The Harry Potter Box: Demonstrating the Importance of Challenging Assumptions during the Scientific Process

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Research Article| October 01 2012 The Harry Potter Box: Demonstrating the Importance of Challenging Assumptions during the Scientific Process Sumana Setty, Sumana Setty 1SUMANA SETTY is a biology teacher at Concord Academy, Concord, MA 01742; e-mail: sumana4567@gmail.com. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Melissa S. Kosinski-Collins Melissa S. Kosinski-Collins 2MELISSA S. KOSINSKI-COLLINS is Associate Professor of Biology at Brandeis University, 415 South St., Waltham, MA 02454; e-mail: kosinski@brandeis.edu. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The American Biology Teacher (2012) 74 (8): 587–588. https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2012.74.8.10 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Sumana Setty, Melissa S. Kosinski-Collins; The Harry Potter Box: Demonstrating the Importance of Challenging Assumptions during the Scientific Process. The American Biology Teacher 1 October 2012; 74 (8): 587–588. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2012.74.8.10 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe American Biology Teacher Search Keywords: Introductory biology, inquiry-based learning, classroom demonstrations Some of the most pivotal experimental discoveries in biology have resulted when scientists used new data to disprove previous assumptions. Would DNA replication be understood if Watson and Crick had not disputed Linus Pauling’s theory of a triple helix (Watson & Crick, 1953)? Would we know that DNA, not protein, was the hereditary material of all living organisms if it were not for Oswald Avery’s experiments (Avery et al., 1944)? Would we understand the change in living organisms over time if Darwin had not gone on his voyages on the Beagle and disproved Lamarckian evolution (Darwin, 1859)? Students enter experiments with certain assumptions as to the results they might achieve. As professional scientists, we know that these assumptions may hinder us from solving a problem or force us to arrive at the wrong conclusion if we do not open our eyes to our own... You do not currently have access to this content.