Wm.

Eric Janshego
TE 804

Reflection on Student Work
(Inquiry Activity/ Hypothesis Checklist)
Description of Task
This activity fell on the first day of my Inquiry activity sequence, which was on
the subject of Drugs and Drug testing. On the previous day my students were completing
a Test on their Fingerprinting unit. I started todays activity by providing my students
with the following over arching question Is it possible to beat a breath test. Throughout
the duration of this assignment, the students took part in a Think, Pair, Share activity,
as they deliberated over the topic in both small and large groups. I initiated the
conversation by first reading the following story:
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"Theie is no way to beat the bieath tests since it woiks on the iuea of
infiaieu light absoiption, anu the only way to ueciease youi BAC is with time."

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Some of my typical stuuent iesponses aie shown below, anu the class Bypothesis
checklists aie uisplayeu below.
Eating a substantial amount of foou will help to uecieases youi BAC piioi to a
bieath test. This example shows that my stuuents uo unueistanu that
metabolizing foou will help ueciease youi BAC, but they uo not unueistanu
how long this piocess takes.
Ingesting mouth was help to mask the effects of Alcohol anu iesult in an
inaccuiate BAC ieauing. This iesponse shows that the stuuents uo not
unueistanu how the bieath test accuiately ieaus the amount of alcohol on
youi bieath. This answei also shows that my stuuents faileu to iuentify that
the alcohol in mouthwash woulu actually inciease youi BAC.
Thiowing up helps to eliminate the alcohol fiom the system, anu will
instantly uecieases youi BAC, since theie will be no alcohol left in youi
system. This example helps to show that my stuuents uo not unueistanu the
metabolism iates of alcohol in the human bouy system, but it uoes show that
they unueistanu that the alcohol must be eliminateu fiom the bouy to
ueciease the BAC.
Comment [1]: By pioviuing my stuuents
with a ieal life scenaiio, on they can easily
ielate to, my stuuents motivation anu value
towaius the lesson is gieatly incieaseu.
Comment [2]: Aftei iuentifying common
misconceptions, I am bettei piepaieu to
contoui my following lessons to auuiess,
pieces of infoimation my stuuents my not
full unueistanu.

Implications from Earlier Lessons or Assessments

In our previous unit, my students had been working with the ideas of Spectrophotometry
and refraction index. Prior to our discussion on index of refraction, our students were
given 4 unknown objects with very little information about them, but this did include
their indexs of refraction. They were then asked to work in groups to identify the four
unknown materials, where they could preform a web search or use the papers we
provided them.
After about 15 minutes, the students began to realize that the index of refraction could be
used to determine what the items were, and further classify their unknowns. After this
activity they were able to watch a video that showed how these two subjects could act as
characteristic property test. By providing my students with this background information I
was hoping that they would have able to build off of their prior knowledge, and
extrapolate this into understanding how the Breath Test would work.

Since this activity was placed at the beginning of my unit, I was not expecting my
students to instantly make the connection between light absorption and the Breath Test.
Though I was not expecting my students to achieve this answer right away, I was shocked
to see that almost all of them believed that there was a way to pass the Breath Test. It is
possible that my students achieved this idea because they thought that if we were
completing this activity, then there must be a way to beat the test. I believe that this is the
reason that all of my students suggested ways to beat the test, instead of providing me
with the answer that you could not beat the test. Since this could have been a result of my
Comment [3]: By cieating a classioom
Bypothesis Checklist I am bettei piepaieu
to motivate my stuuents, since they aie able
to see theii own iuea's uisplayeu thioughout
the classioom.
wording of the activity, next time I will have my students first break off into groups that
believe it can be passed, and groups that think it cannot be passed. This way my students
will have the opportunity to participate in a Think, Pair, Share activity with others who
may have similar ideas.


Implication for Later Lessons
For the following lesson, I will be having the students research the BAC chart and create
a graph showing how long it will take for alcohol to metabolize and exit their system.
This assignment will require the students to use their own body weight and gender in
order to educate them on the effects of alcohol in their system. In order to help my
students visually identify how long the concentration of alcohol stays in your system,
they will be required to construct a concentration vs. time graph. I believe that this
assignment will work wonderfully to help my students see that the main way of
decreasing your BAC is with time. This will also help to educate my students about
alcohol safety and what counts as drinking responsibly.
After completing this activity my students will watch an episode of the common hit
television series Mythbusters, which will help to highlight the effects of mouthwash
and food on the breath test. This will help them to see how slowly food metabolizes and
alters you BAC reading.


What I learned about how students learn- Implications for teaching in general
After preforming this Hypothesis Checklist, I feel better prepared to address the common
misconceptions among my students. Since my students were able to see that metabolism
rates play a large role in the breath tests, I will introduce them to the BAC metabolism
rates/hour chart. By allowing my students to see that alcohol metabolizes slowly in the
body, this should help to see how vomiting and ingesting large quantities of food will not
aide substantially in decreasing your BAC.

Not only did this Hypothesis Checklist help me to see that my students believed the
answer relied in metabolism, but it brought to mind the idea of postponing the breath test.
Was this possible, or how could this be done? These are just a few of the questions I had
to research myself, and in my research I conversed with a local Sheriff. After my brief
discussion I was able to learn that there are reasons, and ways to refuse taking the breath
test. The main reason to refuse a breath test is because you have the choice to say NO!.
It is not the law to take a breath tests, and the majority of lawyers will request that you
refuse. This will then result in you being detained by the police until a Judge can issues a
warrant for your blood test. This was a great question and research opportunity for
myself, and one I would never have achieved without using the Hypothesis Checklist.
This also helped me to see that my students have great ideas and question they would like
to have answered, and by showing them my willingness to researcher their answers I
believe helped to increase their motivation towards the overall unit.
Comment [4]: This assignment not only
helps to explain how the bieath test woiks,
but it stiesses the impoitance of uiinking
iesponsibly as an auult. By intiouucing
these concepts to my stuuents eaily on, they
aie bettei piepaieu to face social piessuies
in the coming yeais.
Comment [5]: This was also a wonueiful
way to make my classioom stuuent
centeieu because I was able to use iueas my
stuuents hau uesigneu, anu show them that
eveiy questioninquiiy is valueu.