Activity 1: Observation, Inference, & Opinion

Activity 1: Observation, Inference, & Opinion

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Take a look at the person in this image.

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Open Ended

List several things you can say about this person. (List at least 3)

What do all of the items below have in common?

She is sitting down.

She is wearing glasses.

She is on a bicycle.

An OBSERVATION is...

information that is gathered through any of our senses.

Multiple Choice

Are the following pieces of information observations?

She's about 30 years old

She is happy.

She exercises.

• Yes

• No

Why not?

We can't see that a person is 30 years old, that she is happy, or that she exercises. We must decided these things.

How did we decide these things?

We looked at the picture. From the clues in the picture we decided or concluded that she is about 30 years old, she is happy, and she exercises based on our observations. We call these conclusions INFERENCES.

Inference: She is about 30 years old

• Observation Clue: She is an adult.

• Observation Clue: She isn't wearing stylish clothing of a younger adult.

• Observation Clue: She doesn't have wrinkles or grey hair like many older people.

An INFERENCE is...

a conclusion based on observation where no personal preference or sentiment is involved.

Open Ended

We inferred that she is happy. What observation is that based on?

Open Ended

We inferred that she exercises. What observation is that based on?

Multiple Choice

Do we know for sure that she is happy and that she exercises?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

Give at least 2 reasons that she might not be happy or someone that exercises.

Multiple Choice

Which do you think is the better or more reliable inference?

• She exercises

• She is happy

She exercises is a slightly better inference because

we have two observations (she is thin and she is on a bicycle) that support this inference and only one observation (she is smiling) that supports the inference that she is happy.

The way we assess inferences is...

to try to identify observations that support them. If observations consistently support the inference, we have confidence in it. If not, we don't.

Look at the following pieces of information:

• She's beautiful.

• Her hair is fixed in a nice way.

• Her fingernails are too long.

These pieces of information are different than Observations and Inferences.

They have personal preference in them. One person might think her hair is nice and another person might not think it is nice, or one person might think she is beautiful, and another person might not think so.

Both OPINIONS and INFERENCES are conclusions.

They can both be based on OBSERVATIONS. They are different because OPINIONS include personal preference and INFERENCES do not.

Let's practice what we learned.

Multiple Choice

You walk into Aunt Amanda's house late one Saturday afternoon, and Aunt Amanda says, "Shh! Don't make noise. Your cousin is asleep."

Is Aunt Amanda observing that your cousin is asleep, inferring that your cousin is asleep, or is it her opinion that your cousin is asleep?

• Inferring

• Observing

• Opinion

Open Ended

List 3 observations that might support Aunt Amanda's inference.

Multiple Choice

You have come into the kitchen, "Boy, that smells good. It's something sweet. You have cookies in the oven!" When you say "that smells good," you are

• observing

• inferring

• stating your opinion

Multiple Choice

You have come into the kitchen, "Boy, that smells good. It's something sweet. You have cookies in the oven!" When you say "It's something sweet," you are

• observing

• inferring

• stating your opinion

Multiple Choice

You have come into the kitchen, "Boy, that smells good. It's something sweet. You have cookies in the oven!" When you say "You have cookies in the oven," you are

• observing

• inferring

• stating your opinion

I challenge you to think about things differently this week!