Science is All About the Hypothesis (week 4)

I am a project –based teacher. I consider reading a chapter in a text book to be part of the scientific method, Step 2: Collect Information / Do Research. I start with reading a textbook then quickly move to the internet then return to my paper or laptop to start creating my project. I do not find simply answering questions on a worksheet to be challenging or truly educational. This is probably why science is my favorite subject. We are always testing a problem or question. We are not trying to answer twenty questions at once, we are working on one theory, then another, and then one more until we find the solution we are looking for or proof the hypothesis is invalid.

To me science to mostly constructivist and very cognitive, we have to create, design and build each experiment from scratch. Yet even when repeating another scientists experiment, we have to work from a how to list and still construct the experiment, model, or project through our eyes and interpretation. At the beginning of each school year, I spend a solid two weeks on the scientific method and another two weeks on scientific measurement. Then throughout the school year, we use the scientific method to work though different concepts, theories and lessons.

The method by which I teach is to help guide students to eventually do it on their own. We start with templates and step by step instructions. By the middle of the second quarter students are only provided a template and general outlines of the experiment. By the second semester, students are let freer to create and design their own experiments with general parameters. I have them check in with me and I may help with shape their focus or limit their scope but I rarely change their mind or hypothesis, even if they are going to fail for that I know the hypothesis is invalid. I want them to problem solve for themselves. I want them to think it through.