Staff Directory

Generating and Testing Hypotheses

May 3

This month my column will focus on the High Yield Strategy of Generating and Testing Hypotheses.

This strategy involves the application of knowledge. It is something that students actively do. In fact, people apply what they know all the time. It comes naturally. The skills associated with this strategy are very important “in the real world” and play a key role in many of the new curricula.

The following are key elements found in research about setting goals:
1. Teachers should ask students to clearly explain their hypotheses and conclusions.
2. Hypotheses generation and testing can be done in a variety of ways, at a variety of levels.

There are several ways teachers can help students work to develop this skill:
1. Problem Solving
 Students identify the goal they are trying to accomplish
 They then describe the things that might be preventing them from reaching their goals or creating problems for them
 Students think of different possible solutions or ways to reach their goal and hypothesis which way is the best.
 Students try their hypothesis
 Students explain whether their way worked or if they need to try another way
2. Historical Investigations
 Students clearly explain the historical event to be examined
 Students identify what is known or agreed on and what is not unknown or is in disagreement
 Students come up with a hypothetical scenario of what happened
 They analyze the data and determine if their scenario is plausible
3. Invention
 Students describe the situation they want to improve
 They identify what the invention would need to be able to do to improve the situation
 Students brainstorm ideas and the likelihood of each idea solving the problem
 They begin to draft, sketch, or create the invention
 Students develop the invention
 Students revise the invention as necessary
4. Experimental Inquiry
 Students observe something of interest and describe what they observe
 Students apply prior knowledge and theories to explain what they observed
 Based up the explanations given/known, students generate ideas about what would happen if . . . .
 Students set up an experiment to test their ideas
 Students then explain the results of the experiment
5. Decision- making
 Students describe the decision they are making and any alternatives they may be thinking of
 Students identify possible criteria that will influence the decision
 Students rate the importance of each criteria/alternative
 Thy then examine the ratings of each alternative
 Lastly, students adjust the criteria as felt necessary

The most important thing when having students make or test hypotheses is to have them explain their thinking, and defend their conclusions.