Paleontologists and filmmakers use evidence and inference to reconstruct the past. In this lesson, students explore the relationship between evidence and inference, and learn how scientific research informs the development of a science–based film. In Activity 1, students observe and apply evidence and inference. In Activity 2, students study a storyboard from
Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure to understand the role of scientific research during the development of the film. In the Closing Activity, students storyboard a new scene, applying scientific thinking supported by evidence and inference.
This lesson is one in a series designed to accompany the National Geographic film, Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure. It was developed and reviewed with input from scientists, teachers and museum educators.
Activity 1: Unpack the Evidence
Students practice scientific thinking to understand evidence and inference.
Directions:
1. Preparation. Prepare a backpack with books and other items you will show the class. Include items students can use to hypothesize about the person who owns the bag.
2. Group activity. Show students the backpack and ask them to use scientific thinking to learn more about this backpack. As you examine the backpack and its contents, guide students through the following steps.
3. Ask students, "What can you observe?" Prompt students to describe the backpack and the contents inside.
Possible answers: size, color, style, descriptions of objects as they are shown.
4. Ask students, "To whom does it belong?" Ask students what they can infer about the person who owns the backpack, based on the information they have acquired. What behaviors can they infer about the owner, based on the contents and how they might be used?
5. Write "evidence" and "inference" on the board, and discuss these terms with students. Evidence is data that can be measured, observed, examined, and analyzed to support a conclusion. Ask students to share what they know about the backpack and its contents that are based on evidence.
Possible answers: descriptions of the bag and its contents.
Inference is an explanation derived by reasoning. Ask students to share information they acquired during the backpack activity that is based on inference, i.e. ideas they have that cannot be directly observed in the contents.
Possible answers: Descriptions of the type of person who may own the bag and how they used the objects found inside.
6. Making a connection. Introduce students to the work paleontologists do. Paleontologists search for, uncover, and study fossil remains, which is evidence of prehistoric animals. As was done in the backpack activity, paleontologists draw inferences from the evidence they uncover. Example: A shark′s tooth embedded in a fossilized bone may lead a paleontologist to infer that a shark bit the animal.
Activity 2: Behind the Scenes: Science Notes
Students create a chart to identify examples of evidence and inference in a scene from Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure.
Directions:
1. Review. Review the concepts of evidence and inference. Ask students to look for examples of these concepts as they watch the film, Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure.
View Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure.
Discussion. Discuss the film with students. What elements did they think were based on evidence? What elements did they think were based on inference?
2. Distribute Behind the Scene: Science Notes (PDF, Adobe Reader required). Explain that one of the scientific advisors on the film has shared his notes from a scene in the film. Ask students to read the notes on the handout.
3. Create a chart. On a separate piece of paper, have students make a chart with two columns. Students should label these columns "Evidence" and "Inference." Across from each example of evidence, students should list the inferences based on it (sometimes there is more than one).
Note: There are seven examples of evidence and ten examples of inference. See answer key below.
4. Review and discuss. Discuss students′ answers. Ask them to share their reasoning. What physical evidence supports an answer of "evidence"?
Answer Key:
| EVIDENCE |
INFERENCE |
1. Based on Sternberg find in 1918—a Dolichorhynchops (nicknamed "Dolly") within
the ribs of a Tylosaurus (we′ll call "Tylo"). |
1. Since only the skeleton of the Tylo remains, we assume the region is where the stomach was, but can′t say for sure. |
2. Tylo lacked hands to hold prey. |
2. Thus, it had to either bite and shake large chunks out of prey, or swallow prey whole. |
3. Like snakes, Tylo had two rows of teeth way back on the roof of the mouth. |
3. Like snakes, we believe it used these teeth to help swallow prey. |
4. Dolly had a short, rigid body and long flippers. |
4. Flippers may have worked like wings to help it "fly" under water—similar to a penguin. |
5. Tylo had a long body and tail. |
5. It probably swam with an eel-like movement. |
|
6. Thus we suppose it was a much slower swimmer than Dolly. |
|
7. One way a slow Tylo could have caught a fast Dolly was if Dolly was dead (and Tylo scavenged). |
|
8. Another way was if Tylo made a surprise attack. |
6. We can see from Dolly skeletons that its blind spot was immediately behind and below its body. |
9. We can assume that could have been the direction of a surprise attack. |
7. Fossil skin impressions show Tylo had very small, overlapping, lizard-like scales. |
10. Since most large marine animals are drab and/or dark, we assume the same might have been true for Dolly and Tylo. |
Storyboard a Scene
Students storyboard a new scene, applying scientific thinking supported by evidence and inference.
Directions:
1. Introduce the activity. Students will storyboard frames of a new scene using the scientific notes on the handout in Activity 2. Students should note the evidence and inference that supports their scene.
Note: Students can use the storyboard in Activity 2 as a model.
2. Student presentations. Display completed storyboards on the wall and ask students to present their work to the class.
3. Discussion. While the events depicted in Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure are based on scientific evidence, the storyline of the prehistoric animals is a dramatization. Why did the filmmakers use this approach? What challenges do filmmakers face when they set out to create a film that is both scientifically accurate and entertaining?
Note to teacher
Watching videos, television, and movies are popular activities for students at home and at school. It is important to help students understand that a science-based film is supported by scientific thinking and science content. When faced with a subject depicted in a film that cannot be directly observed—such as prehistoric marine reptiles—students should critically examine the evidence used to support the information presented. They should be able to differentiate between information based on evidence and information based on inference.
This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI-0514981. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Assess students′ storyboards based on their appropriate depiction and labeling of evidence and inference in their scene and their creativity in developing a new storyline
Check out:
