Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune in: The beginnings of a hypothesis.

25 minutes

Find out: How to formulate a good hypothesis

15 minutes

Take action: Formulate your own hypothesis.

5 minutes

Reflection

We recommend you complete the previous lessons in this unit prior to this lesson.

Tune in: The beginnings of a hypothesis

Step 1.

Explain to students that they will listen to part of the MOAH Episode ReclAIMEd. This episode brings together a group of people who work within the fashion industry to talk about the problem of synthetic fabrics and unused stock piling up as waste. Their discussion focuses on how to solve this issue and how the creation of a hoodie can bring new life to old stock by regenerating it and also bring about systemic change.

It is at the teacher’s discretion if students listen to the podcast or watch the video. See the options below.

Option 1 - LISTEN TO PODCAST SECTION

Listen to the MOAH episode ReclAIMEd from 29:05 mins to 31:18 mins. The transcript for this section can be found in the student worksheet as well as in the link provided.

Ask students the following questions:

What is the issue these people are trying to solve?
What do you think the research question might be?
What is the prediction of the ReclAIMEd initiative that the last speaker is talking about?

Option 2 - WATCH VIDEO

Watch the video from AIME that discusses the ReclAIMEd episode and its purpose and hopes:

This Hoodie is ReclAIMEd (https://vimeo.com/747521693/0770eb0e8e?share=copy)

Step 2.

Ask students the following questions:

What is the issue these people are trying to solve?
What do you think the research question might be?
What is the prediction of the ReclAIMEd initiative that the last speaker is talking about?

Step 3.

Ask students what they think the two variables are in this investigation.

If your class has prior knowledge of independent and dependent variables, you may like to discuss the variables in this scenario through this lens. Independent and dependent variables will be discussed later in the lesson.

Suggested response:

Variable 1 - Raising awareness of the situation through the ReclAIMEd hoodie and investigation.
Variable 2 - Implementation of this as the solution model for textile brands to deal with unused stock and waste.

Explain to students that creating a prediction about an investigation is one of the most important parts of the scientific method. In science, we call it a hypothesis – a statement that can be tested to see if there is a relationship between variables. Hypotheses are expectations based on the prior knowledge and information we have about the topic.

Find out: How to formulate a good hypothesis

Step 1.

Ask students to annotate the hypothesis below on their worksheet, picking out ways it is a good hypothesis according to the aspects of a good hypothesis listed below.

‘If the amount of time a student spends studying is increased, then the mark received on the final exam will also increase.’

A good hypothesis:

helps researchers to frame the experiment
allows researchers to understand expected results
provides a way to structure experiments clearly and obtain reliable data.

Suggested response:

Allows researchers to design and frame the experiment to be able to effectively test the relationship between the time spent studying and the final exam score.
Background information and prior knowledge of the topic would suggest that more studying would equal better marks. This prediction allows us to test if that prior knowledge is valid and true.
Allows researchers to focus on structuring the experiment to accurately measure the amount of time spent studying and compare this to the overall mark to see what the relationship is.

Step 2.

Explain to students that a hypothesis predicts the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. If your students have prior knowledge of variables, ask them to define each variable on their worksheet and identify which variable is which in the scenario above.

Suggested Response:

An independent variable (IV) is a variable that a researcher manipulates or controls. It is INDEPENDENT or not influenced by anything else in the experiment. The IV is the amount of time spent studying as this is the variable that the researchers can control and change.

The dependent variable (DV) is the variable you measure in the experiment. It is DEPENDENT on the independent variable. This means it is influenced by what the researcher is changing and possibly other aspects of the experiment. The DV is the mark on the exam score that the student receives. This is what is being measured and what has been influenced by the amount of time spent studying.

Step 3.

Explain to students that to write a good hypothesis, you need to focus on the approaches outlined below. These guidelines are included in the student worksheet for reference.

1. Asking a question
A hypothesis comes after the research question has been developed. Example: Our question about reforesting Sydney's coastline has provided the beginnings of the experiment. It can guide us in the creation of our hypothesis.

2. Conduct background research on the topic
Do some research into the topic to be able to have enough knowledge to understand the relationship that might exist between your variables. Example: AIME and the stakeholders in this episode have a wide range of background knowledge on this subject, from what it takes to physically reforest the coastline to how to raise awareness and the systems that need to be in place to bring that all together. This allows them to formulate a hypothesis of what they believe will happen.

3. Define the variables you have
What are your IV and DV, and what do you think their relationship is to each other?Example: The dependent variable in this investigation is the ability to reforest Sydney's coastline. This is what we can measure in the end. The independent variable is the creation of the ‘seaweed hoodie’ and the awareness this creates. This is what the researchers are controlling.

4. Formulate your hypothesis
A good way to do this to keep it consistent and provide a good framework for future hypotheses is the ‘If…then’ framework: If the Independent variable is increased/decreased/changed then the dependent variable will be increased/decreased changed.

Discuss with students what a possible hypothesis could be for the research question posed in the ‘Sea the Weed’ MOAH episode your class focused on in the last lesson.

‘How can the creation of a compostable seaweed hoodie allow us to reforest Sydney's coastline?’

Suggested response:

If a seaweed hoodie is created that raises awareness about the issue of reforesting and stimulates funds for the project, then Sydney’s Coastline will be able to be reforested with crayweed.

Take action: Formulate your own hypothesis

Depending on how you are using this lesson, this section could take multiple forms.

If you are using this lesson for students to follow the process of designing an experiment to ignite change, each Take action at the end of the lesson will correspond to forming a different section of their overall experiment. This Take action will focus on them developing their hypothesis.

You could choose for students to develop their own experiments, or you could conduct one experiment as a class, and each student could write their own report.

This is an alternative approach to teaching the scientific method that could result in some social change within your class or school community. Consider spending some time thinking about ways your class could create change within your community and encourage students to think creatively about how they could make a positive impact and measure it. If you want to focus on the scientific method more, we would suggest focusing on a class or year-level change through one experiment.

Some possible examples could be:

Does raising awareness about recycling within Year 8 increase the rate at which students use the correct bins?
Does an awareness campaign about fast fashion influence the clothing choices of Year 8 students?

Step 1.

Divide students back into their groups from the last lesson or allocate them to groups of 3-4.

Using the steps to creating an effective hypothesis, ask the students to write a hypothesis for their own social change experiment that you decided upon in the last lesson.

Remind students to define their variables, conduct a little background research and frame their question as an If…then statement.

Suggested answers using the example questions above,

Recycling - If the awareness of the recycling crisis and solutions is communicated effectively to students of Year 8, then the rate at which students use the correct bins will be increased.
Fast Fashion - If the awareness of the fast fashion crisis and solutions is communicated effectively to the students of Year 8, then the sustainable fashion choices of those students will be increased.

Step 2.

Have each group share their hypotheses and discuss them.

Which hypotheses have a clear independent and dependent variable?
Which ones are testable?
What are the positive aspects of the hypotheses?
What aspects of the hypotheses might need a bit of work?

After your discussion, you might like to choose one or blend a few to create a hypothesis for your whole class experiment.

Reflection

Why do you think creating a hypothesis is important for scientific research, as well as for many other investigations like the ‘Sea the Weed’ campaign?

Formulating a Hypothesis

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

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