9. Generating and Testing Hypothesis
Think about personal experiences, either academic or in real life, that are examples of your generating and testing hypotheses. This might include trying something new in your classroom and predicting what will happen, experimenting with a recipe, or even attempting to communicate differently with a friend or relative; perhaps you were even working on a quilt and decided to do it your way (I’m just saying). Identify the knowledge that you used to hypothesize what might happen and then think about what you learned as a result of your experiment.
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Something that is bothering the English teacher in me:
Hypothesis OR Hypotheses.
Never mind. Singular THEN Plural.
Geesh. Confusing!
September 24th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I’ll go with the recipe idea . . . .
A few years ago I was about to make Black Bean Soup. The recipe I’ve used for years calls for tomatoes, cilantro, jalapenos, salt and chicken bouillon. I did not have half the fresh ingredients on hand as . I did, however, have a jar of salsa on hand. Based on my previous knowledge, I had a mental “what if” going on in my head . .. “will it be too mild or hot? Will it just taste like salsa and black beans?” I attempted the recipe but forgot the bouillon. The result was a soup too thick that DID just taste like black beans and salsa. I realized that the bouillon was the key because the soup needed a liquid. Duh – soup needs liquid. I added a can of chicken broth and voila -the easiest Black Bean Soup ever.
2 cans Black Beans
1 half jar Pace (cilantro) salsa – or more to taste
1 can chicken broth.
Top with sour cream or cheese and tortilla chips
September 25th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Years ago, my instructions were quite simple:
Each group has 7 inches of tape and 7 uncooked strands of spaghetti. Build the tallest structure possible in 30 minutes.
I was not prepared for happened next. In 90 seconds a group had taped the strands, end to end, to the wall. OOOPS! Left out the words “free-standing.”
Next class – Two groups, working co-operatively, pool their supplies and build a monster tower. OOOPS! Left out that part about sharing supplies.
It took a few classes to get my instructions stated in clear, concise language. I hadn’t taken the time to think like a competitive 6th grader trying to win a Jolly Rancher.
It’s alot like baby-proofing your home. Lay on your tummy to see what dangers are lurking on a baby’s level.
September 26th, 2008 at 9:31 am
One year, 2002 to be exact, I had a hypothesis that people were nice to me because I do things for them. It came at the end of a rather exhausting year that included teaching, coaching, volunteering to coach a little kids softball team and teaching at church. It seemed every waking moment of my day was covered in people. Very little time was left for me to read, relax or rest. Finally, I decided to quit everything except the teaching part at school.
When you tell people you aren’t willing to volunteer anymore, it is amazing how they turn on you. Lots of people actually cast you into the “worthless” category. It was an eye opening experience to say the least. Forget that I was bone weary tired or that I was giving up everything I enjoyed to help others; unless you take up someone else’s cause you are apparently valueless.
Now when I volunteer for things, I give my whole heart but understand that the people I “work for” when I volunteer usually are only concerned about their reputation as opposed to the actual people they are working alongside which says little of the actual participants in the activity or event. My opinion has changed greatly about people who seek volunteers or head up events that need volunteers. My opinion about myself as a volunteer has changed. My opinion about “events” and “organizations in general has changed. Yet, even as this “experiment” is in it’s seventh year, I continue to refine my hypothesis as I step in and out of “volunteer” commitments in my life trying to find balance.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I had always been taught that if you do anything for 21 continuous days, it becomes a habit. As a kid, the only thing I did 21 days straight was eat, sleep, and play hockey. But in college, I finally tried to put the advice/recommendation to use. My personal belief (hypothesis) was that a habit was second nature, and if you had to actually THINK about doing something, you’d never reach that point. So I pin-pointed a certain area of my life and put the theory to use…I’d refuse carbonated drinks!
It was winter and we were “in season”, so why not? If anything, it’d be good for my lungs and legs during the final minutes of the third period. The first week was brutal. The second week was tough. By the 15th or 16th day though, I wasn’t even craving a DP or Mt. Dew. Sure enough, three weeks came and went, and my water/juice diet was now a habit!
I carried on for a grand total of 6 months…yes, 6 MONTHS, until I up and decided to back-slide on an April afternoon. I’ve since self-mandated 21 day workout routines, book reading, and other various “Fly by Night” (great RUSH song) hobbies I’ve fallen prey to over the years. Moral of the ridiculous story?…1) Dad is usually right, and 2) the human brain is (fairly) easily manipulated.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:59 am
I have a friend who struggles with being a pessimist. I related to her at 1st by either joining in on the negativity or trying to give the silver lining. Neither worked. I then thought, “what if I tried being direct and saying I here you saying___________ and it sounds very negative do you mean it that way?” when I switched up my responses with her it gave her something to think about and slowly she has started to make some changes in her thoughts, words and behaviors. I acted and spoke differently so she was “forced”, in a way, to act and respond differently to various situations.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:03 am
Okay, funny story. When I was a wee little girl I was jumping on my mother’s bed absolutely bored out of my mind. I then preceded to play the infamous game Tea Party. There was only one problem, I did not have any Tea. So, I thought (hyptohesis), why not use coins in my cup replacing the team (I was a very creative and imgainative little girl). The good thing was that my tea, if spilled, would not stain her carpet, As an added bonus, coins make such a pretty noices:)
Well, unfortuatley, during the testing of my hyothesis I ended up choking on my tea (a quarter). The “tea” was stuck in my throat and allowed a small passage for air flow. I ended up having to go to the hospital in order to get the quarter out. They also made me stay over night:(
What did I learn from this incident? If you go to the hospital and they make you stay over night, the next day you will spend quite a bit of time watching Punky Brweter and opeing “get well” gifts….nice!
October 1st, 2008 at 4:09 pm
When I cook, I like things SWEET – so I test and try things until I find the exact thing that will sweeten almost anything to the taste I prefer. Brown sugar…..that’s the key to most anything you want to sweeten. Tasting is a good thing because you can get it too sweet.
In the classroom, it’s always a good idea to test a new lesson before actually making it a permanent lesson in your class. It’s amazing that what you think will work, doesn’t. That even varies from year to year with different kiddos. The point is to try different things, make them work with whatever kids you have and subject matter you teach. Can you imagine if I taught the exact same lessons as I did 30 years ago? Granted some lessons were born from those old timey ideas, but they have grown into higher level – thinking activites. I kind of strayed from the question but at least I tried!!
October 5th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
When I create a new lesson for the classroom I try like Lynn to make my instructions very specific. On Constitution Day this year I decide I wanted my students to understand the 1st amendment. I created a lesson that had them look at court cases on first amendment rights and had them decide which side was right. Next I had them take a quiz about their first amendment rights. Most of the questions were things that related directly to them as students. Can a teacher ask you to change your shirt if they consider the shirt inappropriate? Can students protest at school? Can schools search your belongings & lockers and why? Can religious organizations meet at school? I knew these questions would lead to discussion and were provocative. I thought or suspected that it could cause some commotion at school or in class. I even showed Shannon the lesson and she said go for it.
Well, I was right. What I did not anticipate was the morning I was to teach this lesson I had to ask a student to turn her shirt inside out due to an inappropriate song title that was printed on it. I proceed with the lesson in 1st period and you can imagine the amount of discussion that was done over the rights of teachers and administrators to make a student change their clothing. It was difficult to explain to 13 & 14 years the difference between freedom of speech and school policies and education laws to prevent classroom disruptions. The bright light at the end of the tunnel is at least my students know how valuable their right to free speech is.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Teaching is like cooking. Everyone has different likes and dislikes. My husband salts his food much more than I do. I love my food spicy, while some of my friends think my cooking is too hot. So. . . when I’m having several people over for dinner, I try to curb my “spices,” but I always have them on the table for those that need a little more.
I try to use this same concept in my classroom. Being an ELA teacher, it’s easier to “modify” my lessons because I’m not looking for that exactly correct answer. I can let my students spice their writing by using their own voice and knowledge. It’s my job to help them see their strengths and work on their weaknesses without changing their voice to my own.
When I give a writing assignment, I try to find a subject that will allow everyone to bring a nice entrée to the table. When I model for them, I have to be sure to only give them enough to understand the assignment; I don’t want them just copying my own voice, but to develop theirs. Instead of writing about their “history,” I like to have the students
hypothesize about their future. We write about things that haven’t happened to them yet.
Deductive reasoning is difficult for middle schoolers. They are not comfortable yet with
predicting. Hopefully I will give them a higher comfort zone.
October 11th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I read in our water bill/Watauga newsletter that National Night Out is coming. I want to do something to bring my neighbors out and together. (Hmmm…what would get ME out? An event very close by, no hidden agenda, dress casual and just show up, free food, an appealing invitation, an entertainment factor, general goodwill…)
OK – I print up 60 color invitations on card stock and ask a neighbor, who walks the block every evening with her mom, to deliver them over the course of a week, making personal contact with each family; advertise FREE ICE CREAM and get John and Sally McCullough to let me keep the ice cream in their freezer; line up the Watauga PD and a gas lease representative to visit with us (and included that info on the invitation); secure a trailer for a stage, coerce my husband into agreeing to set up speakers and a microphone (had to stop just now and look up COERCE and see exactly what it means: to restrain or dominate by nullifying individual will. Yep, that is the correct word!); get permission to block off the cross street; put signs at each end on the day of: BLOCK PARTY TONITE 6:45.
My hopeful hypothesis is that this will work and that SOME of my neighbors in the 60 homes I invited will come out and visit and connect and feel, well, loved as in “love thy neighbor”…stay tuned…I’ll let you know in a future blog whether or not I stand out in the middle of the street with a bucket of melting ice cream making small talk with the gas lease folks while my husband blasts Willie Nelson all over NE Tarrant County and my neighbors look out at us through the curtains (that is my fearful hypothesis).
October 25th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Block Party Learnings:
1. Invite a gas lease representative and LOTS of neighbors will come.
2. Ice cream cones are very “green” – generating no trash.
3. My husband is a good sport.
4. Target takes back unopened ice cream.
October 28th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I had a hypothesis one time at my old school WE. Our principal had sent 5th grade a note wanting one of us to volunteer to sign up for the 2 week History Alive course they were offereing during the summer. Of course none of us were going to taker her up on that wonderful and exciting offer. Then my hypothesis came to me. I bet the other female teachers that Tommy Farquhar could not tell the difference between my handwriting and the prinicpal’s handwriting. A week later next to this wonderful note offering this course I wrote in my own regular handwriting, “Thank you for volunteering to go this summer, Tommy.” This was in February. Tommy was not the confrontational type so he grumbled to us, sweated over it, and worried it like a dog with a bone until the last day of school. Of course, my hypothesis was correct, and of course, none of the other teachers involved let him know the truth either. On ther last day of school we finally told him he would not be spending 2 weeks of the summer in a workshop. I believe if he had been a violent man, we would all 4 be dead now.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Think about personal experiences, either academic or in real life, that are examples of your generating and testing hypotheses. This might include trying something new in your classroom and predicting what will happen, experimenting with a recipe, or even attempting to communicate differently with a friend or relative; perhaps you were even working on a quilt and decided to do it your way (I’m just saying). Identify the knowledge that you used to hypothesize what might happen and then think about what you learned as a result of your experiment.
Ok, another blog lost in cyberspace. I did this one last week, yet here I am doing it again. That is ok, because it may have been too personal. I tried an experiment with Pat and a recipe. He doesn’t like tomatoes, but it isn’t so much the taste, but the texture. ( I dont get these texture weary people like KP and Pat) Anyways, I hypothesized that if I were to ground up the rotel in the taco soup that he would be fine, and all would be a success. Lo and behold he loved it. I still dont make it that way; it was a one time deal. It just seems wrong and almost unamerican to not have chunks of tomatoe in taco soup.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Testing a hypothesis in my own personal life: I ate the best barbecue brisket in my life at a hole in the wall BBQ stand in Dallas. I asked the owner why was the brisket so tender and still juicy? He told me “5 and 11″, meaning 5 hours at 200 degrees in smoke and 11 hours at 200 (wrapped in cellophane) in oven. I tested my hypothesis: if I do the same at my house then the brisket will be just as delicious as the BBQ joint. I did just as the master cook had told me: BBQ rub before then “5 and 11″. Unfortunately, the BBQ master was smoking a huge untrimmed brisket and I was smoking a trimmed brisket that was about one third the size of his. The result: the most tender BBQ brisket you could ever eat in your life that was unfortunately the driest brisket ever cooked on the face of the planet. With subsequent testing of time and temperature, I now cook a mean brisket, that is tender AND still moist.
November 10th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Brian,
Make some for our Potluck!!!!!!!
November 12th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I hypothesize all the time with our more challenging GT students, aka those that refuse to turn in or do work. It takes gathering and processing past events, home life, research and student interest. Based on observations of this, I think hypothesize a way to ‘get’ to them and test it. Sadly, more often than not, there is not apparent change in behavior. I am going to work on also incooperating home support and relevancy to make these guesse swork better.
November 12th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Amy, this for you.
When Maggie was baby, she was still crawling, she got into our change jar and was “harmlessly” playing with a bunch of gross, nasty, dirty pennies. Well, as you have guessed, she swallowed one. We were a little worried about what would happen next. Would the penny eat her stomach lining? Would she throw it up? What????? Two days later, we got our answer. A bright, shiny 1994 (the year she was born) penny was in her diaper.
We still have the penny in her baby book. Yuck.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:21 am
I have recently been trying to test the hypothesis of cutting out most sugars from my diet, at least the bad kind. That’s REALLY hard to do around this place, but I’ve done pretty good. I love drinking sugary teas and juices, but I found that it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be to just drink water.
By cutting out sugars, I found that I was also eating less foods that were high in cholesterol.
Last year, at a doctor’s checkup, my cholesterol was just under 100. After cutting out sugars for a few weeks, this year, when I went, my cholesterol was 77! Woohoo!
Sometimes testing one theory might even lead to a different but greater result:)
November 19th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Hmmm…ok I’ll try to think of something from life instead of school for a change. I guess we could take my almost 12 year romantic sojourn with Brian as an example…I haven’t been alone in hypothesizing about the best way to move to the “next level” with this or at times if that was even if what I wanted but I am here to tell you, boys and girls, that I have tried just about everything a girl can try! Some experiment! I finally figured out that If I wanted a house, I had to buy one. I did. If I wanted to change my life, I could without waiting for him to create some magic moment for me. I lead a small but important life and it doesn’t revolve around anyone but “the princess.” Yeah, me. I could get used to this hypothesis testing stuff. Funny I was just thinking about all this stuff this morning…I’m all about trial and error! And as I love to say–I am definitely a WORK IN PROGRESS!
November 20th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I have been using the new TALA of effective insttuctions for middle school students in my reading classes. Of course the hypothesis is that this would be a better or more effective way for the students to learn. I was particularly excited about using the Frayer model of doing vocabulary because it gives the students more information about the word to work on remembering the vocab word. My students are not doing better than having them look the word up in the dictionary, using the word in a sentence and writing a story. In fact, one of my students asked me today, if we could go back to doing vocab like we used to because he could remember the words better. I think I’ll try it.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
This incident happened during the 1991-1992 school year here at Watauga Middle School. Mary Hatley and I were having group and we had a very rough group of students. We were discussing an incident that happened between two of our group members. One of the students who was involved in this incident said he was going to settle the issue by fighting. Jason got up and started towards Adam. The hypothesis was that I was so powerful that I could have stopped the fight by just standing in front of Jason. I just knew he would have sat down but to my surprise he continued going towards Adam. I was able to take Jason down(I was much younger than!) and I straddled him until he stopped thrashing around. Help finally came and he was escorted to the office. I learned a great deal from that incident. From then on when I thought I could not handle a situation, I would immediately call for help. I never tried to be a hero again.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I am probably way too tired to try to post on this chapter. As a science teacher, the words “hypothesis (yes, Shannon…that is singular..hypotheses is plural. Good girl), experiment, predict, etc, are words that I utter a hundred thousand times a day. Yes, a hundred thousand. It is something I also do on a daily basis. I hypothesize how I feel a lesson or lab WILL go (all science people know a hypothesis does NOT have to be correct). I guess that goes along w/ my prediction. My experiment is the lesson or lab activity itself. Sometimes my hypothesis was incorrect. I then fret. But I have learned how to do it differently next time. I am always terrified of new lessons or labs. I sometimes stall for days before I am brave enough to attempt. I usually find my fear was for naught. It will “go” one way or another. Bad, good, or otherwise, it “went” and we all survived and probably even learned a thing or two.
November 27th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
http://www.utterli.com/suziqb77
AUDIOBLOG.
December 1st, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I am going to look at this from two angles – personally and academically.
Personally – As you know I just finished making quilts for my brothers and sisters. I was using a pattern called Yellow Brick Road which called for twelve fat quarters. I bought the material for the quilts one at a time. The first one went great. It was all black and white. The second one drove me crazy. It was very colorful – too colorful and busy for me. I tend to follow directions and not deviate, but this just wasn’t working. So on quilt number three and four, I bought one yard of three different fabrics and cut my own fat quarters. I had less variety but the result was much more pleasing to my eye. I tested by hypothesis and it worked. First time I’ve ever not followed directions. It was scary.
Academically – now this may be stretching it a bit. When I was reading the section on Invention, it sort of sounded like my approach to essay writing. I describe the situation I want them to improve (prompt). I identify the standards (rubric). We brainstorm ideas (webbing, clustering, etc.). Make a plan (rough draft). If necessary revise the invention (revision).
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:39 am
I was testing my dislikes. It is easier to overcome them if I find something I like about this particular assignment or chore. During the college years I had several boring classes, but I always tried to find something I liked and it was much easier to deal with. In real life, I really don’t enjoy cleaning dishes but the thought about the great looking kitchen gives me an inspiration!
And same with students in my art classes, there are some who give me a hard time but I always find something good about this child and it helps me to build a better relationship and provide good quality learning atmosphere. It WORKS!
December 8th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
In 2001, Angela, my daughter decided she wanted to move to Texas to be with her cousins. This plan was fine with me at the time because, due to retirement issues it was impossible for us to move. I hypothesized to myself that during the years before I was able to retire, I would work on my Masters and by the time I was able to move, Angela would change her mind. As time drew nearer, thoughts of uprooting from my home, job, and friends became a nightmare for me; my assumption that she would become involved in her school and sports, thus changing her mind was not part of her plan. My hypothesis of staying in my comfort zone became bleak because I couldn’t back down on my promise to her and my nieces. So here I am. It was difficult, no it was absolutely frightening. I look back now and realize change is “good”.
December 9th, 2008 at 9:49 am
When it comes to making a hypothesis the one that sticks out in my mind was one late night in Chicago. I had just taken off from O’Hare at the controls of a Boeing 767 and was dealing with the departure controller for release to climb to altitude. He was dealing with another jet that was on a conflicting flight path with me. I had to use evasive action to avoid a “near-hit”, as pilots call them. Just when things got a little busy, one of my two engines caught fire. Identifying and cutting the throttle on the flaming engine, I cut off the fuel source of the fire and fired the bottles (fire extinguishers built into the engine).
I carefully began a gentle turn back to the airport with a dead elephant on the wing. With ample power from the working engine to keep us aloft, I lined up with the first available runway on a long final approach. All was going well until I commanded my FO to lower flaps and gear for landing. The flaps on one wing remained stowed, creating an asymmetrical lift situation. In layman’s terms… we were about to stall and spin in and conclude the evening. Where I usually have one hand and fingertips lightly on the yoke to control this behemoth, I had both hands tightly gripped on the stick fighting for all I was worth.
If you’ve ever heard the expression, “flying by the seat of your pants”, then you can appreciate the situation. Pilots truly do fly by the sensations coming from the aircraft into their bottoms. This airplane was telling me in no uncertain terms that it was about to pack it in. The stall warning was blaring, the stick was shaking and I needed a hypothesis fast. I commanded the FO to raise flaps to 10 degrees. Knowing that this situation had claimed other aircraft in the past, my gut told me it was the best compromise I had.
As the flaps raised back to 10 degrees the situation improved, although still not ideal. I fought the airplane all the way to the runway. It wanted to quit flying several times down the path to the runway but using power and the signals my seat were giving me, I nursed it to a safe landing. When the plane came to a stop at the end of the runway, I was drenched in sweat. I had successfully saved an aircraft in a situation that others had not. Drawing on past experience and common sense saved the day. In the end it wasn’t all the high tech displays that led the way, but old-fashioned airmanship.
Opening the door to the cabin, I had a new appreciation of what a level D simulator on hydraulic legs can do to make you believe you are there with every detail of the real thing. Thanks to AA Flight Academy for making it come to life.
December 9th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Well, I live and breathe this one. I’ll share the example that I gave my students at the beginning of the year. I was laying in bed late at night reading and my bedside lamp went out. Hypothesis – burnt out lightbulb. Test – change the lightbulb. No light – Revise hypothesis upon noticing that my sleep apnea machine was also not working. New hypothesis – check the plug. Result – the extension cord was unplugged – hypothesis was proven.
Not sure if this is what you really want here – but I could go on and on and on about hypotheses, and I KNOW you don’t want that!
December 10th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I’ve been trying to gain weight ever since I was a kid. Gaining weight for me is not easy. Sorry Women:) lol. Anyways, I’m always looking forward for holidays like Thanksgiving, cause it gives me a chance to eat a lot. As you can see, I hypothesized that if I eat a lot, I’ll gain weight. Well last year when I went on a 7 day cruise I decided to test my hypothesis. I literally ate every 2 hours. The first thing I did when I got home was to weight myself and amazingly I LOST 7 pounds. I was devastated, my prediction was wrong. Hey, I understand that there are several of variables involved in gaining or losing weight, but please someone explain this one to me.
Frequently in the classroom, I’ll get students who will try to challenge me that my method is the wrong way or that their way works too. I encourage the students to always test their theory and try to prove me wrong. I use quite a few questioning strategies as part of my instructional techniques. I ask questions throughout the inquiry cycle such as when students are posing questions, while they are investigating, when they analyzing results or presenting conclusions. At each stage, I challenge them to explain their reasoning and defend results.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Before beginning a cookie lab I go over the purpose of the basic ingredients. The students then have a lab with each kitchen being given a different chocolate chip recipe. One kitchen receives a traditional recipe and the others receive recipes with a missing ingredient. The students hypothesize on what they think the cookies will be like. It really seems a shame to have several kitchens making cookies that don’t taste very good on purpose.
December 14th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Testing Hypotheses
1. The goal was to try to help students learn and memorize their music in a more proficient manner.
2. Students expressed frustration because they were not able to work on their music outside of the classroom rehearsal, and slower students needed additional work to learn the music.
3. Solutions to this problem were to have before and after school rehearsals or to make the students CDs with the director singing the student’s part on the CD. Both solutions would work; however, the CDs would hopefully make the students more individually responsible for learning their own part.
4. We tried both solutions. I had before and after school rehearsals and I also made CDs for each individual.
5. My hypothesis was correct. Students learned and memorized their music at a much faster pace. I was able to hold the students more accountable for their learning their music. The choir got better at a much faster rate. We had to do much less note chasing during rehearsals and the choir was able to move on to a higher level rehearsal.
December 14th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I was very excited after the Baldrige training I’d received a few years back and curious to see personally whether or not the stories regarding the connection between student goal setting, data folders, graphs, etc. and increased student performance were for real.
I began with a simple hypothesis: If I allowed each student to set his/her personal goals for classroom behavior and grade and keep personal performance data weekly then, individual grades would improve.
I was amazed at the results. Students really do work better when they set their own goals. I found that they were honest, and objective about their abilities and set goals for their behavior and academic performance that were challenging, but attainable.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:01 am
My current hypothesis is that every single 6th grader in my seventh period can become proficient at changing fractions to decimals. I decided to offer some incentives beyond just a grade (week off homework, shiny stickers–thanks, Katie, etc.). So far, I am still in the midst of the testing phase…hoping for 100% and won’t give up until the last day of school.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Everything I do with my own child is a test of my ability to predict the outcome. Most of the time I hit the mark but when I am not successful in the presentation, the response can be explosive. He has taught me to think everything through (which goes against my spontaneous self), to be patient, and to read the situation. I use this method to teach every day.
December 15th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
After hearing that the stock for Ford and GM was at a 60 year low, my hypothesis was that it would go up because I did not believe that the government would let those companies go bankrupt because that would be about 3 million jobs lost. So I bought the stock of those companies. After I bought the stock, I read and watched people talk about it. I paid a lot of attention to what the ‘experts’ were saying. Many of them were saying that the government should let the companies go into bankruptcy in order to give them a chance to restructure without having to honor the payments owed to retirees of those companies. This talk scared me, so I sold the stock. I don’t know if my hypothesis will end up being proven true or not, but I will not buy any more Ford or GM stock.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
When I was little, I decided to make cookies. Not being able to find baking soda, I substituted baking powder for it. I used what I knew of the two (they looked the same, didn’t really smell, and you cook with them) to figure that this would end in the same delicious cookies. Well, I learned that was not the case. I still don’t really know the difference between the two. I just know you can’t use one when it calls for the other.
In teaching, we do generate and test hypotheses daily. We try to figure from what we know of the students we have to predict their reaction to assignments and activities. Since we are middle school we also have the luxury of changing the assignment with each class as we learn what does and does not work.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I’m having a hard time with this one.
I’ll use two examples of hypotheses that were done to me.
Here’s a hypothesis my middle school teacher used on us back in 8th grade: He said at the beginning of the quarter that we were all going to get an A. No matter what we did, whether we turned in the work or not, every student in the class would receive a 100 for the quarter.
Here’s what happened: the kids who usually did well, continued to do well, and the kids that never turned in work, continued not to turn in work. Basically things continued as before.
I considered doing this in my North Oaks theatre class the other day when I was frustrated with their progress. I decided not to do it, but I wondered what would happen if I said that grades were no longer being taken, and we were going to work for the joy of working and learning and for no other reason. I imagine I would have found a result similar to what my science teacher found.
Here’s another example, also from 8th grade: We were doing a stock market challenge. You start out with $10,000 and you try to make as much money as possible in 4 weeks. Well, at the end of the first week, my stocks shot up and I had $40,000–it was incredible. I was blowing everyone away. I was on top of the world. The next week my stocks all crashed and I had $3,000. It was insane. Everyone else kind of stayed near 10,000. In the end, after 4 weeks of ups and downs, I ended up with $17,000–the best in the class.
Two things happened: 1. I did not turn in most of my work and got a D: I was flabbergasted since I was clearly the best stock picker in the class and was destined for fame and fortune. I got cocky with lots of money.
2. Years later, I discovered that the whole thing was rigged. And the person doing the rigging was the guy who knew the most about computers: my best friend. The teacher had apparently asked him to move the stocks up and down since our program wasn’t working properly. My best friend decided to put me on a roller coaster and see what happend. What happened is I got a D.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:39 am
After the amazing results from the Social Studies TAKS test last year, my hypotheses I put before my students the beginning of the school year was that they could all pass “the test” by being in class and participating in the learning process. I told them my goal was to help them succeed.
I’m somewhat challenged by the great amount of apathy in many of the 8th graders this year. I frequently remind them of our goal and do my best to encourage them them in that direction. At this point, I know my task is far from done, and will still have to inspire many of them to just care.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
As I read the blogs from others and thought back over instances in my teaching career, everything boils down to one thing. In order to get the correct finished product, you must go through all the steps with specific directions and steps. An example I think of came from my days back when I was in college and I had to observe an elementary teacher who was teaching an activity on how to write a “how to” composition. The teacher had a shoe that had to be tied. She picked a student that had to direct her how to tie that shoe. In following the student’s directions, chaos and humor occurred. Competition came up from everyone that wanted to try, but failed due to unclear directions. This led to the conclusion that directions should be very precise and clear.
December 17th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
“This county demands bold persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all try something.” Franklin D. Roosevelt.
He said this as he was trying to put a plan together to pull our nation out of a depression.
Today I witnessed a pair of students trying a plan to pull themselves out of a depression. They were down and out because I would not let them sit together. First they try to talk to each other from across the room. No that didn’t work. Their next try was to meet in the middle at a table. NOPE, Coach Kidd said “back to your seats.” Their next imaginative hypothesis included getting some butcher paper and writing their messages on it big enough for the person to read it from across the room. This was working for one but the second student was writing his notes on a dark piece of paper in pencil. The first friend frustrated finally said, “CL, YOU THINK I CAN READ THAT?!!” After many tests of various hypotheses they eventually figured out a way to communicate their messages to each other that did not draw my ire.
As FDR said, If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all try something.”
December 18th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I love Deborah’s missing ingredient cookie recipe project because I am the queen of not having all the ingredients when I bake/cook.
Correct hyptheses:
Children will still eat Kraft Mac n cheese without the butter or milk, but one has to be present.
You can water down ketchup to make up for no tomato sauce
Incorrect hypotheses:
There is no difference between milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips…ooh not true
Snickerdoodles will taste ok without creme of tarter…very false
January 15th, 2009 at 7:58 am
I have a student who has a physical impairment with his right hand. He is a first year percussionist in my band. He has to participate in a percussion ensemble performance and I chose the suspended cymbal to be his instrument for the group.
I needed to teach him how to perform a suspended cymbal roll with 2 yarn mallets. The shaft of the mallets are about the size of a pencil but are around 16 inches long. Again, he doesn’t have much strength or use of his right hand.
I thought that if I made the shaft of the mallet larger, perhaps he could hold it better in his right hand, and thus be able to produce a suspended cymbal roll of some sort.
I fastened a strip of cloth from an old towel with plastic ties given to me by the front office. It made the shaft larger and I tried to teach him a traditional 2-handed roll. It didn’t work well. He just couldn’t master the physical coordination between the 2 hands in a way to produce the sound on the cymbal.
So, I needed to try to teach him a 1-handed roll, using his stronger left hand, and placing BOTH mallets in his left hand. This seemed to work better but I wasn’t pleased with the design of my towel-wrapped mallet. That night I went to ACADEMY and purchased a couple of different brands of tennis racket grip wraps and I wrapped the mallet like I was rewrapping a tennis racket. I thought it made it comfortable to hold 2 mallets 1 one hand, esp for a kid who has strength issues.
He is improving on the sound production and the coordination of it. He still needs to practice.
January 19th, 2009 at 10:26 am
I use the word “hypothesize” in my rehearsals frequently. First and foremost, I know I’m reinforcing a science term. But secondly, I want the kids to imagine what will happen if, say, they quit singing when we are in the sight reading room at UIL. If we don’t hypothesize what a disaster that will cause, then I think it is more likely to happen!
I am such a student of human behavior, and I love hypothesizing how a different approach on any given day, whether it be with the behavior of a challenging student or with a difficult musical concept, will impact learning. It has been a jolt to get back into the mindset of middle school girls for me this year. I definitely had forgotten how moody and insecure they felt about themselves. I have imagined all sorts of different ways to approach them and encourage them this fall, tested those ways, and come up with what I hope is a challenging, positive learning environment.