COMMON SENSE
Using Good Judgement
Guessing - Younger
*Science
*Formulating Hypotheses
*Checking Evidence
Everybody has to be able to guess. The fancy word
for it is "hypothesize." The better guesses
are the ones based on as much information you can
pull together beforehand. For this activity you need
a yardstick and a scale.
Ask "guessing" questions and let children
ask them of you. How wide is this room? How long is
the driveway? Get out the yardstick and check these
guesses.
Talk about weight in general terms. Then guess how
much different things weigh. A typewriter? A book?
Mother? Brother? Put them on the scale and check.
These activities help children make judgments based
on what they know to be facts or guesses.
Checking - Older
*Thinking
*Evaluating Information
Checking is common-sense practice, and it can be
taught in a straight forward way with a series of
questions.
Have we checked to see, for example, that:
*There's gas in the car before starting out on a
trip?
*There are no crack in the eggs that we buy at the
supermarket?
*The seams are tightly sewn in clothes we're planning
to buy?
*There are no cars coming before we start across the
street - even if the light is green?
We can get children in the habit of doing these checks.
With all the checking in the world, there will still
be plenty of surprises, but some of the everyday,
unpleasant ones can be avoided this way.
To keep kids on their toes, try this. Show youngsters
the good side of a wormy apple. Ask, "Is this
a good apple? Can you eat all of it?" Then turn
the apple around. It shows children they have to know
both sides of the question. It's a trick with a valuable
lesson.
