When you ask questions that inspire students to observe, predict, analyze data, reflect on their learning, and clarify and explain their thinking and actions, you gain insight into their understanding, reasoning, and problem-solving skills. You also model the kinds of questions scientists ask themselves and students should ask themselves and one another. Questions about data can help you assess students’ abilities to represent data in different ways, interpret what data “says,” and detect errors or bias in the way data is selected and presented. You’ll find many of these types of questions in Journey North updates, challenges, and activities.

The following Journey North links feature questions that inspire this type of thinking. Use them as springboards for instruction and assessment: