WELCOME BACK!
1. Please put your name sign on your
desk.
2. Please pass the signed safety
contract to the front of your row.
3. Please put your APES Guidelines
(aka the fine print) out on your desk
where I can see it.
4. Please read the board.
Thanks!
CLASS SYSTEMS
Our standards for success: focus and respect.
 Regroup signal
 Objective Sheets
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Focus – it’s a
good thing.
“THE GREAT TRAGEDY OF
SCIENCE – THE SLAYING OF A
BEAUTIFUL HYPOTHESIS BY AN
UGLY FACT.”
- THOMAS HUXLEY
What does this statement mean to you?
OBSERVATION & INFERENCE
OBSERVATIONS
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Any information collected with the senses.
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Quantitative – measureable or countable
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Qualitative – describable, not measureable
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3 meters long
4 marbles
50 kilograms
35 degrees Celsius
red flowers
smells like fresh baked cookies
Tastes bitter
Heard a loud “pop”
The skill of describing scientific events
INFERENCE
 Conclusions
or deductions based on
observations.
 The process of drawing a conclusion from given
evidence.
Practice:
 Observations:
• I see a student take a big bite of a burger
• I see the student spit the bite out
 Inference = ?
SCIENTISTS NEED TO SEPARATE
OBSERVATIONS FROM INFERENCES
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As you look at the image on the next slide, write
three observations on your board.
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Try not to write an inference!
Look at this illustration.
On your board, list 3
OBSERVATIONS
On your board, make two
INFERENCES
EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE AGAIN?!
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Observations
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Inferences
NOW LET’S USE MORE REALISTIC
EXAMPLES
“WHAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT YOUR BOTTLED WATER”; BEFORE IT’S NEWS; WWW.BEFOREITSNEWS.COM;
6/12/13; ACCESSED 8/27/13
HORNED LIZARD DATA
SUMMARIZE WHAT YOU LEARNED
What is the difference between an observation
and an inference?
 Why is it important that scientists separate the
two? (Or, why would it be bad if scientists moved
too quickly to an inference?)
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“The great tragedy of science –
the slaying of a beautiful
hypothesis by an ugly fact.”
- Thomas Huxley
HOMEWORK TONIGHT
Complete Prelab
 Bring back signed contract
 Class donation/gather personal materials
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