What is science?

Science is a way of learning about the natural world. Scientists use skills such as observing, inferring, predicting, classifying, evaluating and making models to study the world.

Observing – using one or more of your senses to gather information.

Quantitative observation – deals with numbers or amounts.

Qualitative observation – deals with descriptions that cannot be expressed in numbers.

Inferring – explain or interpret the things you observe, based on reasoning from what you already know. Can be based on assumptions you make about your observation; not the same as “guessing”

Predicting – making a statement or a claim about what will happen in the future based on past experience or evidence.

You woke up this morning and heard water drops hitting the window, you can infer that it is raining. What other inferences might you make using this same observation?

Observation:

Inference 1:

Inference 2:

On a family trip, you observe a car by the side of the road. There is a jack under the car, and one tire has been removed. What is one inference that you could make from this observation?

Inference:

OUTPUT – Write a short scenario or draw a picture of a scenario that you may have observed this morning on your way to school or the day before (or make a short scenario up)

1. Observation:2. Qualitative Observation:3. Quantitative Observation:4. Inference:

Classifying – grouping together of items that are alike in same way.

Evaluating – involves comparing observations and data to reach a conclusion about them.

Making models – involves creating/representations of complex objects or processes. Some models can be touched, others can be equations. They help you study things.