OBSERVATION
AND
INFERENCE
SUBJECTS:
Science, social studies,
language
arts
SKILLS:
Knowledge, comprehension, applica-
tion, analysis, evaluation
STRATEGIES:
Scientific inquiry, decision making,
problem solving, writing
DURATION:
45 to 60 minutes
CLASS
SIZE:
Any;
groups
of 2 to 4
Objectives:
In
their study of observation and inference the
students
will
use worksheets and coins to:
1. Differentiate between observation and in-
ference
through a problem-solving approach.
2. Demonstrate
their
knowledge
by analyzing
an archaeological artifact and creating their own
observation-inference statements.
microscope. An inference is a reason proposed to
explain
an observation. The hypothesis is a
chosen
inference that the scientist
will
attempt to confirm
or disprove through testing.
Archaeologists use observation and inference
to
learn the story of past people. By
making
observa-
tions
about
objects
(artifacts and
sites)
they infer the
behavior of the people who used the
objects.
When
archaeologists
find
the remains of a large village
(observation), they could infer that the people were
farmers. To
test
that inference (hypothesis), they
would
look for evidence of
farming
such as
farming
implements
(likehoes),
and
food
remains
from
crops
(corn
cobs
and squash
seeds).
If they
find
these
things,
their hypothesis is
verified.
Archaeologists
construct careful hypotheses when making infer-
ences
from
archaeological data.
Materials:
"Boy in the Water" activity
sheet
and master,
and
"An Ancient Coin" activity
sheet
for
each
stu-
dent,
and
/or transparencies of
each.
A collection of
foreign
or U.S. coins (one per
each
student/team).
Vocabulary:
hypothesis: a proposed explanation accounting
for
a set of
facts
that can be tested by further
investigation.
inference: a conclusion derived
from
observa-
tions.
observation: recognizing or noting a fact or oc-
currence.
Background:
Science
is
based
on observation and inference.
Any
phenomenon being studied must
first
be ob-
served, whether it be
from
a satellite or through a
Setting the
Stage:
1.
Present
students
with
a possible observa-
tion-inference scenario
from
their lives. Example:
All
the students in this classroom who ate in the
cafeteria on Tuesday were
ill
on Wednesday
(obser-
vation).
2. What many and varied
reasons
(proposed
inferences)
might
there be for
this
illness? Examples:
food
poisoning,
virus,
a student
uprising.
3.
In what ways might one or more of
these
inferences (hypotheses) be tested
in
order to
come
to a
conclusion about the
cause
of the illness? Examples:
Send
all the students to the school nurse for
examination;
test
the food
from
Tuesday; obtain a
medical
history
from
the parents of
each
student.
14 H4
