Observation vs Interpretation
Notice the difference between what you observed and what you think it means — 'the ice melted' is an observation; 'the ice melted because of the heat' is an interpretation
Typical age: 6–7 years
“When your child does a science activity, can they tell the difference between what they actually saw or measured — and what they think caused it or what it means?”
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- Changing Your Mind with EvidenceREQUIRED
Being willing to revise a hypothesis requires first distinguishing observation from interpretation — you can only update your interpretation if you recognise it as separate from the data
- Asking scientific questions
Asking good scientific questions requires noticing the distinction between observation and interpretation — a question like 'why did this happen?' only makes sense once you've separated what you saw from what you inferred