It's been a while since I posted something for my Shei-sensei Series, so I'm kind of excited to share some lessons here as a contribution for @steemiteducation. I hope that through this post, you'll learn something!


A couple days ago, my cousin Godwyn asked me to help him with his homework, and sent me the following pictures. He got this picture from there Science Book. He is a second grade student, by the way.








These were the activities that he had to answer. Basically, this lesson or activity is about observation and inference. The questions are:

• What is an observation?
• What is an inference?
• Are they the same or different?
• How are they related to each other?

Having those questions in mind, let's try to find out the answers by learning! Let's start!

What is an Observation?

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OBSERVATION, according to Oxford Dictionary, is the action or process of closely observing or monitoring something or someone.


In this case, we have to use our five senses to do so. In order for us to find more details about something or someone, we have to use our sight, smell, touch, taste and our ability to hear.

For example:

As mentioned earlier, in observing something, we have to use our senses. Let's try to observe:

SIGHT : What can you see?

• There are two glasses with something colorful inside. One is yellow, the other one is red.
  SMELL : How does it smell like?
• They smell fruity.
  TOUCH: How does it feel?
• When I touched the glass, it felt cold.
  TASTE: How does it taste like?
• One is a little sour and a little sweet. The other one is sweeter.
  HEAR: What do you hear?
• In this case, it's not very applicable. It goes to show that the senses that you're going to use in observing also depends on the subject that you're observing.

Observation also comes in different types. One is qualitative and the other is quantitative. Now, what's the difference between these two?

QUALITATIVE OBSERVATION:

• In this case, you describe the quality of your subject. You may describe how it looks like, the shape, color, size, etc. From the observation earlier, "One is yellow, the other one is red." is an example of a qualitative observation.
  
  

QUANTITATIVE OBSERVATION:

• As for this type, it refers to measurements. You may mention the amount or number of your subject, the weight, height, etc. From the observation earlier, "There are two glasses..." is an example of a quantitative observation.

What is an Inference?

IMAGE SOURCE

According to Oxford Dictionary, an inference refers to the conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning.

Basically, these are the explanations or interpretations based on your observation. Before you can interpret or explain something, you have to undergo the observation process first.

Now, let's take the picture we observed earlier. Based on the observations we had, what can you infer?

• In this case you might say, "It must be a hot day, because they wanted to drink something cold."

Are they the same or different? How are they related to each other?

• Based on the discussion above, we could finally give an answer to these questions. Observation and inference are different, but they are related. Based on the observation that you make on a certain subject, you'll be able to infer something about it.

Now, going back to the pictures my second grade cousin sent me, we were able to come up with these answers below.


FIRST PICTURE:


Observation:

1. The butterfly is inside the glass container.
2. The cover of the glass container has a lot of holes.

Inference:

1. The butterfly wouldn't be able to breathe if the container cover didn't have holes.
2. The butterfly would die without air.

SECOND PICTURE:

1. a. The baby cried when his parents left him alone.
   b. The baby might fall when no one is with him.

2. a. The trees are uprooted due to very strong winds.
   b. There'd be accidents on the road when the uprooted trees aren't removed.

How about you? Can you come up with other possible answers? Feel free to write them on the comments below. Have fun learning and see you again in the next Shei-sensei Series!!!

Resources/Reference:

• Second Grade Science Book (for the pictures)
• Oxford Dictionary: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/observation
  https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/inference
• https://madaboutscience.weebly.com/observing-vs-inferring.html