Observational Investigations

The Power of Image Analysis

What do you think makes an observation GOOD?

What might have caused the tree damage?

Do you think these objects are living, dead, or nonliving? Evidence?

Do you think these objects are living, dead, or nonliving? Evidence?

Did your answer stay the same or change?

What contributed to this decision?What might this tell us about science and

what it is like?

How are image analyses like the work of scientists?

How are image analyses NOT like the work of scientists?

ObservationsObservation: using what you see, feel, taste,

hear, or smell to gather information about the world around you

Scientists use observations to describe what they experience

Scientists make & record observations with care

Scientists often use tools to extend or enhance their observations

Scientists test their ideas against observationsYET… observations are not enough!

Scientific knowledge is based on evidence (proof)

Scientific knowledge is based on both observations and inferences. INFERENCES: so important

Scientific ideas/conclusions can change with new data

What’s the Point?

Series of Digital Images

Field Trip!Your class is on a field trip to a fossil bed in Texas.

While exploring the site, you discover a slab of rock covered with interesting impressions.

Your instructor invites the class to make observations and inferences about the imprints…

Trace Fossils

For each photograph, address the following question:What do you think the organism was like that made these prints?• Be sure to record many detailed observations • Then make your inferences about the organism• Identify the evidence that supports these

inferences

How is this activity like the work of scientists?

How is this activity NOT like the work of scientists?