It's All Greek To Me

In reading, we predict, or guess, what will happen next in a story. In science, we can predict what will happen next in an experiment.

Scientists make a lot of predictions, so they write them in a special way. A hypothesis is an ancient Greek word for a science guess.

Each hypothesis sentence uses the same words:
1) "If ______________..."
2) "...then _______________."

So you don't confuse a hypothesis with a hippotamus, remember this...
Hypo = Under
Thesis = Argument

A hypothesis is a guess we use as an argument under our whole experiment. Ifsomething happens, then something else will happen, too!

*Clyde Crashcup was the scientist on the old Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoons. He was a genius, but sometimes he would get his vocabulary words confused. You can learn more about Clyde and his lab assistant Leonardo here.