Assignment #9: Complete the 4 part assignment format as you read, reflect, and respond to Chapter 9: Generating and Testing Hypotheses.
***Please don't forget to comment on each others' "comments"!!!!
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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6 comments:
C. Ok, I feeling better about the work I'm doing around generating and testing hypotheses than I did about providing feedback! In a science unit this year we had our fourth and fifth graders design a roller coaster that had to have certain elements and would also show their understanding of energy. Each group had to come up with their design and then consider different approaches and what worked and didn't work. As I was observing them I felt I was seeing true learning. We regularly use this strategy when we ask our students to explain and test their theories about characters and themes in reading. Last year my class created their own sustainable business. The basis for all their research and work was using decision making strategies to research,select, market,and sell the most sustainable product. We are currently looking at the people and events from the American Revolution. It would be fun to try and do a historical investigation, but I'm not sure we'll have time. I think I'll try and experiment with it by doing one in a shared format.
D. I'm pleased to know that this is an area I am learning to use in different content areas. However, I also know that we, my students and I, have a long way to go when it comes to explaining hypotheses and conclusions. The majority of our students struggle with writing and communicating clearly. I will continue to work on using oral rehearsal to strengthen this. I also liked the suggestions to highlight areas that require explanation. I'd like to work on developing specific rubrics in this area. (Then I can work on providing feedback at the same time!) I think the strategies given in this chapter will really help our students perform better on our state science assessment and hopefully in other areas as well.
Chapter 9 – Kristi Richards
C. When I think of how to teach the strategy of generating and testing hypotheses to my students as a Title I teacher, I think about the strategy of inferring. I recently worked with a 4th grade group of students. One of the goals of the group was to give them some test taking strategies for our statewide reading assessment. I discovered that many of the students could not infer information from a short text. They were all capable of answering literal comprehension questions, but they struggled when they were asked to use their background knowledge and the text clues to infer an answer. I struggled to discover ways to help these students overcome this deficit.
After reading this chapter, I worked with one of my second grade groups in the area of inferring. As you may have noticed from my previous posts, my second grade groups have been my guinea pigs for several of the strategies discussed in this book. I have been doing some personal research on teaching inferring, so I decided to try a few of the techniques. I found a picture of a cat staring into a fish bowl. I printed a large copy of the picture and cut it up into several puzzle pieces. I gave each student a piece, and I gave them a minute to infer what was in their piece. We went around, setting our pieces down and explaining what we thought the piece was showing and why. As the pieces began to connect together, we would reflect on how our inference may be changing and why. From this experience, we were able to create a cycle chart that looked at the steps we take when we infer. We use both our background knowledge and the clues we are discovering before us to develop an inference. Just as the authors mention, our reasoning wasn’t linear. We were using both inductive and deductive thinking.
I found this puzzle piece experience to be very successful. The students were able to effectively discuss their thinking and explain their thinking. The thinking wasn’t muddied by a text that they couldn’t all relate to or understand. I wanted them to go through the process and not get bogged down in the reading. My next steps are to move to modeling this inferring cycle with a piece of text. We will then have some shared reading experiences, so that the students can practice sharing their inferences and explaining their conclusions.
D. I love being a Title I teacher. Yet, the one thing I miss about the classroom is the ability to go deeper with my students. I often struggle with the amount of surface structure pieces I cover in my small groups, when my reading philosophy is rooted in the thinking strategies and higher level thinking. I am not always successful in applying these strategies to my reluctant/struggling readers, though they need these experiences the most.
Though I was pleased with the inferring lesson that I experienced with my second graders, I know that this strategy could be used in even more effective ways. I would like to continue to reflect on how to have my students generate and test hypotheses within the short amount of time that I have with them.
C. I really like Kristi's idea about inferencing. I teach 2nd grade, and that is a hard concept for students to understand. That is a great activity to introduce the element before applying it to complicated stories.
But in my classroom this year, we did a big math/science unit that used the problem solving task of generating and testing hypotheses. We did an activity of creating ramps for marbles using three sizes of cardboard tubes, blocks, and different weighted marbles. The students had a week to just "investigate" with the materials and make what they wanted and learn about the matierals. Then we did three specific assignments where they had to make hypotheses, collect data, and draw conclusions. They had to test different weighted marbles with the exact same ramp to see which would go furtherest, they had to test different height ramps, and test the distance using different length tubes. Each investigation built upon each other, and they were able to use their knowledge of what they had learned to make their next hypothesis. It was a great activity that the kids enjoyed and used a lot of critical thinking skills.
D. I feel like I'm good at this skill in math and science specifically. It fits easy in the curriculum, and we have been focusing a lot on scientific inquiry this school year. So this year, more than others, I have done specially designed activities to test hypotheses. However, I do think I could improve my skills of using this instruction technique in other elements. I know I do this in reading and writing instruction, but I have not planned activities with this in mind. It would be good to carry these ideas throughout the other subjects.
I do think this is one of the most important skills we could help teach our students. With the changing technology and job market that is will be happening in the future, kids will need to know how to generate and test hypotheses. With technology being able to do so much for us, new people into the job market will need to have other skills that can't be replaced by a machine.
My school organizes a "science fair." It is an involved process, but the students come away from it with a pretty good understanding of the rudiments of the "Experimental Inquiry" aspect of Generating and Testing Hypotheses. The students come up with their own projects, but the teachers approve ones that (presumably) will be effective and lead the students through the steps in the scientific method so they can apply them to their own experiments.
I thought this chapter was going to focus mostly (or entirely) on that aspect of generating and testing hypotheses, but I realize that we use it far more (though not enough!) when I have my reading class make predictions about what they are reading or when we researched the effect of killing all the apex predators willl have on the prey in a "predator-prey" system.
I appreciate Kristi sharing how she was able to improve her 2nd graders' inferencing skills. In my experience, 6th graders are all over the board when it comes to grasping that. Some slightly-adapted mini-lessons are in order.
I wish that I had done something as fun with my class as Kellie's roller coaster project. For many reasons, (it looks impressive/cool, kids could "test" it as a reward, it would be a highly effective way to teach about potential and kinetic energy and centrifugal force, plus I like Hot Wheels cars) I have a dream of building an enormous Hot Wheels track against the back wall of my room, starting 12 feet off the ground near the ceiling. It is encouraging to see that several of the tasks in the chapter could be applied to that endeavor. Systems Analysis, Problem Solving, and Experimental Inquiry come to mind. I can see my principal being more on board with it (or rolling his eyes a little less) once he learns that students will be applying Marzano's principals to the project. He's a huge Marzano disciple.
Also, I discovered today that the program "Mythbusters" is now available on an online streaming program to which my school subscribes (Discovery Education.) That program is a fantastic, highly engaging way to demonstrate interesting ways of generating and testing hypotheses. I think my students would be pretty willing to tell about what they viewed and write about their own experiments they'd like to try.
Sarah Barnett
C. This chapter took me out of my comfort range. I tend to think of generating and testing hypotheses as part of scientifically based research, which really isn't my forte. So, I approached this strategy with baby steps. We have been working on geometry in my first grade class. Students had learned about three dimensional shapes, including cubes and triangular prisms. I set up two stations with polydrons and worksheets that showed a variety of polydron arrangements. The children were to arrange the polydrons as shown on the worksheets, then predict whether or not that arrangement would make a cube (one station) or make a triangular prism (the other station) when folded up and connected. After recording his or her prediction, the student's job was to test it and record the outcome. I think this involved deductive thinking.
As part of our reading adoption, we teach prediction in first grade. Just as Kristi connected inferring to this chapter, I think predicting also uses similar skills. Students must use what they already know (title, cover picture, background knowledge) to predict what will happen in a story, then adjust that prediction as more information becomes available. There seem to be many parallels between predicting and generating/testing hypotheses.
D. This chapter has made me aware that I do not currently make good use of this instructional strategy. Even in our science units, I tend to shy away from having students generate and test hypotheses. Our district is in the process of changing our science curriculum so that I will be teaching different units next year than I have in the past. That will be an excellent opportunity for me to make sure that I am including more opportunity for my students to explore and experience working with hypotheses. I have touched on it in discussion by asking questions such as, "What do you think would happen if there were no more trees left on our planet?" This requires students to use deductive thinking in learning about the balance between plant and animal life on earth. However, the students are not generating their own hypothesis in that example. I like the idea of having projects for the children in which they have that opportunity, followed by the chance to explain their hypotheses and conclusions.
Thanks so much for all of your comments everyone!
Kellie – The roller coaster design project sounded like an amazing learning experience…perfect for generating and testing hypotheses. Unfortunately, like many teachers, I just get so frustrated by the time issue. What an amazing project it would be for students to investigate and make predictions on American history…but we don’t have the time. Time has been one of my biggest battles as I work with curriculum in my district. We need to find better ways to integrate our teaching and learning experiences…and not be drowned by the demands of curriculum…and be able to teach using great projects like you’d like to be able to do.
Kristi – I absolutely loved your use of the “picture puzzle” to help your 2nd graders get a better grasp with understanding how we infer! I feel your pain about that feeling of not being able to “go deeper” with your students…but even more than that, I struggle with the follow through piece. If I work in a given classroom with intervention students, I was only in 2 (sometimes 1) times a week. Without follow-through towards a common goal with the teacher…instruction is very ineffective and fragmented. Hopefully we’re moving towards a block schedule where we actually see kids (3-5) 4 times a week..and 1 or 2 of us actually will be able to do some coaching…….????
Katy – Your project that used generating and testing hypotheses also sounded like a wonderful (and fun) learning experience for your students. As you said, it is easier to see how to integrate into our more scientific curriculums…I think the writing piece comes in when we ask children to write their thinking or respond to others’ thinking. And you’re right…it’s this type of thinking that kids will need out in the “real world” :)
Sam – I agree…everyone has talked about some great projects…one of my friend’s sons had to build a bridge out of popsicle sticks…and they tested them using some machine that blew out strong wind forces…very cool project (middle school). I’ll have to check out this “Mythbusters”…seems like a cool site.
Sarah – Your math project using polydrons and triangular prisms was PERFECT….It’s great to see that we are already using so many of these strategies in our daily instruction. I’m psyched that this chapter has you thinking about ways in which you can enhance your instruction next year!
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