Middle School Absences Essay

1. Is there is a common reason for the absences? Explain. Absences only occurred for band class at Truman and Jackson Middle Schools. Absences must have been due to something occurring in both Truman and Jackson band courses on May 20th and 21st. (and only May 22nd for Truman) All other attendance is normal in all other classes and Middle Schools and are not suspicious. —see evidence and analysis of evidence for more information– 2. Come up with two testable, clear hypotheses about what you think is behind the absences. Be sure to base your hypotheses on the evidence you have obtained (e.g. , Health Department Restaurant Inspections) and be thorough in your explanation of who, what, why, when, and how to support your hypotheses. Hypothesis #1) The increase in Band absences at Truman middle school are due to a high intensity band event(test or otherwise) starting May 20th and lasting until May 22nd at both Truman and Jackson Middle Schools. Hypothesis #2) Truman and Jackson Band classes encountered the same illness at a location prior to May 20th. 3. Come up with six testable questions that you could ask to help further your investigation and support or disprove your hypotheses. (listed farther down on the page) 4. Is the following statement a suitable hypothesis: â€Å"The Brentwood Indians basketball team lost the state championship because there is bad stuff in the stars happening with Mars in Aquarius†? Explain why or why not. I do not find the hypothesis â€Å"The Brentwood Indians Basketball team lost the state championship because there is bad stuff in the stars happening with Mars in Aquarius† to be a suitable hypothesis, because a hypothesis must be testable. The term â€Å"bad stuff† in this hypothesis does not give the person testing any idea as to what to look for near Mars. Also, the ability to test the happening of Mars and any other place outside Earth for that matter, belongs solely to NASA and makes it unable to be tested again. Also, there would have to be some kind of testable event or correlation between the basketball team and the happenings of Mars in Aquarius. For example, if Mars is here, the team will win the championship, but there are so many other factors to cause the team to win or lose that again the hypothesis could not be tested. EVIDENCE Problem: Truman Middle School May 20th-1/3 absent Band Class Band attendance increased from 5/20-5/22. It began May 20th as 33. 3 percent then decreased to 23. 3 and 13. 3 absent, respectively. After the weekend during of this week, absences were back to an almost average 6. 7 percent. A very similar flux in absent percentage also occurred at Jackson Middle School. Jackson Middle School experienced an absent percentage of 25% on May 20th in band class. No other classes had abnormal absences on this day. May 21st had an absent percentage of 15. 6%. Attendance was back to normal for Jackson Middle Bank on May 22nd. Although Truman experienced just slightly higher absences for May 20th in P. E. (7. 3%) and 7th Grade (8. 6%), the real increase only occurred in Band Class at only Truman and Jackson Middle Schools. There was no affect on absences for this time at Kennedy or Roosevelt Middle Schools. Art classes had no out of the ordinary absent rates for these days. The absences in band slowly decreasing from May 20th-22nd seem to support the evidence of sickness, but since there is no increase in absence in Art, I doubt it was illness. A rise as in absences as much as 33% would most likely (although there are exceptions to everything) would spread beyond one particular class, or even grade level. There is no other abnormal fall in attendance at any of the four middle school or specific classes other than the May 20th-May 22nd time frame and so speculation is resting solely on the events or evidence of these days’ attendances and classes. Testable Questions Was there a Band competition, exam, or any other event during this time period that would encourage students to miss school, not involving health factors, at Jackson and Truman Middle Schools? Were Jackson and Truman band classes in contact with another around the date of May 20th? Did student of Jackson and Truman band classes attend an event prior to May 20th where students of Roosevelt and Kennedy were not present? Were the band teachers of Jackson and Truman Middle Schools present on the days of the increased absences? Is band class before or after lunch? Do the schools serve the same lunch menu? Is band class the last class of the day at Truman and Jackson? Analysis and Explanation of Evidence There may have been a test, competition, intense practice, or other event during May20th-May 22nd. The other option would be an isolated illness only in Truman and Jackson bands. Whatever happened for Band Class at Jackson Middle lasted one day less than what occurred for band class at Truman Middle. So the possible test or practice may have been finished more quickly at Jackson Middle. If Jackson and Truman band classes had come in contact with each other near May 20th, they could have gotten the same illness from one another, causing a decrease in attendance only at these two schools and only in band class, but this is highly unlikely since these students would have to associate with someone outside the band at some point to attend normal courses. If the band teachers were absent themselves on these days of high student absences, possible due to a band teacher conference or meeting for only Truman and Jackson Middle, then students would be more likely to willingly miss school than if the teachers were present. If band class occurs after lunch at both school locations, Truman and Jackson, then this could lead to the possibility of food poisoning causing students to miss only band class on may 20th and leaving a smaller percentage of band students still absent or unable to play instruments (due to using the mouth, etc) until May 21st or May 22nd. If band class is the last class of the day, this would explain students missing only band class on the above mentioned days in May. This is also a much more tempting time of the day for students to leave school early. There may have also been outside events for these particular groups of students found only in Truman and Jackson band classes occurring on these particular days and encouraging students to miss school and attend with band friends.