Ensights Magazine

Speculate & Hypothesize: Argument Driven Inquiry

Nancy Keen Palmer-Gift, Communications Coordinator
“The more active our students are in making a scientific argument, the more growth they demonstrate with learning how to employ the scientific process. This is not only a tool to solve everyday challenges, but a way of thinking that trains students to probe for weaknesses in any argument—either their own, or arguments presented to them.”
—Chris Thompson High School Science
You would expect to find two components of the Scientific Method, to speculate and hypothesize, prevalent within any and all science classes, but of note is our High School Science Department’s approach to lab-based courses, known as Argument Driven Inquiry, and its success in deepening students’ engagement with and understanding of course material.

Argument Driven Inquiry begins with a guiding question; students are given a problem that they must solve by collecting evidence. The question itself is constructed in a way that no simple answer can be found within notes or a textbook. It is here that students must begin to speculate and hypothesize. Together, in small groups, students make a claim based on their understanding of the concept, an educated guess regarding the relationship between the variables presented in the question that will need to be supported with physical evidence. 
 
As they move through the lab, students refer to their initial claim and make adjustments as the data guides a more educated answer. Armed with evidence at the conclusion of their laboratory experiment, they support their claim and encapsulate their knowledge in a formal lab report or justification. Here, they must prove their understanding of the course material, the laboratory data and procedure, and most importantly, describe the relationship between them all that answers the initial guiding question. 
 
However, not all guiding questions are correctly answered, nor is that the sole purpose of a laboratory experiment. Students gather in Harkness Table discussions, pooling results in order to reach a consensus. But what happens if one's data proves to be an inaccurate outlier and no time is left to collect alternative evidence? 
 
Through the process of error analysis, students are given the opportunity to speculate and hypothesize once more, this time to make claims as to what skewed their data and why. “Error Analysis challenges students to understand the relationship between experimental variables on a profound level, being able to predict how errors in one variable affect the other and therefore the results of the overall lab. This endeavor develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills organically within these inquiry-based lab experiences” notes Mr. Lyons. In the end, this inquiry-based approach exemplifies the power of employing core skills and proves to be an effective way for students to gain concrete experience with complex conceptual material to deepen understanding. 
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Red Gables Campus (K–8)

Nashville, TN 37205
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Frist Campus (9–12)

Nashville, TN 37221
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Ensworth is a coeducational, kindergarten through twelfth grade, independent day school.