1. Observations & Inferences
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Pick A Card, Any Card…
Give students about seconds to pick a card.
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3. What if I told you I would now take your card away?
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Where is your card now?
Students should determine that their card was taken away or at least they think so. This is an inference. If they used an observation, they would realize that all of the cards are different. Magic tricks are a great way to discuss observations versus inferences because tricks are always about making us think things that aren’t true.
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5. Was it really a magic trick?
What you should realize is that I took all of the cards away, not just one.
You inferred, or made an inference, that I only took one card away.
If you had observed every card, you would notice that the second set of cards is completely different from the first.
Magic tricks are a good example of observations and inferences because making you think something happened is an inference, not an observation.
Can you think of any other examples of observations and inferences? Advertising and marketing are also good examples.
When something says Sugar Free, Low Sugar, Low Fat, etc., does that really mean it is healthier for us? Not necessarily. You have to observe the nutritional content on the label in order to make a judgement call about how healthy something is.
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Let’s Take A Look…
Card Set 1
Card Set 2
Students should observe that the card sets are completely different. This proves that they made an inference about their card being taken away.
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Advertising Examples
Observation: There is an Organic Food label on the package. Inference: This food must be healthy since it is organic.
Though organic foods may be healthier, we do not really know this until we read the food label. We should always make observations before drawing conclusions.
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Advertising Examples
Observation: This cake mix says it is “Sugar Free”. Inference: I can eat as much cake as I want since I won’t be eating sugar.
Something that says sugar free may not be any better for us than the normal product. We must dig into the details to make observations and form appropriate conclusions.
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Reading Food Labels
Food labels tell you about the products you buy.
Main Problem: Many food labels make claims that their ingredients list cannot support.
Example: Many Sugar Free items have alternative sources of sugars like sugar alcohols, Splenda or Aspartame.
This information can only be found on the food labels.
Making observations is always important before making inferences!
Open this slide up for discussion. Students may be able to come up with other examples of this type of false advertising. Try to relate it to things they know about like toys, video games and sports.
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10. How do Scientists use Inferences?
Scientists make observations using the 5 senses.
They, then, connect their observations to their prior knowledge and the new information they have gathered.
Scientists then make an inference based on their observations to explain what they have observed.
This inference is not just a guess because they have used their observations to form the explanation.
Many times, this inference will then lead to more testing and making more observations.
This slide is really important because students need to connect the concept of observations and inferences to the work that scientists actually perform. The process of using observations to form inferences is representative of the scientific process. Without it, scientists would never find the solutions to problems.
Additionally, this is why so many theories exist in science. Theories result from the observations of many scientists that lead to a conclusion or explanation, an inference. The explanation may make sense based on the observations, but it needs to be able to be fully proven in order to become a law in science. This is not possible most of the time so scientists rely on inferences, or conclusions, to explain the world around them.
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Definitions
Observation - Use of your five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste & touch) to take note of a fact or occurrence. Example: The sky is clear and blue today. Inference - Conclusion or idea based on your observations. Example: The sky is clear so it is not going to rain.
Discuss the difference between observations and inferences. Have students write the definitions and examples in their notebooks.
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12. Observations & Inferences Activities
Observations & Inferences T-Chart Cards Activity – Follow the directions on the page your given.
In your notebooks, at the bottom of your T-chart Activity, make five more observations and five more inferences about our classroom. Each observation should relate to the inference.
This should be left on the screen as students complete the activities. It works as a good task manager!
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