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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 should reflect upon how you would use this strategy in your classroom.)
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?
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?
8 comments:
After reading the chapter on Generating and Testing Hypotheses I realized I don’t apply this strategy enough. I tend to associate forming and testing hypotheses with science, and since I mainly teach my first graders reading, writing, and math, I don’t devote a lot of time to science. Through reading the chapter I discovered that this strategy, like all the other strategies we’ve learned about thus far can be applied across content areas. One aspect of forming and testing hypotheses that I think is really important is that it forces students to be engaged in their learning because they have to really think about what they already know about a subject and try to make sense of it by forming a hypothesis. I think students have more ownership with a subject if they have made a hypothesis because it suddenly becomes much more alive and relevant to them. When you simply learn a lot of information, but don’t take the time to really reflect and form hypotheses it is easy to disengage.
I want to use this strategy more in my teaching by having students write-out their thinking. I think I need to do more modeling for my students of what this looks like, because it is still a very hard concept for first graders. When I ask students to explain their thinking a common response still is, “my brain told me.” I think if we formed some hypotheses together as a class and I modeled writing out our thinking it would really help my students to see what this looks like. When my students are able to explain their thinking, it will deepen their understanding of a subject and make them more engaged in their learning.
This chapter has some very high-level information that really left me reeling. I have to be honest, I felt a little intimidated by the material in this chapter and was left to wonder if I can really meet the challenges of teaching using more methods that involve forming and testing hypotheses. I did take away that it is an important learning style and I need to find more ways to incorporate these styles.
I was very relived to read that the research has shown that deductive thinking has proven to be more effective for learning gains than inductive thinking. I was thinking that inductive reasoning would probably be more powerful because the students would be even more involved in the ownership of their learning, so the research surprised me. I was struck by the idea that the research might show this because many teachers may have trouble effectively creating the well-orchestrated inductive experiences. This was exactly what I was thinking about my own teaching. I was wondering how I could get my second graders to take an effective lead with their own principle discovery. What I learned from this chapter is that I need to first work to use more deductive thinking experiences and after reaching a comfort level with this style, begin to work on introducing some inductive thinking opportunities.
I like that there are so many different structures to using this learning style. I can see how you could find an appropriate structure to guide many different activities. The problem solving method could be applied to so many different lessons. I was thinking that it might be interesting to teach classroom and school expectations in this manner. I would need to front load expectations, but I could extend the learning by offering scenarios in which students are engaged in conflicts and ask small groups to work to solve the problem. It would be very exciting to see if the expectations lessons objectives would remain in students’ long-term memory a little longer than normal. I wonder if I would still have the mid-winter breakdown of behaviors that I often see around this time each year.
The decision making structure is one that in which I feel every student would love to be a part. Kids love to be in charge, and this gives them a chance to take the lead. I was thinking this might be a way to involve some inductive learning. I could again use the expectations lessons as a basis for this situation, but instead of front-loading the expectations, I would let the class play the role of teacher and principal. Knowing that they need to keep students safe, respectful, and responsible in all areas of the school, they would need to establish expectations that would accomplish this feat. After that, they could work through how to communicate these decisions to students.
Even though the information in this chapter is very daunting, I know it is important and an area in which I need to work to incorporate into my own classroom.
Prior to reading this portion of the text, I had a difficult time understanding how this strategy applied to disciplines other than science. After reading, though, I am beginning to see ways in which I might be able to use this strategy in its most basic form. Because I only teach basic reading skills to struggling students, the ways in which I can use this strategy are significantly limited. However, I think that a lot of the questioning strategies I use with my older students might qualify as generating and testing hypotheses. In my opinion, when we ask students to make a prediction about what they think might happen in a story, we’re asking them to access their prior knowledge and experiences, synthesize that information, then apply it to a new situation. To me this is generating a hypothesis. Further, evaluating whether or not their predictions are accurate allows students the opportunity to think about their thinking, find flaws, or reframe their thinking in some way. With my youngest students, I do a lot of work with word families and I often ask students to tell me how different words will change if I add or subtract different letters. In a way, this seems like a systems analysis, albeit on a very basic level.
The text highlighted an important issue that I see all the time. That is the fact that we can’t assume that all students will come to us with the same sets of experiences and knowledge bases. Therefore, the application of prior knowledge will not be the same for all students. Typically, the students that I work with are those who lack experiences, so I am reminded of the importance of providing the necessary background information or experience for my students rather than relying on what they come to me already having.
• How might I change how I use Generating and Testing Hypotheses in my classroom?
Over the years I have avoided the use of this strategy, generating and testing hypotheses, for a variety of reasons. First, I found it difficult in the past understanding how generating and testing hypotheses works and how the strategy is effectively done across the curriculum. This might be an area of professional development I can pursue. Secondly, I have avoided the use of this strategy because I held the notion that it would have taken a lot of time and energy to teach my students how to develop and test hypotheses in other areas of the curriculum effectively. Third, the lack of experience with this strategy as a learner myself has created a block in my use of this strategy.
Well, what would I change in my class around this strategy? I need to get brave and try it. I need to find one or two learning objectives that I feel may be suited to use this strategy and jump in and do it. Get over the fear of how, or if it will work, and just start battling. What’s the least that could happen? In chapter 9 of Classroom Instruction that Works, Marzano offers several frameworks to use within a variety of structured tasks that lend themselves well to using this strategy.
• What is something you now understand better about Generating and Testing Hypotheses?
Before reading chapter 9 I believed that creating and testing hypotheses was something mostly done within the sciences. But, after reading this chapter I understand that this notion is false. This strategy can be effective across the curriculum. I just need to explore how its most effectively implement in different subject areas.
Hi Everyone!
We often have students comment in this section that they also thought generating and testing hypotheses was only for science. :D This chapter is chock full of information, as some of you have said. Your ideas of front loading, modeling and diving in are the way to go.
Sarah, many teachers do use this strategy, but don’t realize it or call it by this name. So you are correct that you are in fact already doing it.
As Brad said, picking one or two areas that seem compatible with this and giving it a try is the best way to learn. And you may be pleasantly surprised with the results. ☺
Before reading this chapter I wondered why it would be included among the other best practices of teaching since generating and testing hypothesis were only used for science. What I failed to realize was that this process can expand itself across curriculum and can be simplified. When teachers engage his/her students in generating and testing hypothesis, they are essentially making children use knowledge to involve the mind to do higher-level thinking. My job as an educator is to facilitate an environment where children are actively engaged in this process. I have to model generating hypothesis based on my knowledge, ask guiding questions, test hypothesis, and give the children the opportunity to do the same. Because children have to think about, apply prior knowledge, and explore subject matter, learning becomes their responsibility and therefore their own. My guess is that they would really benefit and enjoy this type of inquiry.
We don’t generally dive into a subject deep enough to go through all the processes outlined in the chapter. Again, our greatest limitation is time. Children are only in class two and a half hours each day. However, I can see us using experimental inquiry, invention, decision making and problem solving to dig deeper into subject matter. Science is the easiest to apply the generating and testing of hypothesis, but perhaps math, literacy, or social studies would be less demanding on time. I would like to begin this year by generating and testing hypothesis when we get our chickens. The children are already seated in five groups. The children could work together to generate and test hypothesis along the life cycle process of a chicken and see the effects that environmental factors play on the hatching of eggs. The more we generate hypothesis and test them, the more I will become comfortable using this strategy as a teacher and the more the students will begin to use this life skill in everyday life.
I didn't relize that having my student figure out a problem with deduction was such a good thing. I use this offten and am going to put more emphasis on deductions and how they play a part in finding and resoving problems. I find even student who have trouble with book learning can figure out problems from deductions.
Raquel,
You are indeed up against a huge problem, that of time. With everything districts and federal mandates are asking of teachers and students, it's so surprising that they still have half day Kindergarten. My thoughts on the matter is it is more of a monetary issue than a philosophical one. It costs a lot more money to have full day kindergarten rather than half day.
Randy, yes, as there are many students who are not the strongest in literacy we need to remember to vary our instruction in order to reach them and help all students succeed.
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