A Small Story - about science and observation

In 7th grade science class with a teacher known as Mr. Martin – we had a room full of all kinds of creatures, from tropical lizards, iguanas, tree frogs, to large constrictor Boas. Now although I might liken this to an immersion experience in the middle of the jungle I think one of the more meaningful lessons was described on the first day of class. He asked all the students to go around the room and find the most deadly creature out of all. After we all walk around, Mr. Martin performed a quick poll of what people thought. (update: Someone mentioned that maybe the most obvious and deadliest creature would be ourselves - humans) Several students guessed the large constrictor Boa as it would be able to squeeze you to death, several other students postulated that maybe it was a lizard that could squirt poison into your eyes. The moral of the story, however, had nothing to do with knowledge on the subject matter of animals; it was a test of observation skills. The 'most deadly' animal in the room was easily identified by the cage it was in, as it was the only cage with padlocks holding all of the doors tightly shut (keeping the animal in and student fingers out).

The scientific method, hypothesis, conclusions, observations, and the thought experiment.
(futher fun: YouTube: Bill Nye)