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
The lesson
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.
Watch it
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.