Black Box – The Process of Scientific Inquiry
(Adapted from “The Process of Scientific Inquiry” by Jean Dickey)
Objectives:
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Be able to explain the basic process of scientific inquiry.
Be able to explain the power and limitations of scientific inquiry.
Be able to distinguish a robust hypothesis from a weak or untestable hypothesis.
Introduction:
By way of introduction, please read Chapter 1 Concepts 1.3 & 1.4 before coming to lab.
Exercise 1 – Black Box
Before you is a sealed box with three items in it. Your goal is to determine what is
inside the box. The most important rule is that the box may not be opened! The tools you
have available to you are:
• an empty box
• a scale
• a magnet
• a bag of items that are potentially in your box
With these tools do your best to determine what is inside the box! Once your group has
reached a consensus you may then check to see if you were correct. Document your group’s
process in the space below. What kinds of observations did you make? How did you arrive
at your hypothesis for what was inside the box? How did you test this hypothesis? In this
instance you were able to do something you are almost never able to do in a real experiment
– know the truth! When you opened the box and discovered the truth, did it match your
hypothesis? If it did not (or even if it did!), what could have led you astray?
Exercise 2: Good Scientific Questions
Remember from your reading that a hypothesis is a scientist’s tentative answer to a
well-framed question. The forming of a good and testable question is at the heart of a strong
scientific experiment.
Consider the following hypothesis: “There was a ghost in my Black Box.” (How else to
explain my results?). What is wrong with this hypothesis, and why is this question outside
the realm of scientific inquiry?
Consider the following hypothesis “Immoral behavior increases during a full moon.” What
is wrong with this hypothesis? Can you come up with testable hypotheses that may address
this question?