Using evidence to answer questions
Identify differences, similarities, or changes related to scientific ideas and use straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or support findings
What a learner can do afterwards
- Identify at least one pattern (similarity, difference, or trend) in a set of scientific data
- Explain how the pattern relates to the scientific idea being investigated
- Use specific data points as evidence when answering a scientific question
1 · Read
Scientists collect data when they run experiments. Data is just numbers and facts about what happened. To answer a question, look at the data and find a pattern: something that stays the same, something that is different, or something that keeps changing. That pattern is your evidence.
Mia asks: does more water make sprouts grow taller? She waters seeds with 1, 3, and 5 spoons of water, then measures each sprout after a week. The bars show a trend: 2 cm, 5 cm, then 9 cm. As the water goes up, the height goes up too. Mia points to the 9 cm sprout as her evidence: more water made sprouts grow taller.
Always point to a real number when you answer a science question. Instead of saying I think so, say the data shows 9 cm, more than the 2 cm sprout got. That is what evidence sounds like.
Find the pattern in your data, then point to the exact numbers that prove it.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
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.