Observations
Observations,
Inferences, and
Interpretations
• The act of recognizing or noting a
fact or occurrence
• You wake up and see snow on the
ground.
Inference
Interpretation
• A conclusion derived from
• The act or process of explaining
• If you notice snow on the
• Explaining the meaning of a poem
observations.
ground, you can infer that it
snowed last night.
the meaning of something.
or a piece of artwork.
Observations Create
Inferences
• All the students in the classroom
came to school on Tuesday, but
did not come on Monday.
• Is this an observation or an
inference?
• What many and varied reasons
might there be for their absence
on Monday? (These are
proposed inferences.)