Testing Hypotheses.
Remember: Although your course packet asks you to post to blog for parts A, B, C, and D…we are asking that you only post part C and D. We’re trying to make the blog easier to read and more user- friendly. Thanks!
A. Self Assessment of Current Beliefs and Practices: This component asks you to reflect on how and why you currently use the instructional strategies of Generating and Testing Hypotheses in your classroom. The intent of this is to activate your prior knowledge of your strategy use so that you can make comparisons as you read the chapter.
B. Read & Reflect “Research & Theory”: This portion of the assignment asks you to read chapter 9 and reflect briefly on your thinking after reading the “Research and Theory” section of Generating and Testing Hypotheses.
C. Practice: Choose one of the specific “classroom practice” strategies or techniques shared in this chapter to teach to your students (If you are not currently teaching, you may share how you would use this strategy in your classroom) – please post a brief reflection of how this went to the posting labeled Week Nine: Generating and Testing Hypotheses.
D. Final Strategy Reflection: A sequence of questions posted below asks you to reflect on what you’ve learned about both the strategies presented in the chapter and what you’ve learned about yourself as both a teacher and a learner. Please post a brief reflection of how this went to the posting labeled Week Nine: Generating and Testing Hypotheses.
How has the information you read in this chapter on Generating and Testing Hypotheses effected your thinking about teaching and learning? What have you learned about yourself as a teacher and learner? Use the following questions to assist you in writing a brief strategy reflection:
• How might I change how use Generating and Testing Hypotheses in my classroom?
• What is something you now understand better about Generating and Testing Hypotheses?
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7 comments:
C. Practice:
I am intrigued by the section Classroom Practice in Generating and Testing Hypotheses having to do with System Analysis. I can definitely use this idea when I teach my Government Unit in late March. After learning about the three branches of Government, I will pose the questions on page 106 and 107. I believe this will further explain the purpose of our Government system.
D. Final Strategy Reflection:
I have always had my students us prediction and problem solving in the classroom. However, I don’t think I take it to the next level of generating and testing hypotheses. I don’t teach Science, so I think I forget about it. I like how this chapter says over and over, this technique isn’t just limited to the Science class. What a high level of thinking! I can see how beneficial and effective this can be. I will work to add it to my curriculum.
It seems to me that generating and testing hypotheses, despite its mundane name, is at the root of learning. To some extent we are constantly testing our hypotheses (what we think is true).
My students and I just began a unit entitled Our Changing Climate. In the first section of the unit, students learn the basics of weather and climate. Second, they research a specific climate type(temperate, arid, etc.) Finally, we talk about how climates are changing around the world. This year, students will use deductive reasoning to predict (make a hypothesis) if/how their climate type is changing and why. Then their research project will be to test their hypotheses.
This chapter seems to make a lot of sense. Deductive reasoning runs off the belief that it is helpful to activate students' prior knowledge so that they can make thoughtful hypotheses and in turn be able to effectively test those hypotheses. In my climate change example, I will share several books and BrainPop videos about the causes and effects of climate change to activate their prior knowledge. Then they will be able to make thoughtful hypotheses about how climate change is affecting the climate they have studied. The hard part will be to help my students create a structured decision-making framework with which to test their hypotheses (p. 109).
C. We have just started our science unit. We are teaching students the scientific method, and using three different experiments to model and teach so they will be indpendent for their scientific inquiry piece for CIM. I used the experimental inquiry from the chapter. I guided the students through steps 1-3, and then I did step 4 whole group. I then guided the class through step 5. I felt it was appropriate to guide them through it since it was their first time.
It turned out really well. I had them discuss their hypotheses with their partners before doing any writing. They did the same for their outcome (or explanation) section of their paper.
D. In my classroom, I would change things by adding rubrics to my science inquiry lessons. They work so well in writing, but I never thought to integrate them into science. It will help those who struggle with the formal paper they need to turn in.
I've learned that now that I have introduced the process of generating and testing hypotheses, I can apply it to other subjects. The author made such a comment, and it is so true. We generally think of hypotheses as part of science, but this chapter helped me to look at it a different way.
C. Practice
In thinking of what I would do in a classroom, the themes coming up for me are the skill of visualization and three-dimensional thinking. Kids get plenty of visual stimulation through the media and electronic games, but this is not the type of visual I’m thinking about. This skill of visualization is the ability to picture a process in ones mind, to see the steps through from beginning to end. In the classroom, incorporate visualization exercises into a variety of curricula. Have students place something over their eyes if they are comfortable with it so that classroom distractions are at a minimum. This visualization would be modeled like a guided meditation, a difference being that students would be invited to verbally offer out their thoughts at the end of designated stages of the visualization process. An aim here is for students to practice using their creative mind, rather than having a flat-screen provide all the visual stimulation.
This takes me to my next idea: three-dimensional thinking. Electronic games dominate the game world. Kids don’t play as much with building things. I feel there’s been a decrease in kids ability to think three-dimensionally. Allow classroom time for students to work with Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, Mouse Trap type games, games in which some laws of physics are applied. Have student-groups draw a plan, a blueprint, for a simple invention and then bring in the materials to build those inventions. Have an adult volunteer assigned to each group. Volunteers from where? How about some college architecture students or some retired engineers?
D. Reflection
Generating and testing hypotheses provides opportunity for practicing deeper levels of thinking. What comes up for me in reading this chapter is that classroom instruction time is necessary to develop understanding of the elements and steps needed for these deeper level of thinking. Formulating detailed descriptions, using specific terminology, how to work through obstacles and restricting factors, teamwork, coming up with (visualizing) more than one solution, decision making, thinking outside of the box, conducting investigations, creating valid/workable questions, understanding what “establishing criteria” is all about – it’s a lot to grasp, but doable with practice and support. Have generating and testing hypotheses be a school-wide program. Provide teacher/staff training so the teachers and staff are talking the same language and are familiar with techniques and processes. Start introducing basic ideas and processes in kindergarten and build from there. Get an Odyssey of the Mind program going at the school – an excellent program for creative thinking and practicing verbalization of ideas.
Have you read What If? Historians Imagine What Might Have Been ? A great book for looking at fact and speculation and creating hypotheses.
C: Practice
Every year we make our sixth graders participate in our school science fair and this past Thursday just happened to be the science fair. So, this chapter was well timed. For science fair, our students have to come up with a testable question, complete background research on that question, develop a hypothesis, create a design for how to test their hypothesis, test their hypothesis and then analyze their results, comparing it to their hypothesis, look for possible sources of error, and reflect in how they could improve in the future. This is a project they complete almost entirely at school so for the past two months I have been challenging the students to generate and test hypotheses.
D: Reflection
As the book mentioned, using this in science is the most obvious and common method, so it was nice to see examples of when and where it could be used across curriculum. I like the idea of coming up with a historical investigation and tested our history. As we study ancient civilizations in both China and Central and South America, I think this is something I am going to try to incorporate.
I also like the idea of problem solving and being able to explain consider different approaches and possible constraints that may arise if they did not have all the required elements to solve the problem. I think this is something my students would really enjoy analyzing and coming up with possible solutions for.
Marisa H.
Generating and Testing Hypotheses
Part C. Practice
Last Spring in my Kindergarten classroom I taught a GLAD unit on plants and how they grow. It was a fun unit, especially for Kinders, because we planted our own lima beans and watched them grow into small plants. I began the unit by giving students some background on plants and flowers and how they grow. We read some great non-fiction books to learn about what plants need to grow, then we created a few GLAD charts together and discussed the need for sunlight, water and good soil for the growth of a plant. I gave students a bit of background knowledge before we conducted a little experiment. I took six Ziploc bags and placed three lima beans in each bag, surrounded by a paper towel. In two of the bags we dropped water on the paper towel and hung the bags in the window. We hung two of the other bags in the window, but did drop any water on the paper towel inside the bag. With the last two bags, we dropped water on the paper towel, but we placed the bags in a dark closet, with no light source. Then we discussed the scientific process and what a hypotheses is. Students each came up with their own hypotheses and we waited a few days to see what would happen to our lima beans!!! By the way, I love hearing five year olds say “hypotheses”! The children learned that you need water, sunlight, and soil for growing a healthy plant. It was a really fun experiment. I didn’t realize it at the time, but now after reading Chapter Nine on testing hypotheses, I used deductive thinking when teaching this lesson. Students had background knowledge of the scientific question we were exploring and they also used their prior knowledge of plants when coming up with a hypotheses to our science experiment.
Part D. Final Reflection
After reading this chapter, I didn’t know that there were so many ways to generate and test a hypotheses. When I hear the word hypotheses, I mostly think of science experiments. I did not think of using this teaching/learning strategy in any other way. After reading this chapter, I now understand the many ways a hypotheses can be relevant in a classroom situation. For example, if I was teaching older students, I may use the strategy of historical investigation when discussing an important historical event or person. I could also use the strategy of decision making when discussing a decision that needed to be made in a fictional story or a mathematical equation. I like that this chapter gave me further insight on how to integrate hypotheses in my classroom.
Oh the joys of technology. I just previewed my comments and they all went away. Figures... Anyway, I'll try to remember what I said.
Many students in this class comment after reading that hypotheses do not just have to happen during science. An interesting point to consider.
Kim, thanks for the book suggestion: What If? Historians Imagine What Might Have Been? I'll check it out.
Ashley, I was glad to read that you have your students work on their science projects during school. A much better way than having those "helpful" moms and dads complete complicated experiments for their kids. When I was in the classroom, we migrated away from science fairs and moved toward science exploratoriums in the evening when families could come together and visit different stations set up around the room and talk about science.
Marisa, I was so excited to read about your bean experiment. I did this years ago as a student teacher. We finished the unit off with a stone soup that we put our beans into and ate. Lots of fun. :)
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