Subject: Inferences and Drawing Conclusions- Science SOL 5.1

Purpose: Today is the second day of science, and the second day of scientific investigation. Today we will focus on something a little more complex to build off of last week’s lesson on observation. Today’s lesson is focused on making inferences and drawing conclusions.

5.1The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific reasoning, logic, and the nature of science by planning and conducting investigations in which

a)items such as rocks, minerals, and organisms are identified using various classification keys;

b)estimates are made and accurate measurements of length, mass, volume, and temperature are made in metric units using proper tools;

c)estimates are made and accurate measurements of elapsed time are made using proper tools;

d)hypotheses are formed from testable questions;

e)independent and dependent variables are identified;

f)constants in an experimental situation are identified;

g)data are collected, recorded, analyzed, and communicated using propergraphical representationsand metric measurements;

h)predictions are made using patterns from data collected, and simple graphical data are generated;

i)inferences are made and conclusions are drawn;

j)models are constructed to clarify explanations, demonstrate relationships, and solve needs; and

k)current applications are used to reinforce science concepts.

Objective: Given a worksheet, and a staged crime scene the students will be able to use context clues to define and make inferences and conclusions with 85% accuracy.

Procedure:

Introduction-

  • (pop) To start the class out the teacher will tell the students something happened to Clifford. And the students will see the crime scene to grab their interest. (V & A)
  • The teacher will advise the students that this is a crime scene and that no one should touch or tamper with the evidence. (A)
  • To gauge background knowledge the teacher should ask what they think good detectives do? (A)
  • When they write notes, first they must notice or observe the situation.
  • What type of notes do observation notes look like?
  • Can someone give me an example?

Development-

  • Then after the students observe the crime scene the teacher will give the students an opportunity to infer what they think happened.
  • Let’s talk about what inferences are. (A and V)
  • “an inference is an assumption that you make about something that you see, read or experience.
  • For example … If someone had a bandage on their knee you could assume they hurt their knee.
  • Let’s talk about what conclusions are (A and V)
  • A conclusion is a decision about what may happen or about the result of an event.
  • For example … You saw someone with a scraped knee and a bike on the ground and you can conclude that they fell off their bike.
  • For advanced:
  • Advanced students can use their spare time writing a quick narrative about what they think happened to Clifford after investigating all the information they found.
  • For struggling:
  • Give students the opportunity to write small statements and maybe even draw pictures if they are having a harder time.
  • Spend extra time with these students facilitating their learning and listening to their thoughts while taking notes.

Summary-

  • Then as a class we are going to share some observations that stood out to us.
  • We are going to share some inferences that we saw or made. (A)
  • And then we are going to discuss what we believe the final conclusion was.
  • After students have the opportunity to discuss the observations, inferences and conclusions, we are going to end the lesson by practicing a whole class sorting activity to determine the difference between observations, and inferences on the smart board. (A & V)

Materials:

  • A crime scene: (The story is that Clifford breaks free from his leash and runs through the mud chasing a Frisbee this causes Clifford to leave muddy foot prints everywhere
  • Butcher paper
  • Clifford
  • A leash
  • A Frisbee
  • And foot prints
  • Investigation Worksheet (attached below).
  • Smartbard inference and observation sort.

Evaluation Part A:

  • An informal assessment will be done throughout the activity to assess where students are in grasping the definitions of inferences and conclusions and observations.
  • During the sort it should give a rough estimate of where students need more or less instruction.
  • The teacher can also refer to students “investigative” notes to determine if they still need more instruction or not.

Got it / Working on it / Needs more practice
  • Because this concept is hard make sure students are receiving extra guidance where needed.
  • They should be able to do this with 80% accuracy.
  • If students are still struggling with this concept, introduce another activity next time...

Evaluation Part B

  • Did the students meet your objective?
  • How do you know?
  • Did your lesson accommodate/address the needs of all your learners?
  • What were the strengths of the lesson?
  • What were the weaknesses?
  • How would you change the lesson if you could teach it again?

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