Re: [Phys-l] unbiased experiments +- index of refraction

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@mindspring.com>]

At 11:16 -0500 05/13/2009, John Clement wrote:

> Generally inquiry labs do not have the traditional lab report
> format because there is no hypothesis, just a question "What the heck
> happens".

This is a good feature, since it follows the common procedure of real 
science more closely (either asking the "What the heck happens" 
question, or following a lead in a hypothesis-based experiment that 
leads off in some direction largely unrelated to the original 
question). I have seen too many elementary science labs that ask the 
students to predict some result about which they know absolutely 
nothing in the beginning. The answers given to this question are then 
turned into a "hypothesis" for the experiment, but the "hypothesis" 
is nothing but a wild guess, based on nothing. Labs based on "what 
happens when . . ." or "what if . . ." or "how can we . . ." -type 
questions are, IMO, much more reasonable approaches.

Of course there are hypothesis testing experiments in the real 
science lab, but I rather think that, if they are not in the 
minority, they are at least not among the most important of those 
done. I think that the capture of science education by the crowd that 
insists that *every* experiment must be one where a stated hypothesis 
is tested have distorted students' views of what science is, and have 
led to some very tortured experimental designs in science fairs and 
other competitions.

Hugh

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Hugh Haskell
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mailto:hhaskell@mindspring,.com

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