LESSON 3.9
Rank your Ideas
Grades 7 – Adult
So far, you have done the following:
- Brainstormed ideas
- Eliminated ideas that are already very familiar to most educated adults
- Brainstormed ideas for the Old variable (what the person had to overcome)
- Brainstormed a Why
- Wrote a hyperthesis for most of your ideas
- Chose three hypertheses you like best
For example:
| What Statement | Why Statement | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Variable | Verb Phrase | Old Variable | Because | Why |
| Billy Mills, the only American to win the 10,000 meters in the Olympics, | had to overcome | prejudice against Native American runners. | His achievement is especially important because | (answer from Task 3.5.1) |
| Florence Baker, who explored East Africa when women did not do such things, | had to overcome | white slavery. | Her achievement is especially important because | it helps remind us that more people are enslaved today than at any other time in history. |
| Wilma Rudolph, the first great female American sprinter, | had to overcome | childhood polio. | Her achievement is especially important because | it greatly influenced American women’s interest in sprinting. |
Task 3.9.1
Create and use a Decision Table for three possible subjects.
1. Pick the three hypertheses from Task 3.8.3
2. Create a Decision Tree. It should have 8 columns and 4 rows
3. Use the following criteria:
a. Which New idea most likely interests educated adults?
b. Which New idea most interests you?
c. Which Old idea most most likely interests educated adults?
d. Which Old idea most most likely interests you?
e. Which Why most most likely interests educated adults?
f. Which Why most likely interests you?
4. “Best” will be a 3, “worst” a 1
5. Go from 3 to 1, then fill in the 2.
6. You will never have two of the same number in the same column?
7. Total the numbers hortizontally.
8. Flip a coin in case of a tie.
Example:
| Idea | New – adults | Old – adults | Why – adults | New – me | Old – me | Why – me | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billy Mills | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| Florence Baker | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 15 |
| Wilma Rudolph | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Author’s note: I did not flip a coin. I am biased on this Decision Table. I met Billy Mills in a hallway of a school in a Central Yupik village in rural Alaska and had a wonderful discussion about running.