Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Develop Your Own Theory”

In this activity, students will develop and test a theory about interactions in their own lives the way Dylan develops theories to manage his social interactions.

Throughout the novel Theories of Relativity, Dylan presents and tests various theories about the way his interactions with others unfold. For this activity, you will be creating and testing your own theory about interpersonal interactions.

• Your theory is not a hypothesis. Your theory should be presented as a statement, not an if/then prediction.
• Theories must be testable. (For example, “The sun will crash into the earth” is not a testable theory, but “Girls will say ‘bless you’ after a sneeze more often than boys” is.) Plan to test your theory 3-5 times and record your results in a chart.
• To record your results, you will create a 3-column chart. The left column will be for the date and time each time you test your theory, the middle column will be a description of the test, and the right column will be a description of your results, including whether the test proved or disproved your theory.