History Detectives Kids . Parents & Teachers . Classroom Content

Unit 2: Activity 5
Predicting/Making a Hypothesis

Estimated time required: Two forty minute class periods.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will analyze information from a variety of sources in order to create a hypothesis about the origin of an interesting family artifact.
Students will create alternative hypotheses based upon available information in order to understand that some information can be interpreted in multiple ways.

STANDARDS FROM MCREL STANDARDS
Science Standard 11: Understands the basis of scientific knowledge

Knows that scientific explanations must meet certain criteria to be considered valid (e.g., they must be consistent with experimental and observational evidence about nature, make accurate predictions about systems being studied, be logical, respect the rules of evidence, be open to criticism, report methods and procedures, make a commitment to making knowledge public)

Science Standard 12: Understands the nature of scientific inquiry

Understands the use of hypotheses in science (e.g., selecting and narrowing the focus of data, determining additional data to be gathered; guiding the interpretation of data)
Designs and conducts scientific investigations (e.g., formulates testable hypotheses; identifies and clarifies the method, controls, and variables; organizes, displays, and analyzes data; revises methods and explanations; presents results; receives critical response from others)
Knows that scientists conduct investigations for a variety of reasons (e.g., to discover new aspects of the natural world, to explain recently observed phenomena, to test the conclusions of prior investigations, to test the predictions of current theories)

Science Standard 13: Understands the scientific enterprise

Understands that science involves different types of work in many different disciplines (e.g., scientists in different disciplines ask different questions, use different methods of investigation, and accept different types of evidence to support their explanations; many scientific investigations require the contributions of individuals from different disciplines; new disciplines of science, such as geophysics and biochemistry, often emerge at the interface of older disciplines)

Historical Understanding Standard 1: Understands and knows how to analyze chronological relationships and patterns

Knows how to develop picture time lines of their own lives or their family's history
Understands patterns of change and continuity in the historical succession of related events

Historical Understanding Standard 2: Understands the historical perspective

Thinking and Reasoning Standard 1: Understands and applies the basic principles of presenting an argument

Understands that when people try to prove a point, they may at times select only the information that supports it and ignore the information that contradicts it
Understands that to be convincing, an argument must have both true statements and valid connections among them
Evaluates the overall effectiveness of complex arguments

Thinking and Reasoning Standard 4: Understands and applies basic principles of hypothesis testing and scientific inquiry

Presents alternative explanations and conclusions to one's own experiments and those of others
Critiques procedures, explanations, and conclusions in one's own experiments and those of others
Gathers and analyzes field data using spatial sampling (e.g., place a transparent grid of squares on maps to count whether two characteristics such as corn production and hogs that are hypothesized to be spatially related coexist within the grid cells)

Thinking and Reasoning Standard 5: Applies basic trouble-shooting and problem-solving techniques

Selects the most appropriate strategy or alternative for solving a problem
Examines different alternatives for resolving local problems and compares the possible consequences of each alternative
Represents a problem accurately in terms of resources, constraints, and objectives
Provides summation of the effectiveness of problem-solving techniques
Reframes problems when alternative solutions are exhausted
Evaluates the feasibility of various solutions to problems; recommends and defends a solution

Thinking and Reasoning Standard 6: Applies decision-making techniques

Working With Others Standard 22: Contributes to the overall effort of a group

TOOLS & MATERIALS

Procedure

Students will need to make sure that they each have copies of the classifications and observations list they have created for their "interesting items."
Explain that students will be creating hypotheses about their items. Let them know that a hypothesis is a theory based on facts.
Review with students various hypotheses that were created for the History Detectives series. Emphasize that even in History Detectives episodes, the experts first come up with a theory they need to prove or disprove before jumping to any conclusions. Students should likewise create a hypothesis that they will be able to test.
Students should choose the four items that they find most interesting.
For each item, students should create a hypothesis explaining the origin of the item (including whether or not the item is authentic) or explaining how the item became part of the household where it was found.
Each student should choose one of those items of interest. That student should use their observations, prior knowledge, and interviews to write a brief paragraph explaining why they believe the hypothesis for that item to be true.
Next, students should come up with a number of other possibilities if their hypotheses are not correct. What are other possible origins of this object or other possible explanations for how it came into the household?