Skill companion: Comparing What We Saw and Guessed (Year 1) -- reusable inquiry scaffolds

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Skill companion · Year 1 Science Inquiryseegongsik /au

Comparing What We Saw and Guessed: a skill companion

A small set of reusable sheets that grow one inquiry skill: putting what you saw next to what you guessed, deciding whether the test was fair, and asking a good next question. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.

AC9S1I05

compare observations with predictions and others’ observations, consider if investigations are fair and identify further questions with guidance

What a skill companion is

Comparing and checking is not a topic of its own. It grows inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as What Living Things Need, Day, Night and Seasons and Pushes and Pulls. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is a guess-vs-saw compare frame, a fair-test check, cut-out fair-or-not-fair cards, a map of where they fit, and a short stand-alone lesson for teaching the skill on its own first.

Start here: five minutes

Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows which scaffold fits which science lesson.
Print the compare frame and the fair-test check, one each per child, whenever a lesson ends in a result to check.
Cut out the fair-or-not-fair cards once. They are reused all year, in any topic.
Open the free interactive unit on your board when you want a worked example of the skill.
Run the one-page mini-lesson first if you want to teach the skill before folding it into a topic.

No science background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each scaffold explains itself in plain words, and the answer sheet gives model responses and look-fors for every Year 1 topic, so you can walk in and use it.

On the board

This pack is the printable half of a free interactive unit called “Comparing What We Saw and Guessed”. On screen, children put each thing they saw beside their guess in “Match what you saw to what you guessed”. The compare frame in this pack turns that move into something children do on paper.

seegongsik.com/au/y1/inquiry/AC9S1I05

Aligned to the Australian Curriculum V9 (AC9S1I05). This pack is original material from seegongsik, independently produced and not endorsed by ACARA. Curriculum content descriptors are (c) ACARA, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Free to print and use in class.

Where the skill fitsPairing map

Slot the skill into your science lessons

The same skill of comparing what you saw with what you guessed, and checking if the test was fair, fits into every science unit. This map shows what to compare in each Year 1 topic, what to check, and which scaffold to reach for. You do not run these as extra lessons; you fold them into the science you teach.

When you teach	What to compare	What to check	Scaffold to slot in
What Living Things Need (AC9S1U01)	The watered plant next to the plant with no water, against our guess	Was the plant test fair?	Guess-vs-saw frame, then the fair-test check
Day, Night and Seasons (AC9S1U02)	Our shadow guess next to the shadow we measured	Did the shadow match our guess?	Guess-vs-saw frame
Pushes and Pulls (AC9S1U03)	The hard push next to the soft push, against our guess	Was the push test fair?	Fair-or-not-fair cards first, then the compare frame
Any science topic	Any result next to the guess we made	Compare, check fair, ask a next question	Compare frame first

The moves, and the picture that backs each one

When you want a worked example on the board, open the interactive unit and use the picture that matches the move children are working on.

Put what you saw next to what you guessed: “Match what you saw to what you guessed”.
Find the result that does not fit: “Spot the roll that does not fit”.
Then ask whether the test was fair, and what you would try next.

How the scaffolds build the skill

The compare frame puts a guess next to what really happened. The fair-test check asks whether the test changed only one thing, so a difference can be trusted. The fair-or-not-fair cards sharpen the hardest part: telling a fair test from one where too much changed at once. Used together across the year, they make comparing and checking a habit.

Scaffold 1 · Guess vs sawOne per child

What I guessed, and what I saw

NameClassDate

Put your guess next to what you really saw. When they match, your guess fit the world. When they are different, that is a surprise, and a surprise teaches you something too.

I guessed:

I saw:

Did they match?They matched □ They were different □

They matched, or were different, because ...

A guess that did not match still teaches us: you found something out.

Scaffold 2 · Fair-test checkBefore you trust it

Was it a fair test?

A fair test changes only one thing and keeps the rest the same. Then any difference you saw came from that one thing, not from something else. Tick each box you can honestly tick.

□Did we change only one thing?

□Did we keep the rest the same?

□Did everyone measure the same way?

Any empty box is the thing to fix next time. Changing only one thing keeps it fair.

One thing I would like to find out next:

Teacher note: this check works after any investigation, in any topic. Come back to it every time so a fair test becomes a habit.

Scaffold 3 · Fair or not fair? cards (cut out)Reuse all year

Fair or not fair?

Cut out the cards. Read each test, then sort them into two piles: fair tests, where only one thing changed, and not-fair tests, where more than one thing changed at once.

We gave both balls the same push and only changed the ball.

We pushed one ball hard and the other soft, and used different balls.

We measured every shadow with the same hand.

One person used big hands and one used small hands to measure.

We watered both plants the same, except one got no water.

We gave one plant water and sunshine and the other plant nothing at all and put it in the dark.

We rolled both cars down the same ramp and only changed the wheels.

We timed one race with a clock and counted the other one out loud.

We dropped both balls from the same height and only changed how heavy the ball was.

Describe your own test:

Teacher note: the two piles are “fair” and “not fair”. A test is fair when only one thing changed. The answer sheet lists which is which, and why. Blank cards let children add their own.

Mini-lesson · Teacher planAbout 30 minutes

Check what we saw against what we guessed

Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the skill on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. It runs the three scaffolds in this pack in one short block, so children meet the whole skill in one go and then reuse the sheets all year.

We are learning to

put what we saw next to what we guessed,
judge whether a test was fair,
ask a good question about what to find out next.

Success criteria

I can say whether what I saw matched my guess.
I can say whether a test was fair, and why.

You need

the fair-or-not-fair cards (scaffold 3), one set per table, cut out ahead or by fast finishers,
the guess-vs-saw frame and the fair-test check (scaffolds 1 and 2), one each per child,
a shared result the class can talk about, such as which ball rolled further after a hard push and a soft push,
the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).

Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)

5 min	Remember our guess Recall a result the class already has, such as which push sent the ball further, and the guess the class made before the test. Ask: “What did we guess would happen? What did we actually see?”
10 min	Guess next to what we saw Each child fills the guess-vs-saw frame: what they guessed, what they saw, and whether the two matched or were different. Ask: “Did what you saw match your guess, or surprise you? A surprise still teaches us.”
10 min	Fair or not fair? Tables sort the fair-or-not-fair cards into two piles, then each child ticks the fair-test check for their own test. Bring the class together on one tricky card. Ask: “What changed in this test, and did anything else sneak in too?”
5 min	Share a next question A few children share whether their guess matched and one thing they would like to find out next. Celebrate a good next question as much as a right guess. Ask: “Now that you have checked, what could we try next?”

Running it shorter? Stop after Guess next to what we saw, and pick up Fair or not fair inside your next science lesson, where children check a real result.

On the board

For a worked example, open the unit and use “Spot the roll that does not fit”. Finding the one result that does not fit is how children learn to check a set of results and ask whether the test was fair.

seegongsik.com/au/y1/inquiry/AC9S1I05

Watch for these ideas

Thinking a wrong guess means you failed. A guess that did not match is something to check, not something wrong.
Calling a test fair even when two things changed. If two things changed, you cannot tell which one mattered.
Thinking whoever guessed right “wins”. The point is checking carefully, not winning.

Make it easier, make it bigger

Easier: sort just four cards, two fair and two not fair.
Bigger: describe a brand-new test on a blank card and swap it with another table to sort.

Answers and look-fors

The next sheet has the card answers, model compares for the guess-vs-saw frame across the Year 1 topics, and a quick three-level guide.

Answers · For the teacherModel responses

Answers and look-fors

Fair or not fair? card answers

Test	Fair?	Why
We gave both balls the same push and only changed the ball.	Fair	Only one thing changed, the ball, so the ball caused any difference.
We pushed one ball hard and the other soft, and used different balls.	Not fair	Two things changed, the push and the ball, so you cannot tell which one mattered.
We measured every shadow with the same hand.	Fair	Measuring the same way each time keeps the compare fair.
One person used big hands and one used small hands to measure.	Not fair	The hands are different sizes, so the two shadows were not measured the same way.
We watered both plants the same, except one got no water.	Fair	Only the water changed, so the water caused any difference you see.
We gave one plant water and sunshine and the other plant nothing at all and put it in the dark.	Not fair	Water and light both changed at once, so you cannot tell which one the plant needed.
We rolled both cars down the same ramp and only changed the wheels.	Fair	One change only, the wheels, so the wheels caused the difference.
We timed one race with a clock and counted the other one out loud.	Not fair	The two races were timed in different ways, so the times cannot be compared.
We dropped both balls from the same height and only changed how heavy the ball was.	Fair	The height stayed the same, so only the weight of the ball could make a difference.

The blank cards children write are marked the same way: did the test change only one thing, or did more than one thing change at once?

Guess-vs-saw frame: what a good check looks like

Responses will vary, and that is fine. The point is a guess put next to what a child saw, a fair test behind it, and a sensible next question. Here is what an at-standard response sounds like in each Year 1 topic.

Topic	A good compare	Was it fair?	A next question
What living things need	I guessed the plant with no water would droop; I saw it droop, so they matched.	Fair: only the water changed, the light and pot stayed the same.	What if I give it water again, does it stand back up?
Day, night and seasons	I guessed my shadow would be longer when the sun is low; I saw it was longer, so they matched.	Fair: I measured both shadows with the same hand.	Is my shadow shortest in the middle of the day?
Pushes and pulls	I guessed the hard push would send the ball further; I saw it go further, so they matched.	Fair: I used the same ball and only changed the push.	What if I push a heavier ball with the same hard push?

A quick three-level guide

Move	Working towards	At standard	Beyond
Compare guess to result	says what happened without looking back at the guess	puts the guess next to what they saw and says if they matched	explains what a surprise result tells us to check
Judge if the test was fair	changes more than one thing at once	keeps everything the same but the one thing being tested	explains why changing one thing makes the answer clear
Ask a sensible next question	asks nothing new, or an opinion no test can settle	asks a question that could be tried out next	links the next question to what the compare showed

A child at standard puts a guess next to what they saw, can say whether the test was fair, and asks a sensible next question. The skill grows all year, so keep the scaffolds coming back in every science topic.