Today a couple of teachers and I worked with data from past state tests to determine instructional areas we could focus on to improve scores and enrich student learning. Inference was one area that cropped up as an area of weakness. Below, you will find several inference resources I discovered this evening as I researched strategies, tools, and resources that could be used to help students understand and develop inference skills.

So what is inference? Below, you will find several of my favorite definitions:

• Inference is a judgement based on reasoning rather than on direct or explicit statement. A conclusion based on facts or circumstances. For example, advised not to travel alone in temperatures exceeding fifty degrees below zero, the man in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” sets out anyway. (Dictionary of Literary Terms)
• Inference is a logical guess based on evidence based on evidence in the text.
• Inference involves making conclusions about a piece of literature when the connection is not provided in a piece of literature.

The following resources may be helpful as you teach the skill of inference…

• Practice Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions – good material to use with elementary students
• Brain Pop Jr. Make Inferences – excellent information that includes a link to a great little (free) Brain Pop Jr. video
• Inference Riddles – an interactive resource
• Teaching Tips:  Inference – a portal of additional links relating to Inference
• Teaching Inference, Interpretation and Analysis with New (and Old) Technologies
• Critical Thinking: Distinguishing Between Inferences and Assumptions – an excellent article adapted from the book, Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life, by Richard Paul and Linda Elder
• Teaching Students to Make Inferences – a Bright Hub! article written by Keren Perles

Graphic Organizers that can be used to help students:

• Inference Notes (.pdf file)
• Text & Subtext: Drawing Inferences (.pdf file)
• Inference or Prediction? (.pdf file)

PowerPoints that help teach inference: