Second Grade Science Topics (Second Grade Questions: Inductive Reasoning continued)
Here's a concrete example that uses a second grade topic:
1. Your child learns that dolphins are born from their mother's tummies. (Fact One)
2. Your child learns that cows are born from their mother's tummies. (Fact Two)
3. Your child learns that s/he is born from their mother's tummy. (Fact Three)
4. Your child concludes that all babies come from their mother's tummies. (Generalization)
Since your child has noticed a pattern in the specific facts that they learned in life science, they now make a generalization based on these facts. This is inductive reasoning. You will find that your child already does this often, and will do it for many of the lessons they learn. Here's another example:
1. The soil in the backyard is brown‐black and crumbly. (Fact One)
2. The soil in my neighbor's backyard is brown‐black and crumbly. (Fact Two)
3. The soil two blocks away is brown‐black and crumbly. (Fact Three)
4. All soil is brown‐black and crumbly. (Generalization)
In both of the examples, your child makes plausible generalizations. You may know otherwise, that not all animal babies come from tummies (some come from eggs) or that terrain can change and not everyone has brown‐black crumbly garden soil. You can choose to tell your child that their generalizations are correct but only for within a specific range (i.e. mammals and your area's land terrain) or you can let them learn so on their own.
Sometimes correcting your child's generalizations often leads them to becoming discouraged. You should, however, encourage inductive reasoning whenever your child does it, and teach them to do it often. With this skill they will be able to learn science faster and gain a better understanding for the subject. Inductive reasoning also helps your second grade child answer all their own science questions!
Next Article: Getting Them Interested: Life Science
