Jimmy and the Hypothesis of Falling Asleep 


The situation: About mid-way through the semester, in a class you are taking on campus, you become increasingly irritated by a student (Jimmy) who sits in the back of the class.  The student always manages to fall asleep about 15 minutes into the lecture.  Normally it wouldn’t bother you, but occasionally he lets out a snore that breaks your attention and disrupts the class.  The instructor has repeatedly asked the student to work harder to stay awake, but he is not having any success.

How do we go about trying to figure out why Jimmy is falling asleep in class? 

The scientific method!

  1. Jimmy is has been falling asleep 15 minuets into the start of class. This leads me to believe that Jimmy is not getting enough sleep at night and therefore needs some kind of stimulant to keep him awake. 
  2. The test:
    • To alleviate this tiredness, I will be giving Jimmy a cup of coffee 25 minuets before the start of class. For caffeine takes around 30 minuets to activate fully in the body. I have given Jimmy 10 minutes to finish the coffee, which then leaves 15 minuets before the start of class and the 15 minuets into class to achieve the full 30 minuets. I will also not be advising Jimmy to have any caffeine right after he wakes up, for it is better to wait for at least 30 minutes after waking up so that way the 'sleep chemicals' in your brain are able to release naturally, for coffee blocks the receptors that excrete these 'sleep chemicals' and once the caffeine loses it effect, the barrier is gone and the back up flood of 'sleep chemicals' is released into the brain, thus causing a more noticeable caffeine crash.  
    • I predict that this will keep Jimmy awake throughout the class and thus eliminating the interruptions caused by Jimmy. 
    • But this could just as easily this could have no effect. For caffeine tends to have the opposite affect on those suffering from ADHD, depending on the coffee it would have no affect if the person was suffering from low blood sugar, insomnia, or other medical conditions that would result in tiredness and fatigue. If Jimmy does continue to fall asleep, it could be indicative of a more serious medical condition, not just lack of sleep. 
  3. If he still falls asleep in class, one reason for the chronic sleep could also be that many millennia ago, someone in his family had dishonored a Witch in the woods that cursed his bloodline with chronic tiredness. This would explain the chronic tiredness and the ineffective caffeine. 

Comments

  1. ShadowViewJune 11, 2025 at 8:21 PM

    Hi, I think your sleep idea is clever. It makes total sense to fall asleep in class. The coffee test sounds interesting, and the timing might do the trick. What if it doesn’t work, though? Could something like a late-night habit be the reason? I love the witch story. That’s a fun, untestable twist.

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  2. L RodriguezJune 12, 2025 at 10:06 AM

    Testable Hypothesis (3/5) - "This leads me to believe that Jimmy is not getting enough sleep at night and therefore needs some kind of stimulant to keep him awake. "

    So, question: In this sentence, you identify the possible cause of this issue (lack of sleep) but then you propose an a test that doesn't address that lack of sleep. :-) Why didn't you stick with testing the cause of lack of sleep? What cause are you testing by giving him a "stimulant"?

    Test (5/5) - This works, but just a note that it still doesn't address the ultimate cause of lack of sleep.

    Support (5/5) - This is your prediction, but then let's restate this to address the prompt. To support your hypothesis, the student would need to stay awake in class after drinking the coffee, correct?

    Falsify (3/5) - You are jumping to an alternative hypothesis but you don't clearly address the actual prompt. What result would you need to see to falsify your hypothesis? Put simply, you would need the student to still fall asleep in class after consuming the coffee, correct?

    Make sure answer the prompts clearly as stated. I don't mind extending the discussion to other ideas, but answer the original question *first* before exploring other issues.

    Untestable Hypothesis (7/10) - So a lot to unpack here. Remember that for a hypothesis to be untestable, the hypothesized cause must be untestable in any way. So let's look at your suggestion. The way you describe this, it looks like there might be a recorded history of this curse from the witch in the wood that has plagued his "bloodline" for generations, including him. That history appears to be recorded and the pattern is clear and detectable, and that means testable.

    Another issue is the witch herself. Was she detectable? When the original curse occurred, did people see her produce the curse? Or was she invisible and fully undetectable? If she was a real person, then she was detectable and second way this was testable, at least through historical records.

    The best way to answer these questions sometimes is simplistically. When you go deep into detail, it opens up doors to get slipped up with some component that is detectable. So you could argue that an undetectable witch cursed him (and only him) to fall sleep in any class he took. That would be untestable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anthropologist11June 12, 2025 at 10:54 PM

    Hello Socioeconomic and Human Evolution, I think your hypothesis of the student not getting enough sleep could be very well accurate and the testable explanation does seem like it would be effective and a reasonable possible solution to the problem. Your un-testable explanation is also unique and an accurate un-testable example.

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