Come prepared on Tuesday Sept. 2, 2013 to share how you think that these three words are related using the experiences that you had with your Newton Cars activity. Draw a representation to illustrate how these three words might be related:
inference
evidence
indirect
Inference: a conclusion based on evidence and reasoning
ReplyDeleteex: The more mass added to the medicine bottle the farther the car will travel. The more straws added the farther the car will travel.
Evidence: the available body of facts or information indicating whether a theory/ hypothesis/ inference is valid
ex: through data collection
Indirect: not directly caused by or resulting from something
ex: could what we were varying during the experiment not be the reason we received our results? could there be another factor we are not seeing/measuring?
The words inference, evidence and indirect all rely upon each other in science. For example, my inference during the newton car experiment was that the car wouldn't go as far the more pennies we added. This was an educated guess on what I believed would occur. After we tested the inference, evidence showed that my guess was wrong. The data we collected made up our evidence. It showed that the car actually moved further as more pennies were added. In this experiment, my inference was directly effected by my evidence. In other cases or experiments, variables can be indirectly effecting your inference or evidence. These three words are linked together in describing each other in science and rely upon each other.
ReplyDeleteA scientist makes an inference while considering the results of his or her research, experiment(s), etc. In other words, he or she examines the evidence of his or her work and comes to a conclusion based on said evidence. The evidence yielded by one's work can indirectly lead to an inference not previously considered.
ReplyDeleteInference:
We inferred that the heavier our medicine bottle was, the shorter its launch distance from the catapult would be after launching the bottle three times - once with all of our pennies in the bottle, again with half, and finally with none - and finding that the data from these launches supported said inference.
Evidence:
The bottle was launched furthest when it held no pennies, shortest when it held all of our pennies, and somewhere in between while holding half the amount. This is evidence of the conclusion that, the heavier our bottle, the shorter its launch distance would be.
Indirect:
While working with my group to determine the effect of the cart's track location on the launch distance of the bottle, we all decided that its effect on the cart's movement was also noteworthy. The data we gathered from the latter aspect of our experiment helped bolster my understanding of Newton's laws in an unexpected manner.
Inference: From our experiment, we inferred that by changing the mass and acceleration of our Newton Car, we could exert more force and make and car travel farther. We observed that by changing the weight in our first six trials made a difference in the distance traveled by the car. We also observed that by changing the variation of the wheels (straws) of our car changed the car's distance traveled.
ReplyDeleteEvidence: We were able to make our inference by the observations we made during our experiment. Our experiment included deciding what our variables were and testing our hypothesis: the car will travel farther by increasing the weight in the car and the distance of the straws. After many trials and changing our two variables, we had enough evidence to make a conclusion.
Indirect: Sometimes the outcome of an experiment can be affected by an indirect variable. Our experiment was tested using direct variables. However, there could have been variables unaccounted for acting as indirect variables (variation in the surface of the experiment?).
Inference is the act or process of deriving logical conclusions that are assumed to be true. Inference was used in our lab through supporting our claims with the evidence that we provided in the experiment. Thus, evidence is anything presented in support of an assertion. Lastly, indirect is defined as not proceeding straight to the point. The indirect of the experiment can be anything that does not apply to the experiment, such as labeling the weight by the amount of pennies. (As we should have measured the mass of the whole bottle).
ReplyDelete