Building Mathematical Comprehension Chapter 6: Making Inferences and Predictions

Important Ideas

• "Inferring is the bedrock of comprehension" (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007).
• "If students struggle to make credible inferences...their comprehension suffers" (Sammons, 2011).

Inferences

• require learners to blend new information with existing knowledge
• then, recognize a pattern/relationship that leads to the construction of new meaning.

Predictions

• involve linking given information with schema
• describe something in the future that will occur
• accuracy can be checked

Teaching Students to Infer and Predict

• Modeling and Think-Alouds
• Word Splash (given related words, students generate topic)
• Individual Conferences

Math Stretches

• What's The Question?
• Facts or Inferences?

So, how do you teach inferring? (comment below)