A couple weeks ago I received a frantic call from a science teacher who was in need of a science fair judge. It seems his normal judges were members of the Department of Natural Resources and when the science fair was accidently scheduled on Martin Luther King’s Day a national holiday that meant his normal judges would be enjoying a day off from work.
Since I am a retired biology teacher I am on many science fair organizers ‘speed dial’ thus my phone rang and in seconds I was not going to be available to celebrate Martin Luther King’s national holiday either. I would be judging elementary and middle school students’ science fair projects.
That means as the judging day approaches I will be hoping none of those ‘little scientists’ will have parents with doctor degrees in science who will have helped their little darlings develop their science fair projects. If that is the case they will quickly introduce me to areas of science that I never even knew existed! 🙁
If you are not familiar with science fairs it is a process that lets students experience what it is like to be a research scientist and solve a problem. The little munchkins will use Scientific Method in an attempt to solve the problem that they and a parent with hopefully only a high school education dreams up!
It’s been almost twenty years since I was in the classroom teaching problem solving using Scientific Method and I am a little rusty to say the least. The other night I decided I’d better brush up on the steps of Scientific Method otherwise confusion could quickly settle in during science fair judging time.
Then an actual problem arose and I decided it would be a perfect time to review those Scientific Method steps.
I was going to bed and it was a little past midnight when I noticed our alarm clock appeared to be a half an hour slow.
The first step in Scientific Method popped into my head, “state the problem clearly”.
Having the time tested mind of a science teacher I smugly thought, “Why is the alarm clock a half hour slow?” That is the problem I must solve.
Step two of Scientific Method is “check the known facts”. I began to become excited as I realized so far I was able to remember the first two of steps of the Scientific Method.
The only known facts that I could think of was the digital alarm clock was a half hour slow and it was less then a year old.
As I dug back into the recesses of my brain I was amazed go retrieve step number three “develop a hypothesis” (scientific guess).
Several of them popped into my head instantly. The clock was defected. The electricity had gone out for thirty minutes that evening as we attended a high school basketball game. My wife had tampered with the clock attempting to set the alarm for 10 am.
Remember I mentioned this problem arose slightly after midnight so all this hypothesis concentration was really wearing me out. I was getting tired! So I lay down on our bed contemplating all the possible hypotheses scenarios.
Just before I drifted off the remaining Scientific Method steps popped into my head. After choosing a hypothesis, test it, gather data, draw conclusions, retest and record. I smiled with pride knowing my Scientific Method steps had returned and then I sank into a blissful sleep.
Tomorrow I would solve the problem.
As the morning light filtered through our bedroom window shades I awoke and immediately thought of last evening’s problem solving exercise. I turned my head and looked at the digital alarm clock and was shocked to see the time was 11:L!
The alarm clock must have had a nervous breakdown! The clock thinks it is eleven. The capital L is a little confusing. I know that L is the Roman Numeral number for 50. So does that mean the confused alarm clock thinks it’s really ten minutes to twelve or fifty minutes after eleven?
We’ve really got problems here! The defected clock hypothesis from last night appears to be the correct answer to our problem.
“I’ll have to go shopping for a new alarm clock,” I muttered as I reached over and grabbed the clock. That’s when I made a surprising discovery that provided an answer to our alarm clock problem.
The alarm clock somehow got put on the nightstand upside down! When I returned it to its correct position the time now read 7:11! (I always thought that L was a goofy looking L. Now I realize it was an upside down 7!)
So the problem turned out not to be very difficult to solve but the good thing resulting from the process is that I was able to recall the steps of Scientific Method. Bring on those elementary and middle school scientists and I’ll be ready to evaluate their problem solving skills. All except for that one student whose Dad has a doctorate in Physics and is presently working at NASA developing a new space shuttle. 🙂
Anyone who has spent time solving problems with the Scientific Method knows that problems can lead to more problems. This simple alarm clock problem demonstrates that beautifully. What is the next problem needing to be solved?
How did the alarm clock get turned upside down? Checking the known facts we find only two people reside in the house, my wife Kathie and myself. There was no earthquake that may have caused the clock to flip over. Ghost have been known to do mischievous things but I am quite sure the house is not haunted.
So as a scientist I determine there are only two possible hypotheses explaining how the alarm clock got turned upside down. Either Kathie was the culprit or perhaps even I could be guilty. But since neither of us like to have our faults pointed out I believe I will leave that problem to be solved for another time. 🙂
Maybe in a month or even several years I will return to the problem to see if Scientific Method can again change a hypothesis to a fact.
Then again what’s that old adage? It’s better to let a sleeping dog lie!
That sounds like even a better idea. 🙂
Until next time.
