Generating+and+Testing+Hypotheses

//© 2007 (2010) www.clipart.com//.
 * [[image:Hypothesis.jpg width="179" height="153"]] Research Strategy: Generating and Testing Hypotheses **

Learning by inquiry is a popular trend in today’s classrooms. Teachers should provide students the opportunities to ask questions, create hypotheses, research those hypotheses, and review the results. This is possible in more than just science classes. Students can make predictions in any curricular area.
 * Overview **

__ Rationale __ Tablet PC’s are easily portable computers that are more compact than a laptop. Most have detachable keyboards and can be hand-held. The hand-held capability and stylus writing devices for these PC’s are perfect for writing down questions, taking notes, and recording observations. Tablets can be carried around for labs in a science classroom or can be stationed at desks in classes like language arts, social studies, or math. Students have the ability to save their work and even send it to other tablets to share. Additionally, programs (if needed for research or other work) can be installed on the PC’s just like normal computers. This technology is good for generating and testing hypotheses because it doesn’t tie students down like a desktop or even a laptop sometimes could. It allows for more flexibility in research and note-taking.
 * Technology 1: Tablet PC **

__ Resources Needed __
 * Tablet PC such as Fujitsu LifeBook, HP Slate or iPad, approximately $600 and up

__ Rationale __ // Secrets of the Dead // is a series of educational lesson plans provided by CBS for middle and high school science classrooms. There are 17 different media-enhanced lessons that range from investigations such as “Where Has All the Carbon Gone?” to “Digging for the Truth.” Each lesson plan provides objectives, needed materials, and videos that accompany the investigation (which can be watched online or through DVD). Once in the investigation, students can enter the interactive part of the website and review each case’s background, clues and evidence, and even listen to interviews. Lessons include questions or activities for teachers to use as discussion starters or assessment. This technology is good for generating and testing hypotheses because it allows students to learn by inquiry. The videos provide students with the opportunity to think and make predictions about why certain things happened. Teachers can then guide students’ understanding by helping them analyze the results or effects.
 * Technology 2: Secrets of the Dead @http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/previous_seasons/lessons/index.html **

__ Resources Needed __
 * Computers with internet access
 * DVD player and television if desired
 * // Secrets of the Dead // DVD’s if desired, approximately $25 each

__ Rationale __ You be the historian is an interactive website. The website is geared towards middle school history. The site allows students to be a historian and places them in time, dating back to the 1700's. It makes students engaged, trying to figure out what life was like for a family in Delaware. It also has a feature which allows students to inquire about what future historians could find out about us. This is a good way to generate and test hypotheses because it allows students to be engaged, and place themselves back in time to make conclusions about their predictions on what life was like in history. The “what about you?” sections allow students make predictions for what future historians would find on a more personal level.
 * Technology 3: You be the Historian @http://americanhistory.si.edu/kids/springer/ **

__ Resources Needed __
 * Computers with internet access

One challenge teachers face is student motivation. Generating and testing hypotheses enables motivation to increase because it makes students actively engaged. They are able to question ideas, test them out, and then analyze the data. This is important because it allows students to move around instead of sitting at a desk and just listening. The technology provided above, such as tablet pc's, are great tools for this educational challenge because it creates hands-on learning. Students are able to make real world connections, solve problems and analyze ideas on their own.
 * Educational Challenges **

Back to Project 6 home page