Classifier I

A didactic aid

I developed this gimmick as a didactic aid for the first lecture in my Research Methods course, but I've used it since on many occasions for a variety of audiences, including senior scientists. It is based on a lucid example of the scientific method provided by Herman Koningsveld in his book "Het Verschijnsel Wetenschap" (The Phenomenon Science), first published in 1976 by Boom, Amsterdam/Meppel (in Dutch).

The essence of the example is that the audience is asked to develop a theory that explains/predicts how the "machine" on the screen sorts the "boxes". I will not spoil your pleasure of discovering this for yourself. What is important is that the exercise of observing the sorting process (halting it every now and then to think/discuss) and speculating about the sorting criteria is simple and yet involves all of the basic components of the scientific method:

• Observation, biased by the observer's a priori assumptions.
• Induction on the basis of observations, leading to a predictive theory from which hypotheses of the form "The next box will go into the red column!" are derived and then tested.
• Anomalies ("Hey, the box went into the blue column!") that seem to falsify the theory, which usually is then "saved" by a (relatively minor) adaptation.
• Total breakdown of the theory ("It's random! It doesn't sort at all!"), calling for a new conceptualization (paradigm shift).

When debriefing the exercise, it is worthwhile to reflect on the participants' observation language and theoretical language (to use Carnap's terminology), and discuss how language is related to thinking and observation.

To enhance the didactical effect, I do not start the machine immediately but first let the audience describe what they see ("A conveyor belt!") and then discuss how they come to this idea. In this way I emphasize upfront that observation is "theory-laden", so that this message comes across even stronger during the debriefing.

Click here to download the Classifier software (zipped). I hope it will support your teaching. For reactions and comments, please do not hesitate to mail me!