Turning Observations into an Experiment

Had an interesting conversation a couple of weeks ago. A friend called to ask about a good idea for an experiment. She was concerned, because they had done some observations of insects over the summer, but since the insects were gone, there was no way to test any hypothesis based on the observations. In the course of the conversation, however, she mentioned an idea her child had based on the insects' nest, which remained. It sounded like a great project.

Key to the development of a good hypothesis is familiarity with the subject. That comes from puttering around. Get your child's hands on the subject and soon you will get insightful questions and ideas.

"Thunderstruck", by Erik Larson (an excellent book, but NOT for elementary school students), discusses how Marconi and his contemporaries developed working radio transmitters without a good understanding of the underlying theory. The more they tinkered with the technology, the more instinctual understanding they had. This allowed them to design and conduct better experiments.