# SLOP4408 — Week 1: Read the Room Campus / printable lab pack · Semester 1, 2027 ## The task A gallery report calls the room abandoned. Establish what the evidence supports before the academy acts on that description. In-person teaching is preferred. The paper route is a complete conceptual activity when apparatus is unavailable; online students use the equivalent controls and keep the same learning record. The investigation, experiment, agreement or revision is this week's practical output. A staged field handover is optional and cannot replace the reasoning record. ## Learning outcomes - Distinguish a directly inspected feature, a reported claim and an inferred explanation. - Choose an inspection whose possible results distinguish competing explanations. - Revise a bounded conclusion while preserving what remains unknown. ## Equipment A table, printed clock/display cards, cup/flask cards, a ledger/map, open/closed door cards and the supplied written claims. All equipment can be paper. ## Facilitator setup Print the five scene statements and arrange simple cup, clock and door cards to match them. Conceal the cards for recall. Change the scene using the complete published check/transfer inventories. ## Complete supplied rules **PG-01** supplies the practice room; **PG-02** supplies changed rooms and follow-up records. These identifiers are sections of this page and the combined campus pack, not missing downloads. - Practice statements: clock 08:20; blue cup beside ledger; door open; note says “I left first”; proposed explanation: the owner left in a hurry. - Skill check: clock 09:40; amber cup on shelf; door closed; note says “The sample is intact”; proposed explanation: someone deliberately concealed the sample. - Transfer: display 14:10; silver flask beside map; service hatch open; operator reports power failure; proposed explanation: the hatch caused the failure. - Classify the five statements by what each asserts. A note's physical presence differs from the account written on it. - Choose a follow-up: Practice offers a door/delivery record or another cup-colour inspection; Skill check offers inspection/door records or another cup inspection; Transfer offers outage/hatch timestamps or the map title. - Predict which explanations your selected test can distinguish before viewing its result. Select a conclusion no stronger than the returned evidence. - Recall and covering the scene are optional. Written observation is an acceptable support. ## Two-hour schedule These are the teaching session's time blocks, not six compulsory game objectives. Adjust timing as needed; reasoning matters more than speed. | Time | Activity | | --- | --- | | 0–10 minutes | Read the gallery report; list what ‘abandoned’ would require you to establish. | | 10–30 minutes | Inspect the separate example and contrast observation, claim and inference. | | 30–60 minutes | Inspect the room; propose two explanations and select a discriminating follow-up. | | 60–80 minutes | Analyse the second room independently; exchange reports and find an unsupported conclusion. | | 80–105 minutes | Investigate the hatch scene; explain why repeating an inspection may add no evidence. | | 105–120 minutes | Compare initial and revised claims; save the record and a remaining question. | ## Worked example · a different scenario In the separate conservatory example, the wall clock reads 11:35, a green mug stands beside the planting ledger and the service hatch is closed. A note says ‘I checked every tray’: that is the writer's claim, not verification of the trays. Saying the inspection lasted thirty-five minutes adds an inference because no start time is supplied. When a later inspection shows 11:50 and an open hatch, the demonstrator records two changes without inventing who caused them. [Watch this separate example and inspect its finished record](/demonstrations/lab-01/). The example explains a method. Its completed decisions are not the assigned task. Use the materials above for your own choices. ## Practice Inspect the first scene. Write classifications and two possible explanations, then request a follow-up record. Revise a bounded conclusion. ## Skill check Analyse the second scene without a suggested investigation. Ask what the chosen test can establish about condition or intent. ## Transfer challenge Investigate the outage/hatch account by selecting a record that separates the competing timing explanations. State what remains unknown. ## Student record **Named output: observation-record.** Keep two plausible explanations, the inspection you chose, the result that would have changed your mind, and your bounded conclusion. Classification is the beginning of the record, not its whole purpose. Record your name/role, phase and scenario, prediction before action, evidence requested, result, decision, alternative and remaining uncertainty. Include assistance, format used and any physical-model limitation. Keep a failed attempt that explains a revision. The investigation, experiment, agreement or revision is this week's practical output. A staged field handover is optional and cannot replace the reasoning record. ## Explanation — reveal after an attempt Classification applies to each assertion, not whether you believe its speaker. A discriminating follow-up can weaken an explanation without proving another. A record consistent with delivery does not identify the person; an earlier outage cannot be caused by a later hatch opening under these supplied timings. Optional recall is not the completion condition. A facilitator judges the reasoning. The record's existence and the model's successful result do not by themselves establish learning. ## Facilitator evidence cards · reveal on request Practice: door record 08:12; booked delivery starts 08:10; no departure record. Rechecking the cup yields blue. Skill check: routine inspection logged before door closure, but no measurement of sample condition. Rechecking the cup yields the same position. Transfer: loss logged at 14:02, hatch opening at 14:07. Map-title request yields only the service-bay name. Reveal the requested record, not its interpretation. The useful record may make an alternative plausible or rule out one temporal claim without identifying the true cause. Ask the student to bound that conclusion. Keep recall optional. The full pack remains available for accessible and solo study. Label assistance if you inspected all cards before choosing a test. No hidden rules or secret grading are involved. ## Reflection and later use Which error came from failing to inspect, and which came from expecting something to be there? A1 uses this method to choose which workshop condition needs investigation. The final project uses it to keep an arrival impression from becoming an unsupported operating assumption. ## Evidence and limitations Save **observation-record** with your explanation. Physical activities are proposed teaching designs, not hardware-tested equipment. Distinguish model-card results from actual measurements. Neither browser success nor paper completion establishes physical dexterity or classroom enjoyment. A dated station record is sufficient; a duplicate browser run is not required. ## Printable model sheet [Printable scene and memory cards](./perception-cards.svg). Print at 100% on A4 and check the labelled 50 mm line. These are conceptual paper aids, not physically validated apparatus.