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Picture of the Day - Activity

I attended a training class and a science coach shared an activity that he does with his students to help them differentiate between observations, inferences, and predictions.

He puts a picture on the interactive white board as a warm up (he gets the pictures from a variety of sources but uses National Geographic's Picture of the Day a lot). The picture above is from the National Geographic site.

He has the students make five observations. Then he makes the students make five inferences. Finally he has the students make five predictions.

He does this every day and it really drives home the difference between those three key inquiry vocabulary terms.

I've done this activity with both my sixth and fourth grade science classes and the students really got into it and became proficient at telling me the difference between those terms.

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Comments

Ms.L said…
What a great idea! And that picture is absolutely perfect since I'm teaching constructive and destructive forces right now! Thanks!
August 15, 2010 at 7:50 PM
Anonymous said…
Love the idea - and I don't think it's just elementary. I think I'm going to use it as warm-up/bellringer activity for my high schoolers.
August 15, 2010 at 8:10 PM
Anonymous said…
I love this idea. I've already sent the link to your post to 4th and 5th grade science and reading teachers. I remember the reading teacher were having trouble with the students being able to identify statements that inferred something from the text. Maybe this will help them also.
August 15, 2010 at 9:38 PM
Eve Heaton said…
I would love to hear how the reading teachers use it.

Eve
August 16, 2010 at 4:48 AM
khart said…
I can't stress enough how much I love your site and really appreciate all the helpful tips. I'm a new teacher this year and you have been a life saver. Once again, this is a perfect post for me. I will be working on observations & inferences tomorrow. We organized our notebook today. So far, so good.
August 24, 2010 at 9:01 PM
Eve Heaton said…
I'm glad you are finding the blog posts helpful. I remember how difficult the first year was and this blog was intended to be the resource I wish I had had starting out. Thank you for the feedback!

Eve
August 25, 2010 at 7:02 AM
Anonymous said…
I also love the idea and I will use it as I introduce the science process skills.
August 25, 2010 at 10:09 PM
Rani said…
Lovely idea. Can't wait to put it in use in my class.
June 10, 2012 at 10:08 PM
Anonymous said…
Using this as a starter in my art classes...at the end of the week they use the predictions and inferences as subject matter in a new artwork in a certain art style. Also, they use this exercise to expand upon how to do a formal critique. They first have partners that Describe the picture without seeing it themselves. Then they Analyze the picture for elements & principles of design seeing it. They predict and use inferencing in Interpreting what is happening, caused it, etc.. And finally they evaluate the success of their observations, their artwork interpretation, the theories that come from the pictures, etc.
June 20, 2012 at 7:09 AM
Anonymous said…
I do a daily observation with my 9-12 kids.
4 observations, 1 inference & 1 predictions. The kids love it.
September 27, 2012 at 5:07 PM
Anonymous said…
Can you tell me the defintions you are using for the 3 terms? My students are struggling with the difference in prediction and inference.

Thank you!
October 7, 2012 at 8:46 AM
chitra said…
Great Idea! Am excited just looking at it thinking of its potential. Thank you.
August 14, 2015 at 8:10 AM
Anonymous said…
This looks great - can't wait to use it in class! Thanks :)
June 28, 2016 at 1:37 AM
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