LESSON 3.9 Rank your Ideas

LESSON 3.9
Rank your Ideas

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.