Exploring Characteristics of Good and 

Bad Hypotheses  
 
 

Engage 
To ​engage​ students at the beginning of a lesson, insert video, 
  image, quote, or another inspirational hook in this box.  
The Goal: ​Reveal Pre-existing ideas, Beliefs, Preconceptions. 
Pose questions that students will begin to answer in “Explore” 

 
View this clip from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As you 
watch, keep the following questions in mind: 
1. How do they decide what experiment to conduct? 
2. Is their experiment flawed somehow? 
3. How would you improve their experiment? 
After viewing, post your responses to this Padlet under the 
appropriate question. We will come back to these at the end of 
class. 
 

Explore 
Curate a collection of resources (articles, videos, infographics, 
  text excerpts, etc.) for students ​to explore​ the topic.  
The Goal: ​Students may be gathering data, sharing ideas, 
looking for patterns, making conjectures, and developing 
further questions and problem solving considerations with the 
use of the information/activity provided 

In groups, watch the following videos and keep track of the 

different questions that are being investigated, the hypotheses 
that are presented, and the conclusions (if there are any) that 
are drawn. Try to identify characteristics of good and bad 
hypotheses. 

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Video #1 
Video #2 
Video #3 
 
 

Explain  
Use this section to allow students ​to​ ​explain​ their thinking and 
move towards demonstrating mastery of the lesson’s objective.  
The Goal: ​Provide opportunity for students to compare ideas, 
construct explanations, justify in terms of observations and/or 
data collected in a collaborative large group environment. 
 
Share the characteristics your group came up with on the class 
Padlet, and comment on others’ submissions. Did other groups 
come up with different characteristics? Think about how you 
can use others’ models to refine your own 
 
 

Apply/Elaborate 
Use this section for students ​to apply​ information from the 
  previous sections to new circumstances or ​elaborate​ on a 
particular aspect at a deeper level usually coming in the form 
of “What if” questions.   
The Goal: ​Allowing students the opportunity to discuss how 
their thinking has changed or been solidified. 

Recall the question you posed yesterday. How would you 

investigate that problem? What would you test if you had 
unlimited resources? Now, ​what if​ you had to test that before 
class tomorrow? Consider your time constraint, budget, and 
access to scientific information. The scope of your investigation 
may need to be considerably narrower than the questions we 
saw today. Does your hypothesis have the characteristics you 
came up with? 
 
 
 
 

Reflect/Evaluate 
Include an opportunity for face-to-face or digital ​reflection​ to 
  guide students along their learning progression, e​valuating 
progress and setting new goals for continued exploration. 
The Goal: ​Refine initial answer to the “driving question” and 
reflect on ideas, goals and beliefs concerning their progress. 

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1. Check your hypothesis with your group and offer 

constructive criticism to help your group members 
develop more realistic or exciting hypotheses. 
2. Revisit your response to the Monty Python clip. How 
might you change your answers after discovering what 
you now know about hypotheses and experimental 
design? What have you learned today? 
 
 

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