Skill companion: Questions and Predictions (Year 4)

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Skill companion · Year 4 Science Inquiryseegongsik /au

Questions and Predictions: a skill companion

A small set of reusable sheets that grow one inquiry skill: noticing a pattern, asking how one thing affects another, and predicting from what has been observed, with a reason. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.

AC9S4I01

pose questions to explore observed patterns and relationships and make predictions based on observations

What a skill companion is

Inquiry skills are not a topic of their own. They grow inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as Food Chains and Habitats, The Water Cycle, Forces, Friction and Magnets, and Properties of Materials. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is three reusable scaffolds, 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 question planner and the prediction sheet, one each per child, whenever a lesson starts from a pattern children have noticed.
Cut out the reasoned-or-guess cards once. They are reused all year, and the blank cards fit 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 the card key, the worked prediction, a model question and prediction for every Year 4 topic, and a quick three-level guide. In Year 4 the step up from Year 3 is the relationship: not only what happens, but how a change in one thing goes with a change in another.

On the board

This pack is the printable half of a free interactive unit. On screen, children press “Let it vary” until every line reads “Kept the same” in “Frame the question: change only the surface” and “Decide what to measure before you start”, click the reading that breaks the pattern in “Spot the reading to check again”, and sort statements with “Reasoned” and “Just a guess” in “Sort the reasoned predictions from the guesses”. Each scaffold in this pack turns one of those moves into something children do on paper.

seegongsik.com/au/y4/inquiry/AC9S4I01

Aligned to the Australian Curriculum V9 (AC9S4I01). 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 asking a question and predicting fits into every science unit. This map shows a pattern children can observe in each Year 4 topic, a question to pose about the relationship behind it, 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	Pattern children can see	Question to pose	Scaffold to slot in
Food Chains and Habitats (AC9S4U01)	Slaters gather under the damp log, not in the dry leaves beside it	Do slaters choose damp places over dry ones?	Planner, then the prediction sheet
The Water Cycle (AC9S4U02)	Puddles in the sun dry up before puddles in the shade	How does sunshine affect how fast water evaporates?	Prediction sheet, then the puddle cards
Forces, Friction and Magnets (AC9S4U03)	A toy car rolls further from a higher ramp	How does the height of the ramp affect how far the car rolls?	Prediction sheet, then the ramp cards
Properties of Materials (AC9S4U04)	A paper towel soaks up a spill; a plastic bag pushes it around	Which material soaks up the most water?	Planner, then the prediction sheet
Any science topic	A pattern a child spots for themselves	The child asks how one thing affects another, and predicts from what they saw	Planner first, then a blank card

The three 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.

Turn a pattern into a fair question, with one thing to change and one thing to measure: “Frame the question: change only the surface” and “Decide what to measure before you start”.
Read a pattern in measured results, and spot the reading that does not fit: “Spot the reading to check again”.
Tell a prediction reasoned from the pattern from a guess: “Sort the reasoned predictions from the guesses”.

How the scaffolds build the skill

The question planner turns something a child noticed into a question about how one thing affects another, with one thing to change and one thing to measure. The prediction sheet reads a pattern in measured results and uses it to predict a result not yet measured, then comes back after the test to check. The reasoned-or-guess cards sharpen the last step: a prediction is reasoned when it follows from the pattern, and a guess when it does not.

Scaffold 1 · Question plannerOne per child

How does one thing affect another?

NameClassDate

Science often starts with a pattern: when one thing changes, something else changes too. A question about that relationship is one you can explore with a fair test.

What I noticed

Draw it or write it

The pattern in one sentence

When ______________________ changes, ______________________ changes too.

My question

A question you can explore asks how one thing affects another. These openers can help.

How does ______ affect ______ ?
Does more ______ mean more ______ ?
What happens to ______ when ______ changes?

To explore it fairly

The one thing I will change:

What I will measure, and its unit:

Things I will keep the same:

Can a fair test answer my question?Yes □Not yet □

Teacher note: if a child ticks “Not yet”, the question usually has nothing to change or nothing to measure. Help them name one of each, then reword it with “How does ... affect ...?”.

Scaffold 2 · Predict from a patternOne per child

Predict from a pattern

NameClassDate

A reasoned prediction uses a pattern you have already observed. If the pattern keeps going, what should happen next?

A. Read the pattern

A toy car was let go from a ramp at four heights. How far did it roll across the floor?

Ramp height (cm)	5	10	15	20	25
Distance rolled (cm)	41	79	121	160	?

Each 5 cm higher, the car rolled about this much further:

From 25 cm, I predict the car will roll about

because

B. My own prediction

In our test, I predict that ...

because the pattern I observed was ...

After we test, what happened:

Did the result match my prediction?Yes □Close □No □

A prediction that turns out wrong is still good science. It tells you the pattern is not quite what you thought, and gives you a new question to ask.

Scaffold 3 · Reasoned or guess? cards (cut out)Reuse all year

Reasoned, or just a guess?

Cut out the cards. Lay down one observation card, then sort its prediction cards into two piles: predictions reasoned from the pattern, and predictions that are just a guess. A guess can even turn out right, but nothing we observed points to it.

WHAT WE OBSERVEDThe higher we set the ramp, the further the toy car rolled.Ramp

From a ramp higher than any we tried, the car should roll the furthest yet.Ramp

A red car will roll further than a blue car.Ramp

The car will roll further if we cheer for it.Ramp

From a ramp lower than any we tried, the car should stop the soonest.Ramp

A ramp halfway between two heights we tried should give a roll between their two distances.Ramp

Write another prediction:

Ramp

WHAT WE OBSERVEDAfter the rain, puddles in the sun dried up before puddles in the shade.Puddles

Puddles will dry fastest on a Monday.Puddles

Water in a dish in the sun should evaporate faster than water in a dish in the shade.Puddles

On a cloudy day, a puddle should take longer to dry than on a sunny day.Puddles

A puddle shaped like a heart will dry first.Puddles

Wet washing hung in the sun should dry before washing hung in the shade.Puddles

Write another prediction:

Puddles

Teacher note: the two piles are “reasoned” and “just a guess”. The answer sheet lists which is which, and why. The blank cards let children write a prediction of their own, then swap it with another table to sort.

Mini-lesson · Teacher planAbout 30 minutes

From a pattern to a prediction

Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the skill on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. A toy car and a ramp give the class a pattern of its own in a few minutes; the three scaffolds then turn it into a question, a reasoned prediction and a sort.

We are learning to

notice a pattern in what we observe,
ask how one thing affects another, in a way a fair test can explore,
make a prediction from the pattern, with a reason.

Success criteria

I can ask a “How does ... affect ...?” question about a pattern.
I can use a pattern to predict a result we have not measured yet, and say why.

You need

a toy car, a stiff board or a long ruler for a ramp, a few books of the same thickness and a tape measure,
the question planner and the prediction sheet (scaffolds 1 and 2), one each per child,
the ramp cards from scaffold 3, one set per table, cut out ahead or by fast finishers,
the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).

Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)

5 min	Spot the pattern Rest the ramp on one book and let the car go from the top; mark where it stops. Do it again with two books. Ask: “What changed when the ramp got higher? Did anything else change too?”
10 min	Frame the question Each child fills the question planner: the pattern, a question about it, the one thing to change, what to measure and what to keep the same. Show the board (see the box). Ask: “If we push the car one time and let it go the next, can we tell what made the difference?”
10 min	Predict from the pattern Children do Part A of the prediction sheet, then Part B for a three-book ramp. Test it once together and fill in what happened. Ask: “What does the pattern tell you about a ramp higher than any we tried?”
5 min	Reasoned or guess? Tables sort the ramp cards into the two piles. Ask: “Does the pattern point to this prediction, or is it a guess?”

Running it shorter? Stop after Frame the question, and pick up the prediction sheet and the cards in your next science lesson, where children test a real prediction.

On the board

For a worked example, open the unit and press “Let it vary” on each line of “Frame the question: change only the surface” until all three read “Kept the same”: with the push, the car and the starting line held steady, only the surface changes. Then sort the statements in “Sort the reasoned predictions from the guesses”.

seegongsik.com/au/y4/inquiry/AC9S4I01

Watch for these ideas

A question no test can answer, like “is this a good car?”. Ask what they could change and what they could measure.
Changing two things at once, such as a higher ramp and a push. Then nobody can tell which change made the difference.
A prediction with no reason. Ask which pattern points that way.

Make it easier, make it bigger

Easier: fill the planner together as a class, and tell children the pattern grows by about the same amount each time.
Bigger: use the pattern backwards. About how high must the ramp be for the car to roll 280 cm?

Answers and look-fors

The next sheet has the card key, the worked ramp prediction, a model question and prediction for each Year 4 topic, and a quick three-level guide.

Answers · For the teacherModel responses

Answers and look-fors

Reasoned or guess? cards

Ramp (Forces, Friction and Magnets): The higher we set the ramp, the further the toy car rolled.

Prediction card	Pile	Why
From a ramp higher than any we tried, the car should roll the furthest yet.	Reasoned	It follows the pattern: each higher ramp gave a longer roll.
A red car will roll further than a blue car.	Guess	Nothing we observed was about colour, so this is a guess.
The car will roll further if we cheer for it.	Guess	Cheering was never part of what we observed, and it does not push the car.
From a ramp lower than any we tried, the car should stop the soonest.	Reasoned	It runs the pattern the other way: lower ramps gave shorter rolls.
A ramp halfway between two heights we tried should give a roll between their two distances.	Reasoned	It uses the pattern between two readings we already have.

Puddles (The Water Cycle): After the rain, puddles in the sun dried up before puddles in the shade.

Prediction card	Pile	Why
Puddles will dry fastest on a Monday.	Guess	The day of the week was not part of what we observed.
Water in a dish in the sun should evaporate faster than water in a dish in the shade.	Reasoned	It is the same pattern in a test we can measure: sun against shade.
On a cloudy day, a puddle should take longer to dry than on a sunny day.	Reasoned	Less sunshine reaching the puddle follows the pattern: shade dried slowest.
A puddle shaped like a heart will dry first.	Guess	Nothing we saw was about shape, so this is a guess.
Wet washing hung in the sun should dry before washing hung in the shade.	Reasoned	It is the same sun-and-shade pattern, in something else that dries.

Blank cards are marked the same way: does the prediction follow from what was observed?

Predict from a pattern: the ramp

Each 5 cm higher, the car rolled about 40 cm further (41, 79, 121, 160 cm). So from 25 cm, about 200 cm is a reasoned prediction; anything close to it, with that reason, is at standard. The mini-lesson’s backwards question: 280 cm is 3 steps past 20 cm, so a ramp of about 35 cm.

Planner and prediction sheet: what a good response sounds like

Topic	A question at standard	A prediction at standard
Food Chains and Habitats	Do slaters choose damp places over dry ones?	I predict most slaters will move to the damp side of the tray, because I have observed them gathering under damp logs and not in dry leaves.
The Water Cycle	How does sunshine affect how fast water evaporates?	I predict the dish in the sun will lose its water first, because I have observed puddles in the sun drying before puddles in the shade.
Forces, Friction and Magnets	How does the height of the ramp affect how far the car rolls?	I predict a higher ramp will make the car roll further, because each time we raised the ramp the car went further.
Properties of Materials	Which material soaks up the most water?	I predict the paper towel will soak up more than the cotton cloth or the plastic, because I have observed paper towels mopping up spills while plastic pushes water around.

A quick three-level guide

Move	Working towards	At standard	Beyond
Pose a question about a relationship	asks a question with help, sometimes one no test can answer	asks how one thing affects another, in a way a fair test can explore	names the one thing to change, the thing to measure and its unit
Predict from a pattern	makes a guess with no reason	uses an observed pattern to predict, and says why	uses the size of the pattern to predict a number, such as about 40 cm more
Tell reasoned from guessed	counts any prediction as reasoned	sorts predictions that follow the pattern from guesses	explains what new observation would turn a guess into a reasoned prediction

A child at standard asks how one thing affects another and predicts from an observed pattern, with a reason. The skill grows all year, so keep the scaffolds coming back in every science topic.