In this issue’s other articles, TIP scientists discuss the incorrect theories in gifted education and you read the story of Copernicus correcting our understanding of the solar system.
But there are still many more important discoveries to come: like yours!
For this month’s Hands On activity, we’re asking you to choose a theory to prove wrong, then design an experiment to make your case.
You can design an experiment for whatever you theory you want. Do you think you might remember more after eating one kind of cereal than after eating another? Do you think you sleep better after reading a book before bed? Do you think it’s impossible to taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi? Everything is on the table! You can check out experiments from National Geographic Kids for inspiration—but make sure to give them credit if you use one of theirs!
After you choose your issue, you’ll have to design a way to test your theory. ThoughtCo has a good guide for how to design an experiment. You’ll want to figure out your hypothesis—what you think is true—then find a way to test whether that’s the case.
Write out how you’ll do your experiment, what you’re testing, and why, and send it to us. We’ll publish some of the submissions next month. You don’t actually have to do your experiment to submit it, but if you have the chance to do it, send us photos of the experiment, too!