Scientific Method Scenario - Week 1
Week 1 -- Scientific Method Scenario Blog Post
Scenario:
About mid-way through the semester, in a class you are taking on campus, you become
increasingly irritated by a student who sits in the back of the class. The student always
manages to fall asleep about 15 minutes into the lecture. Normally it wouldn’t bother
you, but occasionally he lets out a snore that breaks your attention and disrupts the class.
The instructor has repeatedly asked the student to work harder to stay awake, but he is
not having any success.
1. 1. It is possible that the student is taking
allergy medicine prior to coming to class and the medication is causing
drowsiness and for the student to fall asleep.
2. 2. Test:
a.
I would test this hypothesis by meeting the
student before class and suggesting non-drowsy allergy medicine before our class, which the student purchases at the bookstore and takes prior to class. The conditions are being altered when the student takes the non-drowsy allergy medicine.
b.
If the student stays awake during the class,
this would support my hypothesis.
c.
If the student fell asleep anyway, this would
suggest that my hypothesis was falsified.
3. 3. An example of an untestable, unfalsifiable explanation
would be that the student was cursed at birth never to stay awake to hear a full lecture.
This is a great hypothesis that I definitely did not think of. If it was true that the student had allergies taking the wrong medication, the new medication would work and he would not only stay awake in class but he would cure his allergies!
ReplyDeleteI love your untestable, unfalsifiable explanation made me laugh. I did not think of an allergy medication. Thank you for the late night laugh.
ReplyDeleteTestable Hypothesis (5/5) - Good.
ReplyDeleteTest (5/5) - Good test.
Support (5/5)
Falsify (5/5) - Good.
Untestable Hypothesis (8/10) - On the right track here, but for something to be untestable, it must be completely undetectable in any way. Was there anyway to detect the curse? Was the delivery of the curse witnessed? Was the person who cursed him real or imaginary? I know it sounds absurd, but that isn't the same thing as "untestable". Just because something is ridiculous doesn't mean it can't be falsified. I can hypothesize that the student is a superhero and gets no sleep at night because he spends his nights flying around the city, fighting crime. Yes, ridiculous, but I can falsify this by just observing the student an noting that he doesn't leave his house at night. :-) Now if you had said "an invisible, undetectable curse", that would have been untestable (though we still have the person who cursed him that might be an issue).
This is a great hypothesis that I did not think of prior to reading your response. Another test would be to see if they could take the medicine at a later time. Your untestible solution was really creative as well.
ReplyDeleteReally great response! It was really creative and I like how you thought outside of the box. Definitely did not think of this one, great job!
ReplyDeleteYou could probably ask the mom if the kid is cursed or if you believe in black magic maybe find a way to uncurse him if it is real? So basically its still testable at least I would say.
ReplyDelete