How can you tell they’ve got it: Using evidence to answer questions?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Identify at least one pattern (similarity, difference, or trend) in a set of scientific data; Explain how the pattern relates to the scientific idea being investigated; Use specific data points as evidence when answering a scientific question. Or just try it together: When your child looks at their experiment results, can they spot patterns — like things that are similar, different, or changing — and use the evidence to back up their answer?

Science Scientific Inquiry Ages 7–9

Using evidence to answer questions

Your child can look at their results and spot a pattern — things that are alike, different, or changing. They use those facts to back up their answer.

In curriculum terms

Identify differences, similarities, or changes related to scientific ideas and use straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or support findings

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Identify at least one pattern (similarity, difference, or trend) in a set of scientific data
Explain how the pattern relates to the scientific idea being investigated
Use specific data points as evidence when answering a scientific question

🖨 Print this page to keep the checklist — it prints beautifully.

Try this together

When your child looks at their experiment results, can they spot patterns — like things that are similar, different, or changing — and use the evidence to back up their answer?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Drawing conclusions from evidenceages 7–9Must draw conclusions before identifying patterns and using evidence to support findings

Reading between the linesages 5–10Using evidence to answer scientific questions mirrors the skill of asking and answering questions about key details in informational texts in English

Could there be another explanation?ages 7–9Identifying similarities and differences in evidence opens up space for alternative explanations — patterns that differ from expectations prompt the habit of seeking alternatives

Spotting Patternsages 7–8Identifying similarities, differences, and changes in scientific data is the science form of the universal pattern-and-structure recognition habit

Using evidence to answer questionsthis skill · ages 7–9

Unlocks

Controlling variablesages 9–11Pattern identification supports planning targeted enquiries

Difficult Ethical Choicesages 9–11The SEL skill of navigating ethical grey areas benefits from scientific thinking: using evidence to identify differences, similarities, and changes before drawing conclusions

Reading Cladogramsages 9–11Identifying differences/similarities (curriculum inquiry skill) supports reading cladograms based on shared features

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S5I05high confidenceYear 5 · Science inquiry

compare methods and findings with those of others, recognise possible sources of error, pose questions for further investigation and select evidence to draw reasoned conclusions

AC9S4H01medium confidenceYear 4 · Science as a human endeavour

examine how people use data to develop scientific explanations

AC9S3H01medium confidenceYear 3 · Science as a human endeavour

examine how people use data to develop scientific explanations

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

ST3-SCI-01medium confidenceScience and Technology K-6 · Stage 3

ST1-DAT-01medium confidenceScience and Technology K-6 · Stage 1

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S4I01high confidenceScience · Levels 3 and 4 · Science Inquiry strand

VC2S6H02medium confidenceScience · Levels 5 and 6 · Science as a Human Endeavour strand

VC2S2H02medium confidenceScience · Foundation to Level 2 · Science as a Human Endeavour strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Classifying living thingsages 7–9 Could there be another explanation?ages 7–9 Drawing conclusions from evidenceages 7–9 Fair testingages 7–9

All Scientific Inquiry skills →