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.Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that the student is going to sleep too late so therefore he is not getting enough sleep. So that is why he is falling asleep in the middle of lecture.
2.Test:
A) I would first go and sit next to the student and ask him what time he usually goes to bed. If the student says any time after 2am, then i would suggest that he should try and go to bed earlier. I will tell him each week to increase the time by a half hour. So, for example i would say week 1 try and go to bed by 1:30, then week 2: 1am, and so forth until he is at his desired sleep level.
B) If my thesis is correct, and he is actually sticking to that plan, he should be coming into class more energetic and will be able to stay up for the duration of the whole class meeting time.
C) If the student is still coming into class tired and is sleeping during class, then more data should be looked at. This could point to that he is either not following the plan, has a medical condition like insomnia, or just isn't drinking a caffeine substance in the morning.
3. Untestable Hypothesis: The student felt that this class was very comfortable and relaxing for him, so that is why he constantly fell asleep.
I agree with your hypothesis and your tests seem like they would work really well. I disagree with your Untestable Hypothesis though because I feel that it is testable. You can ask the student if he is comfortable in the class and if so, then that would prove your hypothesis and if he says no then that would disprove it, but whatever the answer is; by simply asking him then you are testing your hypothesis, hence making the untestable hypothesis, testable.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI like your hypothesis and the test you chose to do with it. I really liked that if you found your hypothesis falsifiable, you would collect more data to find another reason why the student was falling asleep in class. The only thing that I would change would be to the untestable hypothesis that you created. This is actually testable. Maybe the teacher could make him stand straight up against a wall instead of sitting, making the environment not relaxing. Other than that, great post!
Testable Hypothesis (5/5) - Good.
ReplyDeleteTest (5/5) - Okay, but more elaborate than necessary! How about he just gets 8 hours of sleep per night? And this can't be done on faith. You must make sure he gets that sleep.
Support (4/5) - Yes, but again, you can't assume the student to do this. Science and assumptions don't mix. In order to support your hypothesis, you must confirm this.
Falsify (2/5) - "If the student is still coming into class tired and is sleeping during class, then more data should be looked at."
No. You are skipping steps. If he is getting a good night sleep and still falls asleep in class, your hypothesis is falsified. Period. End of test. THEN you can move onto to another hypothesis and a new test. What we want here is just what you predict will falsify your hypothesis.
Untestable Hypothesis (5/10) - Feelings may be difficult to test, but they are real and therefore testable. "Difficult" is not the same thing as "untestable". In order to be untestable, a hypothesis must be undetectable, unobservable, and unquantifiable in any way.
I like where you are going with your hypothesis, but I believe it might need to be more clear. How much sleep exactly should the student be getting and how exactly do you know the student isn't false in his reporting to you? You are replying on the honest of the test subject in order to prove or falsify your if your thesis is correct. While there are a few issues if you go back and make the hypothesis more clear and the testing fool proof it might be more solid.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your hypothesis as to why the student may be falling asleep early in class and the steps that you take to test it seem very reasonable. Only thing that I would probably change is the time suggestion you give to the student, I don’t really think that 30 minutes would be enough time to stop him from falling asleep in class. Also your untestable hypothesis is testable because these are things that we can easily ask the student about.
ReplyDelete