Changing Your Mind with Evidence
Be willing to change your mind when evidence doesn't support your prediction — a result that surprises you is more valuable than one that confirms what you already thought
What a learner can do afterwards
- belief revision in children research (PMC 2020)
- hypothesis testing and argumentation from evidence in young children
The lesson
Before you try something, you can guess what will happen. That guess is called a prediction. Sometimes the real result matches your guess. Sometimes it does not. When it does not match, that is a big clue that your idea needs to change.
Ben guesses an ice cube will still be solid after ten minutes in the sun. He checks it and finds only a puddle. Ben says, 'My guess was wrong. The sun melts ice.' He does not say the sun was broken.
A surprising result is not bad news. It means you found something new to learn. People who study science get curious when their guess is wrong, because that is when they learn the most.
If the evidence does not match your guess, trust the evidence and change your mind.
Watch it
Where it sits
This opens up
Where this leads
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.