Why hypothesize?

    We're all taught as kids that a hypothesis is an educated guess. This isn't necessarily wrong, but there's much more to a hypothesis than that. A hypothesis is best defined as a tentative explanation. This means that a hypothesis is what you believe the answer to an inquiry question is before you investigate it. It's vital for students to make hypotheses at the beginning of inquiry lessons because this "tentative explanation" provides the guide for the rest of the lesson. The students will inquire about a topic, and then make their hypothesis to get engaged with the material. The student then spends the rest of the lesson trying to prove or disprove their explanation. The students are more engaged in the rest of the lesson now because they have a personal connection to it; they really want to see whether or not their explanation is correct. Hypotheses also help the teacher see if their instruction was effective or not. If a student makes a hypothesis that is incorrect, then can explain why it was incorrect by the end of the lesson, the teacher clearly did a good job and the lesson was beneficial. Always have students write down their hypotheses in the beginning of the lesson so that by the end you can see how student learning has been affected.

 During class last month, my classmates and I participated in a grab bag activity. My teacher showed the class a closed bag filled with something, but she wouldn't tell us what. She passed it around to each student in the class and gave us each five seconds to do whatever we wanted with the bag to try and guess its contents. The only rule: no opening the bag! Most of my classmates held then shook the bag, but others tried more interesting methods. I saw a few people holding the bag up to their face or nose trying to really see what was inside! By the time everyone had their five seconds with the bag, we all had a hypothesis ready to go about what we thought was inside. Personally, I thought it was some sort of dog toy because it felt like there was a small object in the bag and I heard it squeak. My class and I were able to separate our hypotheses into five categories: dog toys, rattles, rocks, balls, and children's toys. After this, Dr. Smirnova got the attention of the class and started to really break down what exactly a hypothesis is and why it's an important aspect of inquiry learning.

   Inquiry lessons are so crucial to science instruction. Science can be so immersive and engaging for students, and inquiry is one of the most engaging ways for students to learn! So, it only makes sense that a good portion of lessons in a science unit are inquiry-based. Students need to be able to wonder and explore the content, and inquiry is a perfect way to do that. This grab bag activity was very engaging and taught me exactly why inquiry and hypotheses are so crucial in science instruction. I will use an activity like it one day in my own classroom to emphasize the importance of inquiry and hypothesizing in science! (By the way, we never found out what was in the bag 😭)