Assess your young scientists' understanding of the difference between observation and inference with this 20-question multiple choice quiz. It reviews a variety of physics and astronomy concepts, such as solar eclipses and sunspots, the...

A cartoon from the far side of Gary Larsen's wacky world provides an opportunity for critical thinkers to practice their skills distinguishing between observations and inferences. What fun.

What is the difference between making inferences and making observations? Young climatologists refer to a PowerPoint to make observations on each slide. They record their observations in a provided worksheet before drawing a...

Franklin learns about the world by making observations, and so do we! A short reading assignment prompts fourth graders to answer comprehension questions about a curious boy and what he notices.

The story of Petey and Ralphie provides readers with the perfect opportunity to practice using clues in a text to draw inferences. The questions that follow the story direct readers' attention to details that imply rather than directly...

Making inferences can be a tricky proposition for middle schoolers. In the lesson presented here, pupils practice the skill of drawing a conclusion and making a judgment - which are what making an inference is all about! There are five...

Students identify and interpret the function, usefulness or utitlity, form, beauty or aesthetics, and meaning, context or story, of objects and how they learn new skills and make things that they learn traditionally, by observation and...

Desert regions are hotter for multiple reasons; the lack of vegetation causes the sun's heat to go straight into the surface and the lack of moisture means none of the heat is being transferred into evaporation. This concept, and other...

Upper elementary and middle schoolers work with the concept of probability. They are introduced to the concept of chaos. Learners graph and analyze using a line plot, work with mean, and are introduced to the concept of variance.

Pupils create graphs and tables, as well as interpret and make inferences from the data shown to determine when and where graphs and tables are most useful.

Students record weather for a period of one month. In this weather lesson, students observe weather for one month on a large pictograph. Students record clouds, wind, temperature and any other weather conditions they observe. Students...

Students investigate simple machines. In this simple machines lesson, students construct two simple machines and describe what they do. Students show that simple changes help machines do work with less effort. Students use a paper clip...

Students identify the physical properties of items using the sense of touch. In this touch and discover lesson, students describe items.  Students sort items using a Venn diagram.

Students apply statistics, and graphical interpretation to economics, the environment and populations. In this statistical lesson students construct graphical displays and classify data.

Young statisticians use and interpret measures of center and spread such as mean, median, and mode as well as range. They use box plots to represent their data and answer questions regarding the correspondence between data sets and the...

Scholars create and perform experiments attempting to answer Buffon's Coin problem. They discover the relationships between geometry and probability, empirical and theoretical probabilities, and area of a circle and square.

How many people do you need in a room before two likely share the same birthday? Scholars consider this puzzle by analyzing a set of data. They ponder how to divide the data and determine the proper size of a group for this event to...

Can your class solve right triangles and identify the properties common to right triangles? They will investigate and state the relationship between the altitude to the hypotenuse and the two segments of the hypotenuse formed by the...

Sixth graders investigate insect anatomy by analyzing a live cricket.  In this insect science activity, 6th graders discuss their knowledge of insects and describe their characteristics from memory.  Students observe live...

Students investigate triangles and their relationship to each other. In this geometry lesson, students solve right triangles using the properties of the Pythagorean Theorem. They differentiate between right, acute, straight and oblique...

Third graders describe and classify rock samples. In this rock instructional activity, 3rd graders make inferences about rock samples by observing and measuring them. This instructional activity contains 5 different stations for the...

Fifth graders read "My Side of the Mountain." They create a pantomime using vocabulary words from the story. Students create three questions about the reading. They discuss the passage they read and act out words to help them better...

Students interpret topographic maps and infer human activity as it is influenced by the landscape.

Students identify different types of functions and units of measurements. In this statistics lesson, students will collect data, graph their data and make predictions about their data. They plot a linear regression graph.