Hypothesis and Theory Concepts
Initial perceptual naive misconceptions (any age)
Misconceptions
Beginning (preschool - 7 years)
Concepts
Hypothesis
- Interactions may cause change.
- An explanation of an observation or group of observations.
Intermediate (7 years - 11 years)
Concepts
Hypothesis
- Interactions may cause changes which are affected by different variables.
- Hypothesis can be stated in the following form using the word "may". (Light may affect plant growth. If an object is dropped higher it may fall faster. )
- Hypothesis can be disproved with evidence - repeated observation.
Literate (11+)
Concepts
Hypothesis
- An experiment can be created to identify variables and their effects on interactions by using if then thinking.
- A hypothesis is an if then statement (but not all if then statements are hypotheses), is it tentative, relates one idea to another, and is testable.
- A formalized hypothesis can be stated in the form. (If plant growth is related to the amount of light shining on it, then more light will increase the plant's growth.)
- Hypothesis can be operationalized as if variable x is changed in a certain way, variable y will respond in a certain way.
- Directly proportional - As the amount of time an object is heated increases, the temperature will increase proportionally.
- Indirectly proportional - The longer a rock is removed from boiling water, the lower the temperature. As time increases temperature decreases.
- A statement that is assumed accurate for the sake of argument.
Theory
- A theory can be thought of as a hypothesis that has accumulated enough repeated observations to be accepted as accurate. Just as hyothesis can be disproved with evidence so can theories.
- A scientific theory can be thought of as a summary of a hypothesis or group of hypotheses repeatedly supported with observations.
- Generally evidence accumulates to support a hypothesis, then the hypothesis can become accepted as a good explanation of a phenomenon - theory.
Dr. Robert Sweetland's notes
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