Third Game - More on hypotheses

In Videoconferencing with Randy, our science expert, we wanted to design a game that would help kids understand what kinds of hypothesis can not be tested. Randy confirmed that this higher-level thinking is often not addressed in mid-school, and is a very difficult concept to hit.

We talked about hitting the hypothesis concepts again, helping learners identify in an experiment what the IV, DV is, what the conclusions are, etc.

Randy said another thing kids have a lot of problem with is differentiating between independing variables (manipulated) and dependent variables (responding). A game where they have to figure out what the independent and dependent variables are would be valuable.

We've been trying to avoid a quiz/reward framework, where learners answer questions to move forward in the game, or dressed up version of that. Yet, we keep coming back to the importance of giving learners the opportunity to practice identifying the IV and DV variables in a variety of hypotheses. If we could find an engaging way to let our learners practice identifying those, it would be a good way to review what they are learning in monkey fruit and snoobies.

If we break down the understanding of IV and DV, the most basic understanding is identifying what is *cause* and what is *effect*. This is the emphasis of this game: practicing identifying Independent and Dependent variables, eventually using that vocabulary to discern between the two.

One idea could be a crew selection where you want the people who make things happen... (the guy hitting the others is the independent, the mouse making other shriek is the independent) and you observe behavior and pick those, eventually using the vocabulary of independent and dependent variable.

Could we do something with treating in a medical environment the cause v. the symptoms? Perhaps we could tie this in to the poopy pirates sovling the cause v. the effect.