1. Observation & Inference

2. Observations Any information collected with the senses.
Quantitative – measureable or countable
3 meters long
4 marbles
50 kilograms
35 degrees Celsius
Qualitative – describable, not measureable
red flowers
smells like fresh baked cookies
Tastes bitter
The skill of describing scientific events

3. Inference
Conclusions or deductions based on observations.
The process of drawing a conclusion from given evidence.
Practice:
Observations:
I hear people screaming
I smell cotton candy, popcorn, and hamburgers
I see a lot of people
Inference = ?

4. Look at these two sets of animal tracks.
List 3 OBSERVATIONS
Make an INFERENCE

5. Now what do you think?
Make 3 OBSERVATIONS
Make an INFERENCE

6. Now what do you think?
Make 3 OBSERVATIONS
Make an INFERENCE

7. Practice! You walk out of a movie theatre and see this:
What do you observe? Infer?

8. You see this run past you:
Observations? Inferences?

9. All the students bring their own lunches from home
All the students bring their own lunches from home. What do you infer from this?

10. In noon and you look out the window to see this:
Observe? Infer?

11. You notice a student walking out of the principal’s office looking very depressed and sad. What do you infer?

12. All the students came to school on Tuesday, but no one came on Monday
All the students came to school on Tuesday, but no one came on Monday. What do you infer? Can we prove this inference? How?